Common elements do not belong into a certain single table. They can be used in many tables.
A perfect example of a common element is for example CountryCode. It is obvious that CountryCode is
probably needed in many datasets.
Non-common elements belong into a certain single table and they cannot be used in any other tables.
They are defined within that certain table and they do not have a life outside of that table.
The view page of common elements is slightly different from the view page of non-common ones.
If you have authenticated yourself and you have the required permissions, the upper right corner of the page may contain the following buttons:
This page is divided into sections which you can quickly access by using the quicklinks at the top of the page.
Below the quicklinks is a section with links to XML schema and possibly other formats of this element definition.
Next is a section that states the element's type. It can be one of two:
Following the element's type is a section that lists the element's attributes. Every attribute is a name/value pair. Some attributes can have several values at the same time. Help on every attribute is available by the help icons in their titles.
Following the attributes is a section that lists one of two:
If this common element is used in any tables, then the next section lists tables using this element. Every table is given with its name (clickable and the click leads to its vew page), dataset name (also clickable and leads to the dataset's view page) and the table's owner given by user name.
At the very bottom of the page is the list of other versions of this common element. Every version is uniquely identified by the element number in the left-most column. The list also indicates the version's Registration status and the date it was released (relevant only when the Registration status is Released). The right-most column of this list provides the link to the view page of that version.