To add a new attribute to a data element, use the <param> subtag to add the attribute to the data element's Hashtable of parameters. For example, the following definition defines a myName data field with a new attribute called "myAttribute":

The attribute's initial value is be "myAttributeValue".

To get the value of the attribute, you would use getParameter(String), where the String is the name of the attribute, in this case "myAttribute." To set the attribute, you would use setParameter(String, Object) where the String is the name of the attribute and the Object is the new value.