Data Entry: The Big Picture
For practical usage documentation, see /documentation/bulkloader.html
All record entry goes through a table named bulkloader. There are several ways to write to this table, and any number of others are possible. The loader scripts may be set to load the record, or to load the record and trigger any UUID-linked records in ‘component loaders’ to also load.
Current
Arctos Entry Form
There is a generic record entry form provided as part of the Arctos UI.
Record Bulkloader
There is a well-developed bulkloader ecosystem with many tools, checks, cleanups, custom template building, etc.
Documentation
Documentation is provided as a Google Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VbNC3k17WAHMum_qD5UYoXxUUWwXXh5gZSM5vfGvRzU
Possibilities
Various points of expansion have been discussed, or are available but not used.
API
The loader has been implemented as an API (albeit one primarily intended for local consumption, an easy state to change) for well over a decade; authorities are available from the API. Developing a local tool that directly interacts with Arctos should be straightforward.
Multiple Entry Forms
issue - there’s been inconclusive discussion about having more than one entry form, possibly it/they could have baked-in rules that differ from the global form
Collection-specific rules
issue - there have been also-inconclusive discussions about adding ‘when collection then….’ types of rules to the bulk checker.
Fancy-up the one shared form
issue - Dynamically Highlight Required Data Entry Fields is a request for UI rules in the shared form.
Implement warnings
(no issue) - the checks currently return text, and anything other than NULL is considered a fail. PostgreSQL elegantly supports JSON, and adding warnings to the check (“Most collections of this type don’t do that….”) would be relatively trivial. Implementing this in a primarily-bulk ecosystem would require planning.
Mix-n-Match
Following multiple options - e.q., lots of forms all with increased complexity - would probaly require additional resources.
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