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Schema Services

Metadata schemas can be plugged into GeoNetwork - see Schema Plugins. Any application that needs to:

  • find information (eg. names, versions, namespaces, converters) about metadata schemas that are plugged into GeoNetwork should use the xml.info service
  • find information about the schema elements and codelists should use the xml.schema.info service described in this section of the manual
  • add, delete, update schema plugins in GeoNetwork should use the xml.metadata.schema.add, xml.metadata.schema.delete and xml.metadata.schema.update services described in this section of the manual

Metadata Schema Information (xml.info?type=schemas)

See xml.info for more details.

Schema Element and Codelist Information (xml.schema.info)

This service returns information about a set of schema elements or codelists. The returned information consists of a localised label, a description, conditions that the element must satisfy etc.

Request

Requests to this service can only be made using the HTTP POST binding with application/XML content type. Requests can ask for information on multiple elements and codelists from different schemas. Description of the request fields is as follows:

  • element: Must contain a schema and a name attribute. The schema attribute must be the name of a schema currently registered in GeoNetwork (see xml.info for more details). The name attribute must be the qualified name of the metadata schema element on which information is required. Other optional attributes can be specified to help determine the appropriate context for the metadata element. These optional attributes are:
    • context: The qualified name of the metadata schema element that is the parent of the element specified in the name attribute.
    • fullContext: The qualified xpath of the element specified in the name attribute.
    • isoType: For profiles of ISO19115/19139 only. The qualified name of the element in the base ISO19115/19139 schema that the element specified in the name attribute is a substitute for. eg. in the Marine Community Profile of ISO19115/19139, mcp:MD_Metadata is a substitute for gmd:MD_Metadata in the base ISO19115/19139 metadata schema.
  • codelist: Accepts a schema and name attribute as for element but information on any codelist associated with the qualified name of the metadata schema element in the name attribute will be returned instead.

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Note

The text returned is localised into the language specified in the the service call. eg. A call to /geonetwork/srv/eng/xml.schema.info will return text in the English (eng) language.

Response

If the request executed successfully then HTTP status code 200 will be returned along with an XML document containing the response. The root field of the response will be populated with information about the element/codelist specified in the request. The fields of the response are:

  • element: A container for information about a schema element. It has a name attribute which contains the qualified name of the element.
    • label: The human readable name of the element, localised into the language specified in the request.
    • description: A generic description of the element.
    • condition [0..1]: This field is optional and indicates if the element must satisfy a condition eg. mandatory. The condition text is displayed with the element name so it intended to be human readable.
  • codelist: A container for information about a codelist. It has a name attribute which contains the qualified name of the codelist.
    • entry [1..n]: A container for a codelist entry. There can be more than one entry.
      • code: The entry code. This is the value that will be used in the metadata.
      • label: This is a human readable name for the code, used to show the code in the user interface. It is localised.
      • description: A localised description/meaning of the code. The description is shown in the user interface with the label.

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language used in Application Schema mandatory creation date when the resource was brought into existence publication date when the resource was issued revision date identifies when the resource was examined or re-examined and improved or amended

Error management

If an exception occurs during the processing of the request, then an HTTP 500 status code is returned along with an XML document describing the exception. See Exception handling for more details.

Apart from exceptions, the service can encounter errors trying to retrieve an element/codelist information eg. if the requested element is not present. If such an error is encountered, then the object is copied from the response and an error attribute is added describing the error. An example of such a response is:

<response>
    <element schema="iso19139" name="blablabla" error="not-found"/>
</response>

Possible errors returned by xml.schema.info service:

Error code Description
unknown-schema The specified schema is not supported
unknown-namespace The namespace of the specified prefix was not found
not-found The requested element / codelist was not found

Add a metadata schema (xml.metadata.schema.add)

The xml.metadata.schema.add service can be used to add a metadata schema to GeoNetwork. The details of what the schema should contain are covered in the Schema Plugins section of this manual.

