2017-10-27 DSpace Entities WG Meeting Notes

Attendees

Andrea Bollini (4Science)

Claudio Cortese (4Science)

Fernando Ribeiro

João Moreira

José Carvalho

Lieven Droogmans

Mark H. Wood

Nelson Torres

Paco Dominguez

Pascal-Nicolas Becker

Paulo Graça

Paulo Lopes

Stephen Hearn

Tim Donohue

Agenda/ Notes

This was the second meeting for the DSpace Entities Working Group and it had only one topic in the agenda:

• Deep dive into how DSpace-CRIS manages Authors and Author Profiles (Researcher Pages)
  
  
  

This presentation was prepared by Andrea Bollini and is the answer to a set of questions based on this document file:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UEX2Tn38Zpz1qlr58cbJKNgymVR8xcPRHcZYHDfvxKA

The questions were grouped in three topics:

• Data Model
• Data API
• Front end

The link for the presentation:
https://www.slideshare.net/4Science/dspacecris-technical-answers-for-the-entities-working-group

Discussion

• Data Model:
  • The entity Author within DSpace-CRIS is called Researcher Profile or Researcher Page
  • The Data model is dynamic and it's manipulated using the interface or an EXCEL document
  • DSpace-CRIS uses UUID underneath and presents identifiers like "rp0001" for a ResercherProfile ("rp" is the prefix for a researcher profile)
  • Jdyna_values table is similar to the metadatavalue table and it has columns to specify the data type that is been stored
    • Tim: The values are stored in different columns, only that type of fields?
      There are used String, File, Date type fields and Links for other entities
    • Tim: Does jdyna need to be modified for new entities?
      There is a Generic Entity for that. It is related in jydna_values. There is no need to change the database for new entities
  • Every first-class entity (Authors, Projects, Organization Unit) has a specific table.
  • Every other entities have a generic entity and don't need a specific table
  • It isn't possible to change the database directly for new Entities instances. This is assured by the User Interface.
  • CRIS_DO_TP ("DO" means Dynamic Object) this table is the base for dynamic entities
    
    
• Data API:
  
  • DSpace-CRIS uses Java Hibernate, works with Oracle, PostgreSQL
  • Data is replicated in Apache Solr, the same strategy as DSpace
  • Profiles are Data types? Can they be dynamically assigned?
    One profile is a dynamic object with a set of definitions. 
    One profile could be a Journal with a set of properties or attributes. 
  • Each property has a widget
  • Widget has a validation, it isn't dependent on the User Interface and ensures each data entry has validation in a certain type. You can't insert a string where you should insert a date, for instance
    • Tim:Attributes, Properties are the same thing?
      Yes
    • Profiles: is a set of properties and definitions
    • When we have a researcher profile we don't have a generic "Profile". Researcher Profile already has a set of definitions
    • A Profile only applies to dynamic objects
  • Permissions
    • It doesn't use the same solution that DSpace uses. Each Property has an active/inactive state. 
    • How permissions are managed?
      • The permissions are configured by the epersongroup that creates the entity. The administrator and also who he defines that can manage that field in an Entity.
    • When the property is inactive, in the public page, in search page results, it isn't showed. 
    • This active/inactive state is very useful for authority fields (to hide them)
    • Each property has a flag, to control if data is visible or not
    • Only the administrator can change attributes or widgets of a Profile 
  • REST API
    • DSpace-CRIS uses SOAP webservices, but they are planning to abandon it
    • REST API is in the DSpace-CRIS plans to replace SOAP WS
    • The REST API will support CRUD operations for all Entities
      
      
• Front end/User Interface:
  • DSpace-CRIS is planning to also change to Angular Interface
  • DSpace-CRIS is also planning to keep the same features when migrating to DS7
  • Plans for using microformats and Signposting
    
    
• João: Was this presentation useful? It's needed additional information? What to do next, what are the next steps?
  • Tim: it was useful to understand what is underneath. But Tim already had some notions.
  • Mark: I like the flexibility
  • Lieven: It's a different approach. But it raises some issues that must be considered like the duplicated solution for logging. If a merged solution is adopted, some DSpace aspects must be reviewed. It doesn't make sense to have two options for the same thing.
• João: proposed one exercise to help better understanding of DSpace-CRIS. One Hand-on experience.
  • Andrea: The user experience will the completely transformed. It doesn't make any sense to make tests on the current version. There is a demo version online that people can use. Data model setup is a very complex procedure, it's trivial to make a new one.
  • It was proposed 2 or 3 groups to work on the configuration setup and the data model. And Bollini could create some exercises.
  • Tim: remembered that Bollini is making part of DS7 REST team and have time issues
  • Bollini: said that this process needs to go a little bit slower. It was an addional effort to prepair this presentation. He proposed to create a online Google Doc to collect some questions and after a 2 hours hand-on meeting. For that meeting He proposed local setups.
  • It was proposed wednesday, 22nd november at 15:00 UTC, for the third meeting. It will be held again in the same place, Zoom platform, and it will be a 2 hours meeting with DSpace-CRIS hands-on (locally installed). 
• Bollini: It's important to watch older webinars like the COAR.