2.6. Meaning of the Active Field

Each componenthas an associated activefield, which can take values of true (1) or false (0). The meaning of this flag is described by componenttype in the following table:

Component Type	Active value	Component behavior when the most recent row representing a component has the specified active value
Concept	True	The conceptis intended for activeuse. All active descriptionsfor which the conceptId refers to this conceptare valid. Visibility of these active descriptionsdepends on information contained in applicable refset members (for example, whether the descriptionis in a language dialect reference setthat is currently enabled in the vendor's system). All active relationshipsof which it is the sourceId or destinationId are applicable.
Concept	False	The conceptis not intended for activeuse. However, it remains a valid conceptfor historical purposes as part of the SNOMED CTcommitment to the principle of ' conceptpermanence'. Valid descriptionsof the conceptremain activeallowing it to be appropriately viewed in human-readable form. An inactive conceptcannot be the sourceId, destinationId or typeId of an active relationship.
Description	True	The descriptioncontains a term that is a valid descriptionof the conceptreferred to by the conceptId. An active descriptionmay refer to an inactive concept,in which case the term provides a valid descriptionof that inactive concept.Text based searches should (by default) include only active descriptionsthat refer to active concepts.
Description	False	The descriptionis not a valid and the associated term should no longer be regarded as being associated with the conceptreferred to by conceptId.
Relationship	True	The relationshiprepresents a valid association of the type specified by the typeId, between two conceptsreferred to by the sourceId and destinationId ; An inactive conceptcannot be the sourceId, destinationId or typeId of an active relationship.
Relationship	False	The relationshipis not valid. An inactive relationshipshould be ignored as it does not apply. This does not necessarily mean that the association indicated by the relationshipdoes not apply. The relationshipmay be inactivebecause it is redundant and inferable based on other active relationships. An inactive relationshipmay refer to either activeor inactive components.
Refset member	True	The refset member contains valid information applicable to the componentreferred to by the referencedComponentId . The componentreferred to by the referencedComponentId may be activeor inactive. An activerefset member cannot make an inactive component activebut may provide related information that continues to be relevant (e.g. the reason for inactivation).
Refset member	False	The refset member is not valid. An inactiverefset member should be ignored. The information it contains is not applicable to the componentreferred to by referencedComponentId .

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2.6. Meaning of the Active Field