[pycsw-devel] Use extra_columns in pycsw-admin setup_db

[Tom Kralidis]

On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 7:11 AM, Thomas Mistelbauer
<Thomas.Mistelbauer at eodc.eu> wrote:
> Hi Tom,
>
> On Wed, 2017-06-14 at 21:26 -0400, Tom Kralidis wrote:
>> Hi Thomas:
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 9, 2017 at 3:29 AM, Thomas Mistelbauer
>> <Thomas.Mistelbauer at eodc.eu> wrote:
>> > Dear pycsw developers,
>> >
>> > I am currently setting up a pycsw server for the Earth Observation
>> > Data
>> > Centre (https://pycsw.eodc.eu/), where we mainly host Copernicus
>> > Sentinel
>> > data.
>> >
>>
>> Great to see this! Please feel free to add this deployment to our
>> Live
>> Deployments
>> wiki (https://github.com/geopython/pycsw/wiki/Live-Deployments) which
>> powers
>> our map at http://pycsw.org/community
>
> Did so :-)
>
>>
>> > So far, I managed to set up the server using the default metadata
>> > profiles,
>> > however, in the next step, we need to add additional metadata
>> > elements (e.g.
>> > cloud-coverage), that are not covered by both the standard profiles
>> > and the
>> > database table columns.
>> >
>> > I understand that I have to create a custom profile, however I
>> > don't really
>> > know what is the best way to extend the database table. I see that
>> > it is
>> > possible pass 'extra_columns' in setup_db, however, this argument
>> > is not
>> > used in the admin.setup_db in pycsw-admin.py. If I run setup_py in
>> > admin.py
>> > "manually", I lose the comfort of the config file. I know that this
>> > is no
>> > big deal, however, I would find it very convenient if it would be
>> > possible
>> > to set 'extra_columns' int the repository section of the config
>> > file, so
>> > that these columns are automatically created when pycsw-admin -c
>> > setup_db is
>> > executed.
>> >
>>
>> Very good point; setup_db's extra_columns argument was implemented
>> primarily for use by composable workflows (see how CKAN uses it in
>> https://github.com/ckan/ckanext-
>> spatial/blob/master/bin/ckan_pycsw.py#L17)
>
> Thank you for this tip, I'll have a closer look on that!
>>
>>
>> > Is there any reason why this is not the case already, or am I
>> > missing
>> > something completely, and there is a better way to implement
>> > additional
>> > columns? If not, then I would be happy to work on that :-)
>> >
>>
>> Can you open a GitHub issue for this enhancement? I think having
>> configurable columns in the pycsw config is a great idea and user
>> friendly.  Thanks for this feedback!
>
> I will do so! Meanwhile, I implemented this option in a very quick and
> dirty way in our fork (https://github.com/eodcgmbh/pycsw/)
>
> What I'm still struggeling with, is how to make this columns queryable.
>

Here's a minimal example to query based on a `cloud_cover` column:
https://gist.github.com/tomkralidis/ddf5ea8b08ae90df592863cf065bd35f

Having said this, it's a good time to update our profile plugin support to be
able to live outside the pycsw source code.  I'll work on this one (please
file a ticket? Thanks!).

..Tom

> Thanks for your response!
>
> Best regards,
> Thomas