Plugin Interface to add Custom Data Types to Configurable Submission Forms
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Key: DS-350
URL: http://jira.dspace.org/jira/browse/DS-350
Project: DSpace 1.x
Issue Type: Improvement
Components: DSpace API, JSPUI, XMLUI
Affects Versions: 1.6.0
Environment: all
Reporter: Larry Stone
Assignee: Larry Stone
Priority: Minor
Attachments: ds-350-intfc.txt
The configurable submission forms still have a fixed set of data types, such as
"name", "date", "onebox", "twobox", etc. If very many other sites have also
found it necessary to add custom data types, it would be handy to have a
mechanism to add these cleanly in a separate customization layer, especially
since it is very messy to do this by modifying the DSpace code (both the
"reader" in dspace-api and the rendering class in the UI must be modified).
Here is an example: Suppose your site administrator decrees the dc.date.issued
field must only accept a 4-digit year, and furthermore that year is constrained
to a range from 1700 to 2 years into the future. You can borrow the rendering
from the simple text box, but the reader must apply those constraints and
normalize the value it stores in the Item's metadata. Typical uses for custom
fields:
- applying custom constraints to input values
- rendering inputs in the HTML form as a group of fields joined in the reader
to create the value
- normalizing input values before storage
The interface to processing each data type is already modular and it is
straightforward to factor it out to a plugin interface. Three interfaces are
actually required: First, a common "reader" to be called by
org.dspace.submit.step.DescribeStep. Second, when implemented for the XMLUI, a
rendering interface that adds fields to the DRI model. Third, peculiar to the
JSPUI, a rendering interface that adds HTML to the JSP. Of course, each site
only has to implement the UI they are actually using.
Each plugin may also be written to "defer" to one of the built-in types, so
e.g. when the reader is custom but the rendering can borrow from the existing
"text box", you can use deferment to save writing the renderer.
The attachment has pseudocode for the sample interfaces. If you are
interested in using a customization mechanism like this, please vote for this
issue (click on the "Vote" link under the Operations tab to the left). Add a
comment if there is anything you want to see changed.
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