Only Administrator users can run this service.

Requires authentification: Yes

Request

Parameters:

  • schema: (mandatory) Name of the schema to add.

One of the following parameters:

  • fname: Server file name (full path) to metadata schema zip archive.
  • url: Http URL of metadata schema zip archive.
  • uuid: Uuid of metadata record in current catalog that has a metadata schema zip archive uploaded and stored with it.

Schema add request example:

Url:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/xml.metadata.schema.add

Mime-type:
application/xml

Post request:
<request>
  <schema>iso19139.mcp</schema>
  <fname>/usr/local/src/git/schemaPlugins-2.8.x/dist/iso19139.mcp.zip</fname>
</request>

Response

If the request executed succesfully then an HTTP 200 status code is returned and an XML document confirming success is returned. An example response is::

<response status="ok" message="Schema iso19139.mcp has been added/updated"/>

If the request fails then an HTTP 500 status code error is returned and the response contains an XML document with the details of the exception/what went wrong. An example error response is::

<error id="operation-aborted">
  <message>Schema already exists</message>
  <class>OperationAbortedEx</class>
  .....
</error>

See Exception handling for more details.

Update a metadata schema (xml.metadata.schema.update)

The xml.metadata.schema.update service can be used to update a metadata schema in GeoNetwork. The details of what the schema should contain are covered in the Schema Plugins section of this manual.

Only Administrator users can run this service.

Requires authentification: Yes

Request

Parameters:

  • schema: (mandatory) Name of the schema to update. Must be the name of a currently registered metadata schema in GeoNetwork.

One of the following parameters:

  • fname: Server file name (full path) to metadata schema zip archive.
  • url: Http URL of metadata schema zip archive.
  • uuid: Uuid of metadata record in current catalog that has a metadata schema zip archive uploaded and stored with it.

Schema update request example:

Url:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/xml.metadata.schema.update

Mime-type:
application/xml

Post request:
<request>
  <schema>iso19139.mcp</schema>
  <fname>/usr/local/src/git/schemaPlugins-2.8.x/dist/iso19139.mcp.zip</fname>
</request>

Response

If the request executed succesfully then an HTTP 200 status code is returned and an XML document confirming success is returned. An example response is::

<response status="ok" message="Schema iso19139.mcp has been added/updated"/>

If the request fails then an HTTP 500 status code error is returned and the response contains an XML document with the details of the exception/what went wrong. An example error response is::

<error id="operation-aborted">
  <message>Schema doesn't exist</message>
  <class>OperationAbortedEx</class>
  .....
</error>

See Exception handling for more details.

Delete a metadata schema (xml.metadata.schema.delete)

The xml.metadata.schema.delete service can be used to delete a metadata schema in GeoNetwork. A metadata schema can only be deleted if:

  • there are no metadata records in the catalog that use it
  • no other metadata schema is dependent on it

Only Administrator users can run this service.

Requires authentification: Yes

Request

Parameters:

  • schema: (mandatory) Name of the schema to delete. Must be the name of a currently registered metadata schema in GeoNetwork.

Schema delete request example:

Url:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/xml.metadata.schema.delete

Mime-type:
application/xml

Post request:
<request>
  <schema>iso19139.mcp</schema>
</request>

Response

If the request executed without an exception then an HTTP 200 status code is returned and an XML document giving status is returned. An example response is::

<response status="ok" message="Schema iso19139.mcp has been deleted"/>

Other responses may describe errors, in which case the status is set to "error". An example error response is::

<response status="error" message="Cannot remove schema iso19139 because there are records that belong to this schema in the catalog"/>

If the request fails due to an exception in the service then an HTTP 500 status code error is returned and the response contains an XML document with the details of the exception/what went wrong. An example error response is::

<error id="operation-aborted">
  <message>Schema doesn't exist</message>
  <class>OperationAbortedEx</class>
  .....
</error>

See Exception handling for more details.