EML and Morpho

[Matt Jones]

Hey Reiner,

Glad to be of help.

EML packages (via triples) currently support linking across packages, so 
you can re-use the same document in multiple packages.  This has 
benefits (akin to db normalization) and costs (access control, 
ownership, and multiple update problems abound).  So, in our most recent 
EML meeting we discussed redesigning the packaging structure to only 
allow linking within a single package.  Thus, one could reuse a party 
description or attribute list within a package, but not across several. 
  This is a compromise that keeps some reusability but has fewer 
management problems.  Along with this change is an ability to put all 
metadata and data in a single document for transport -- while still not 
limiting ourselves to a monolithinc structure.  We're working on these 
changes now.

Morpho does not currently support the reuse of metadata modules.  It is 
a planned feature, but does not exist right now.

Document appearance can be controlled in Morpho by reconfiguring the 
editor and wizard components for a particular DTD.  The editor is pretty 
flexible, and allows you to substitute various editing widgets for 
particular fields. So, you could have a checkbox for yes/no or other 
boolean fields.  How to set this up is not at all documented.  We'd be 
happy to help if you want to travel this path.

Field validation is not currently supported except in some special 
circumstances.  We want to add this feature, and we plan to do so when 
we transition to using XML Schemas rather than DTDs to represent the 
schema.  XML Schema allows us to associate precise data types with each 
element and then validate field contents against that type.  We will be 
adding this feature in the future.  We have the schemas under EML 
development.

Matt

Reiner Krause wrote:
> Dear Matt,
> 
> Thank you very much for your answer to my last e-mail concerning EML and
> other metadata standards.
> 
> Additionally I would like to know if modularity of EML also means that
> one description (for example of a responsible party) can be shared by
> many documents? If so, does Morpho support the selection of an already
> for an old document stored party for a new document alternatively to
> keying in a new one?
> 
> Is it possible to control the appearance of EML-documents within Morpho?
> Could I for example determine the location and size of text fields? Can
> I choose to represent a Yes/No Text field as a check box?
> Can Morpho check data types in order to only allow numbers or valid
> dates in certain fields?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Reiner Krause
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Reiner Krause
> Database Development
> Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry
> P.O. Box 10 01 64
> 07701 Jena
> Germany
> 
> For package delivery, please use:
> Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 10
> 07745 Jena
> Germany
> 
> Phone: +49 - (0) 3641 - 64 37 14
> Fax: +49 - (0) 3641 - 64 37 10
> E-Mail: rkrause at bgc-jena.mpg.de
> 



-- 
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Matt Jones                                    jones at nceas.ucsb.edu
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/    Fax: 425-920-2439   Ph: 907-789-0496
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)

Interested in ecological informatics? http://www.ecoinformatics.org
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