How to register a 11179 item in Colectica Repository

Colectica Repository can store any metadata items that conform to the ISO 11179 naming scheme for registered items. The DDI 3 Addin for Colectica Repository additionally allows for indexing of contextual and relationship information. Here is a brief code example showing how DDI 3 items can be registered in the Colectica Repository.

First we will create some DDI 3 based metadata using the Colectica SDK. If you don’t have the SDK you can create the DDI 3 by hand or using your favorite XML library.

// Create a DDI 3 Concept using the Colectica SDK
Concept concept = new Concept() { AgencyId = "example.org" };
concept.ItemName["en-US"] = "Given Name";
concept.Description["en-US"] = @"A character-string (e.g. `Billy' and `Peter')
        given to people as a first name (or, in most Western countries, as a
        middle name), usually shortly after birth.";

// Create a DDI 3 Question using the Colectica SDK
Question q1 = new Question() { AgencyId = "example.org" };
q1.QuestionText["en-US"] = "What is your first name?";
TextDomain domain = new TextDomain();
domain.Label["en-US"] = "First Name";
q1.ResponseDomains.Add(domain);

// Link the question and concept
q1.Concepts.Add(concept);

Then we will create the repository client, using the supplied credentials.

// Create the web services client
var client = new WcfRepositoryClient(
    "username", "password", "localhost", 19893);

We can Register any object made by the Colectica SDK using the built in mappings.

// Register a 11179 administered item using
// the Repository Client helper functions
client.RegisterItem(concept, new CommitOptions());

Alternatively, we can access the web services layer and construct the proper SOAP payload.

// Register a 11179 administered item using the Web Services directly
Collection<Note> notes = new Collection<Note>();
string serialization = q1.GetXmlRepresentation(notes).OuterXml;
RepositoryItem ri = new RepositoryItem()
{
    CompositeId = q1.CompositeId,   // agency, id, and version
    Item = serialization,           // item's serialization
    ItemType = q1.ItemType,         // model defined item type identifier
    IsDepricated = false,
    IsPublished = q1.IsPublished,
    IsProvisional = false,          // only used in the local repository
    Notes = notes,                  // notes about the item being registered
    VersionDate = q1.VersionDate,
    VersionRationale = q1.VersionRationale,
    VersionResponsibility = q1.VersionResponsibility
};
client.RegisterItem(ri, new CommitOptions());

As you can see, we added both the DDI concept and the DDI question item to the repository. The Colectica SDK has methods to gather all items that are linked and create sets of items to be registered. It also has the ability to detect changed items automatically, so a program can quickly determine which items should have new versions registered after a user action.

Update 1: Registering items in a DDI instance

Here is more information about registering items in the Repository based on some followup questions.

When adding a concept to a question, the hierarchical relationship is established. Is this inline, or by reference at the XML level?.

The DDI 3 standard allows for either including items inline or by references in many locations. Colectica Repository will process and store items using either format. If it is a DDI 3 item, the Repository will additionally index the text and relationship information about the item using the DDI 3 Addin. Note that only the item being registered and its relationship are processed, each item must still be registered individually or in a batch operation.

Colectica Designer will always use the referencing mechanisms in DDI when interacting with the Repository. This is for speed of processing and to allow the easiest sharing and harmonization of items across multiple Studies and Instances. You can learn more about how Designer determines item boundaries by reading about Concise Bounded Descriptions.

How can I register all items in a DDI Instance? How can I update only the changed items in a DDI instance?

If you are using DDI with an XML library, you can use the following xpath queries to find all the items in your Instance to register.

//*[@isVersionable]
//*[@isMaintainable]

You can then loop over the XML nodes returned by the XPath and register the results. If you are using the Colectica SDK, you can find all items in an Instance as follows:

// obtain your DDI Instance in some fashion
DdiInstance instance = YourDdiInstance();

// Find all items
ItemGatherer gatherer = new ItemGatherer();
instance.Accept(gatherer);
Collection<IVersionable> allItems = gatherer.Items;

// You can also find only the modified items
DirtyItemGatherer gatherer = new DirtyItemGatherer();
instance.Accept(gatherer);
Collection<IVersionable> changedItems = gatherer.DirtyItems;

How do I export a whole instance to DDI3?

There are several ways to export a DDI instance from the Repository. One way is to use the Repositoy’s command line tools and to write an XML document. Another is to programmatically export a DDI instance using the SDK:

// obtain your DDI Instance in some fashion.
// Only the identification is needed since we will populate the instance
DdiInstance instance = YourDdiInstance();

// populate the entire class hierarchy from the Repository
GraphPopulator populator = new GraphPopulator(client);
instance.Accept(populator);

// Create the XML document for the DDI Instance
DDIWorkflowSerializer serializer = new DDIWorkflowSerializer();
XmlDocument doc = serializer.Serialize(instance);

A third option is to use an XML library and construct the DDI Instance.