[ckan-dev] Multiedit: Extension to allow easy editing of multiple datasets at once

[Mark Wainwright]

Hi Jaakko,

This sounds really brilliant - being able to edit multiple datasets
would be very useful, and in fact someone recently requested something
very similar. Also, it's great to hear that the extensions system is
working as intended so that people can write their own.

I see that David Read has added your extension to the list on the wiki
at <http://wiki.ckan.org/List_of_Extensions> - feel free to edit the
description there if you like.

I don't know if it would be possible, but I could certainly see a
value for this being deployed on the Datahub (thedatahub.org) at some
point; what do others think?

Mark


On 24 February 2012 13:57, Jaakko Louhio <jaakko.louhio at floapps.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> There was need for an easy way to update multiple datasets at once in a CKAN
> project I'm currently involved in. I figured that there might be need for
> this kind of functionality elsewhere too, so I made an extension called
> 'multiedit'. Here is a brief overview of what this extension does and how it
> works.
>
> What the extension does is, it implements a new view for CKAN dataset
> search. Search works just like the regular CKAN search. The new view shows
> package title and a selected field in a table form. This table is also
> sortable. Editing is done by the CKAN dataset edit form, which is reduced
> with javascript to show one field at a time (the selected field is shown on
> the table). This allows easy multiediting using the same custom forms that
> are already used to edit datasets in CKAN anyway. Hopefully this solution
> should work with most form customizations.
>
> From the edit form, you can select which field you want to edit and new
> values for selected field. Table allows you to select datasets to edit. New
> values are then updated to datasets through CKAN api. There is a fancy
> spinner showing that update is in progress and new values are updated to
> table when update is finished, etc.
>
> In order to use 'multiedit', user needs to be logged in. This is because
> updates are done by CKAN api using ajax and updates through api require
> apikey, if I'm not mistaken.
> Listing even couple of hundred datasets can be taxing, so there is a
> configuration value in CKAN config to allow selecting sane limit to how many
> datasets can be listed and edited at once.
>
> Extension is currently located at
> https://bitbucket.org/floapps/ckanext-multiedit
>
> There is a branch for CKAN 1.4.x version, which it was originally developed
> for, and also a branch for CKAN 1.5.x version, which may or may not be
> compatible with CKAN 1.6 version.
> There are still some rough spots in this extension that may need to be
> sorted out, but it works already quite well. As for future plans regarding
> this extension, adding multiple datasets to a group at once could be a
> feature to add.
>
> If there are questions about this extension, I'll be happy to answer them.
>
> -- Jaakko
>
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-- 
Mark Wainwright, CKAN Community Co-ordinator
Open Knowledge Foundation http://okfn.org/
Skype: m.wainwright