Linked dataverses dont (always) show up in their linking dataverses

[AACGSR]

Very closely related to:

• Linking Dataverse does not update child dataset indexes #8724

• using version v. 5.1.1 build 221-1b59dac

Our Dataverses hierarchy goes root - level 1 - level 2 - level 3. All three levels have multiple dataverses.

Many linked dataverses dont appear in their linking dataverses. The link Dataverse API gives back 200 and a database entry is added properly, yet they don't show up being linked in those dataverses. Neither reindexing the linking dataverses nor a full reindex helps with this.

Linking level 1 into level 1 works.
Linking level 2 into level 1 works.
Linking level 3 into level 1 works.

Linking level 1 into level 3 doesnt work.
Linking level 2 into level 3 doesnt work.
Linking level 1 into level 2 doesnt work.
Linking level 2 into level 2 doesnt work.
Linking level 3 into level 3 doesnt work.
Linking level 3 into level 2 doesnt work.

We assume that linking a superior level dataverse into a subordinated dataverse does not work as a feature, since it's considered to be unlogical (please correct me if this should work).
However this doesnt explain all of the "doesnt work" lines above.

[djbrooke]

Hi @AACGSR - it's possible that you're running into this issue, just on a Dataverse instead of a Dataset:

#7259

Can you see if there are multiple entries in the DB?

[AACGSR]

Thanks @djbrooke

Indeed there was a double entry I did know about (the first time the linked dataverse didnt show up, I linked it via GUI, and retried using the API for the same link, which resulted in two rows in the DB). However, every other link that failed only has one DB entry. I just deleted the 2nd row of the double entry and ran a reindex. Unfortunately, that did not help.

[pdurbin]

I just wanted to mentioned I fixed the double row/entry problem in 5d4a3dc in pull request #7415 but it hasn't been merged yet.

[pdurbin]

Linking level 2 into level 2 doesnt work.

I can confirm that this doesn't work (and I assume deeper levels don't work either). In 403a966 for pull request #7415 I wrote some tests to exercise this. Hopefully they will be a good starting point when we pick this up.

[kcondon]

I'm assuming the test cases are between two separate dataverses so linking level 1 of dv1 to level 1 of dv2, level 2 of dv1 (dv1_1) into level 2 of dv2 (dv2_1)?

While testing the duplicate linking pr, I did find you could link a parent dv into a child dv, which I don't think should be allowed, eg. linking dv1 into dv1_1. That is possible in both the UI and API. Also, linking in this case reports success but then the parent dv, in this example dv1, doesn't appear in the ui in the child, dv1_1. In a separate slack note, Gustavo thought it could be argued that allowing a parent to link to a child might be acceptable so it make me wonder whether at some point this was by design because it also exists in the UI.

[AACGSR]

I'm assuming the test cases are between two separate dataverses so linking level 1 of dv1 to level 1 of dv2, level 2 of dv1 (dv1_1) into level 2 of dv2 (dv2_1)?

Exactly!

[plesubc]

UBC is experiencing similar behaviour with Dataverse v5.6 (cf: https://groups.google.com/g/dataverse-community/c/DDmVelt3Zfk)

Note that this behaviour is not limited to our production server; it also occurs on our test server with newly created collections and data sets. Generally speaking, the linking we are generally using is with datasets on the same hierarchy.

root
collection A
collection B
collection C
collection D

Collections B and C, if linked to A, show only the collection title but no contents. Even if collection D is linked directly to A, there are no contents displayed, even though D is one level down.

[pdurbin]

Seems related:

• Linking Dataverse does not update child dataset indexes #8724

[mreekie]

priority:

• This came in from a customer this week.
• Brought in by Gustavo.

[mreekie]

@scolapasta - is this part of the harvesting feature?

[pdurbin]

@mreekie no, this is unrelated to harvesting.

Here are the docs on collection linking: https://guides.dataverse.org/en/5.12/user/dataverse-management.html#dataverse-collection-linking

According to the docs (and I have no reason to doubt this), it's still a superuser-only feature.

Both Saved Search and Linking are still technically experimental according to the API Guide: https://guides.dataverse.org/en/5.12/api/native-api.html#saved-search