[ckan-dev] Offering the same resource in multiple file formats

Tue Apr 4 12:39:09 UTC 2017

On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 10:59 AM,  <Florian.Brucker at it.karlsruhe.de> wrote:
> I've been thinking a bit about how to present the same resource in multiple
> formats to the user from a UI perspective.
>
> The obvious way is to create a separate copy of the resource for each
> secondary format (say, an XLSX-copy of each CSV-resource). This has the
> benefit that the secondary resource is, from a UI perspective, just another
> resource, and all of CKAN's features (search, facets, API access, ...) work
> as expected. A disadvantage, however, is that we now have two (or even more)
> copies of the same resource that only differ in their format. Not only need
> all of those copies to be kept in sync (can be automated, but still), but it
> might confuse users who now wonder if there are any differences between
> these resources.
>
> A second possibility would therefore be to somehow "augment" the original
> resource with the other formats. There are multiple ways of doing this (e.g.
> injecting conversion links via the templates), but all of these will break
> many CKAN features.

I prefer this approach. Leave the source format as the actual resource
but add a list of alternate versions attached to the resource. CKAN
can be fixed to accommodate this pattern if we just settle on the way
these will be represented.

Existing harvesters and code will only see the original resource +
url, but I think that's preferable to harvesting a bunch of secondary
files.

>
> Finally, one could use a hybrid approach by creating full-blown resources as
> in the first approach but combining them into a single pseudo-resource for
> display purposes in the templates.
>
> Honestly I'm not happy with either of these approaches, so I'd love to hear
> some other ideas on how to tackle this.
>
>
> Regards,
> Florian
>
>
> "ckan-dev" <ckan-dev-bounces at lists.okfn.org> schrieb am 07.03.2017 14:19:24:
>
>> Von: Florian.Brucker at it.karlsruhe.de
>> An: ckan-dev at lists.okfn.org,
>> Datum: 07.03.2017 14:19
>> Betreff: [ckan-dev] Offering the same resource in multiple file formats
>> Gesendet von: "ckan-dev" <ckan-dev-bounces at lists.okfn.org>
>>
>> Hi everybody,
>>
>> I often would like to offer the same resource in multiple file
>> formats. For example, Excel's auto-import for CSV is rather broken,
>> so instead of mangling all our CSV-files to suit Excel's needs I'd
>> rather just offer XSLX-files of the same data in addition to
>> "standard"-compliant CSV-files for everybody else.
>>
>> However, I definitely don't want to manually maintain the separate
>> versions. Has anybody set up automated ways of doing this? Off the
>> top of my head, I could image
>>
>> 1. Generating converted copies when the original resource is
>> created/modified
>> 2. Generating converted copies when they are requested
>>
>> Both have their pros and cons, so I'd love the hear some real-world
>> experiences.
>>
>> In addition I'm wondering about the best way to present this choice
>> to the user.
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Florian_______________________________________________
>> ckan-dev mailing list
>> ckan-dev at lists.okfn.org
>> https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/ckan-dev
>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/ckan-dev
>
> _______________________________________________
> ckan-dev mailing list
> ckan-dev at lists.okfn.org
> https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/ckan-dev
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/ckan-dev
>