[kepler-dev] Creating kar files

[Shawn Bowers]

Hi,

I changed the functionality of the "Save in library", which no longer 
builds a Kar file. Prior to changing the functionality, "Save in library" 
was being used for both "export kar" (to a local file) as well as saving 
the kar to the library.  Now, this operation only saves to the library, 
and so no longer needs to create a kar file.  Kar file creation should now 
be performed through "Export as Kar", as per Laura et al's redesign -- 
which I am not sure exists within the menu's at this time (and if 
not, we need to implement it.)  Export kar is simply a file save 
operation, however, the file being saved is a generated kar.

I didn't contribute to the "Upload to repository" operation -- so I'm not 
sure why it doesn't work.  I do recall Chad saying that the repository was 
"temporary" (i.e., the location to where the actors are stored), and so 
that might be one of the causes.  Chad would be the one to ask here ...

-shawn



On Thu, 29 Jun 2006, Matt Jones wrote:

> Uggg.  I was under the impression that the 'Upload to repository...' was 
> working when Chad last left it. I even saw it working myself on both linux 
> and windows when I was prepping for my site review demo. Did something 
> change?  We really need regression tests that can pick up when a change in 
> the code causes a related feature to break!
>
> AFAIK, both the 'Save in library' and the 'Upload to repository' used to 
> create KAR files as Chad had implemented it, and then those KAR files were 
> imported into the cache as needed.  Hopefully Chad and Shawn can clarify what 
> has happened.
>
> Thanks,
> Matt
>
> Dan Higgins wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>    I have been looking at the latest version of Kepler and the ability to 
>> save new actors. Just before the Beta1 release, Shawn reworked the action 
>> associated with the 'Save in Library...'  context menu. His new 
>> 'SaveInLibraryDialog' class (in $Kepler/src/org/kepler/ksw/gui/) makes it 
>> much easier to associate actors with several ontology categories. So 
>> putting a new/revised actor into the actor tree is pretty easy.
>>    However, it looks like the code puts the actor directly into the object 
>> cache in the form of a serialized object, rather than creating a *.kar file 
>> and there is no obvious way of creating a *.kar file from the cache object. 
>> I think the earlier version (CreateKSWDialog by Chad)actually created a kar 
>> file.
>>    First of all, I am not sure why the cache uses a serialized object 
>> rather than a kar file (perfomance?). And it seems to me that we do need to 
>> create a kar at times, if only for local storage. (I assume the 'Upload to 
>> Repository' sends a kar file, but that code appears to be broken currently) 
>> Also, there is a commented out line in the uiContextMenuMappings file for a 
>> menu item 'Export as Kepler Archive'.
>>    So, my question is:
>>
>>    Do we want to just add the 'Export as Kepler Archive' menu, or perhaps 
>> modify the new 'Save in Library' dialog to also allow the user to create a 
>> local kar file?
>>
>>    Or perhaps we should just use serialized objects like the cache does? Of 
>> course, these are not human readable/editable files, but presumably when 
>> the actor has been added to the list, it can be dragged to the work area 
>> and edited there.
>> 
>> Dan
>> 
>
> -- 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Matt Jones                                   Ph: 907-789-0496
> jones at nceas.ucsb.edu                    SIP #: 1-747-626-7082
> National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
> UC Santa Barbara     http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/ecoinformatics
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>