Programmatically determine list of dataset "subjects"

[mih]

Calling pyDataverse.api.NativeApi.create_dataset() requires to specified "subjects". This is not optional, and it cannot be an arbitrary string.

The WebUI exposes a predefined list of identifiers

we have to be able to query this list programmatically, in order to be able to give meaningful advice for composing this mandatory dataset metadata.

[mih]

I confirmed that this list is not defined in pyDataverse code.

[bpoldrack]

This seems to be the request to get that list:

❱ curl -H X-Dataverse-key:$API_TOKEN $SERVER_URL/api/metadatablocks 
{"status":"OK","data":[{"id":1,"displayName":"Citation Metadata","name":"citation"},{"id":2,"displayName":"Geospatial Metadata","name":"geospatial"},{"id":3,"displayName":"Social Science and Humanities Metadata","name":"socialscience"},{"id":4,"displayName":"Astronomy and Astrophysics Metadata","name":"astrophysics"},{"id":5,"displayName":"Life Sciences Metadata","name":"biomedical"},{"id":6,"displayName":"Journal Metadata","name":"journal"}]} 

[ksarink]

This seems to be the request to get that list:

❱ curl -H X-Dataverse-key:$API_TOKEN $SERVER_URL/api/metadatablocks 
{"status":"OK","data":[{"id":1,"displayName":"Citation Metadata","name":"citation"},{"id":2,"displayName":"Geospatial Metadata","name":"geospatial"},{"id":3,"displayName":"Social Science and Humanities Metadata","name":"socialscience"},{"id":4,"displayName":"Astronomy and Astrophysics Metadata","name":"astrophysics"},{"id":5,"displayName":"Life Sciences Metadata","name":"biomedical"},{"id":6,"displayName":"Journal Metadata","name":"journal"}]} 

This api endpoint does not seem to provide the information needed. Under $SERVER_URL/api/metadatablocks/citation/ the field subject is defined but there is no information about the possible values. See:

"subject": {
    "name": "subject",
    "displayName": "Subject",
    "title": "Subject",
    "type": "TEXT",
    "watermark": "",
    "description": "Domain-specific Subject Categories that are topically relevant to the Dataset."
},

[pdurbin]

I'm sorry. The list of subjects is not available via API expect through an "admin" API that you usually can't reach unless you are ssh'ed into the Dataverse server.

I made a note about your request at IQSS/dataverse#1510 (comment)

In practice, you'll probably have to hard-code the list of subjects.

[bpoldrack]

Here is the list as extracted from the webinterface:

['Agricultural Sciences',
 'Arts and Humanities',
 'Astronomy and Astrophysics',
 'Business and Management',
 'Chemistry',
 'Computer and Information Science',
 'Earth and Environmental Sciences',
 'Engineering',
 'Law',
 'Mathematical Sciences',
 'Medicine, Health and Life Sciences',
 'Physics',
 'Social Sciences',
 'Other']

[bpoldrack]

FTR: Should have looked at the linked commit in the dataverse issue first.

From within the docker I can get it here:

curl http://localhost:8080/api/admin/datasetfield/controlledVocabulary/subject

Just noting it here, in case that endpoint becomes relevant for us in the future.

[pdurbin]

Please note that the plan is to introduce a non-admin API (to show the list of subjects, etc.) in this PR:

• #8944 - Extend 'metadatablocks/{block_id}' endpoint JSON output IQSS/dataverse#9213