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JSON Project Definition Format

This document describes the structure of a JSON project definition file that can be uploaded to a DSP server with the create command.

A project on a DSP server is like a container for data. It defines some basic metadata, the data model(s) and optionally the user(s) who will be able to access the data. After the creation of a project, data can be uploaded that conforms with the data model(s).

This documentation is divided into the following parts:

A Short Overview

A complete project definition looks like this:

{
  "prefixes": {
    "foaf": "http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/",
    "dcterms": "http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
  },
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dasch-swiss/dsp-tools/main/src/dsp_tools/resources/schema/project.json",
  "project": {
    "shortcode": "0123",
    "shortname": "BiZ",
    "longname": "Bildung in Zahlen",
    "descriptions": {
      "en": "This is a simple example project",
      "de": "Dies ist ein einfaches Beispielprojekt"
    },
    "keywords": [
      "example",
      "simple"
    ],
    "groups": [
      ...
    ],
    "users": [
      ...
    ],
    "lists": [
      ...
    ],
    "ontologies": [
      ...
    ]
  }
}

prefixes

(optional)

"prefixes": { "prefix": "<iri>", ...}

The prefixes object contains the prefixes of external ontologies that are used in the current file. All prefixes are composed of the prefix and a URI. The prefix is used as namespace, so one does not have to write the fully qualified name of the referenced object each time it is used. Instead of writing a property called familyName as http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/familyName one can simply write foaf:familyName.

{
  "prefixes": {
    "foaf": "http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/",
    "dcterms": "http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
  }
}

It is not necessary to define prefixes for the ontologies that are defined in the same file. Ontologies in the same file can be referenced by their name. See this section for more information about referencing ontologies.

$schema

(required)

The $schema object refers to the JSON schema for DSP data model definitions and is mandatory.

"$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dasch-swiss/dsp-tools/main/src/dsp_tools/resources/schema/project.json"

project

(required)

"project": {"key": "<value>", ...}

The project object contains the basic metadata about the project. The following fields are required:

  • shortcode
  • shortname
  • longname
  • descriptions
  • keywords
  • ontologies

The following fields are optional (if one or more of these fields are not used, they should be omitted):

  • lists
  • groups
  • users

The project Object in Detail

In the following section, all fields of the project object are explained in detail.

shortcode

(required)

"shortcode": "<4-hex-characters>"

The shortcode has to be unique and is represented by a 4 digit hexadecimal string. The shortcode has to be provided by the DaSCH.

shortname

(required)

"shortname": "<string>"

The shortname has to be unique. It should be in the form of a xsd:NCNAME. This means a string without blanks or special characters, but with - and _ are allowed (although not as first character).

longname

(required)

"longname": "<string>"

The longname is a string that provides the full name of the project.

descriptions

(required)

"descriptions": {"<lang>": "<string>", ...}

The description is represented as a collection of strings with language tags (currently, en, de, fr, it, and rm are supported).

keywords

(required)

"keywords": ["<string>", "<string>", ...]

Keywords are represented as an array of strings and are used to describe and/or tag the project.

groups

(optional)

"groups": [<group-definition>, <group-definition>,...]

The groups object contains project specific group definitions. As opposed to the built-in groups, the membership of the users to the project specific groups can be freely chosen by the ProjectAdmin. A project may define several groups such as "student-assistant", "editors", etc. in order to provide their members specific permissions. The groups that were created here are then available in the XML file in the <permissions> element.

A project specific group definition has the following elements:

  • name (mandatory): name of the group
  • descriptions (mandatory): description of the group with language tags in the form "descriptions": {"<lang>": "<string>", ...} (currently, en, de, fr, it, and rm are supported).
  • selfjoin (optional): true if users are allowed to join the group themselves, false (default) if a ProjectAdmin has to add them
  • status (optional): true (default) if the group is active, false if the group is inactive

Example:

{
  "groups": [
    {
      "name": "biz-editors",
      "descriptions": {"en" : "Editors for the BiZ project"},
      "selfjoin": false,
      "status": true
    }
  ]
}

users

(optional)

"users": [<user-definition>, <user-definition>,...]

This object contains user definitions. A user has the following elements:

  • username: username used for login
  • email: email that identifies the user, has to be unique within DSP
  • givenName: first name of the user
  • familyName: surname of the user
  • password: password of the user
  • lang: the default language of the user: en, de, fr, it, rm (optional, default: en)
  • groups (optional): List of groups the user belongs to. The group names must be provided in one of the following forms:
    • other_project_shortname:groupname
    • :groupname (for groups defined in the current JSON project file)
    • SystemAdmin (the most powerful group, built-in into DSP)
  • projects (optional): List of projects the user belongs to. The project name has to be followed by a : and either member or admin. This indicates if the new user has admin rights in the given project or is an ordinary user. myproject:admin would add the user as admin to the project myproject. The project defined in the same JSON project file can be omitted, so only :admin or :member is enough. Note that in order to give a user :admin rights, he also needs to be a :member of the project.
    • If projects is omitted, the user won't be part in any project.
  • status (optional): true (default) if the user is active, false if the user is deleted/inactive

Example:

{
  "users": [
    {
      "username": "bizedit",
      "email": "bizedit@test.org",
      "givenName": "biz-given",
      "familyName": "biz-family",
      "password": "biz1234",
      "lang": "en",
      "groups": [
        ":biz-editors",
        "SystemAdmin"
      ],
      "projects": [
        ":admin",
        "otherProject:member"
      ], 
      "status": true
    }
  ]
}

The users element is optional. If not used, it should be omitted.

lists

(optional)

"lists": [<list-definition>,<list-definition>,...]

Lists can be used to provide controlled vocabularies. They can be flat or hierarchical. One advantage of the use of hierarchical lists is that it allows a user to sub-categorize objects. This helps in the formulation of specific search requests. If there is a list node "Vocal music" and sub-nodes "Song" and "Opera", a search for "Vocal Music" would return objects classified as "Song" and "Opera". But a search for "Song" would only return objects classified as "Song".

The "lists" section is an array of list definitions. A list definition has one root node whose name is used to identify the list. The children of the root node are the list nodes. If the list is hierarchical, the list nodes can have children, and these children can again have children, etc.

When a project defines a list, resources can use the list values by defining a list property, e.g. a property with object "ListValue".

A node of a list may have the following elements:

  • name (mandatory): Name of the node. Has to be unique within the entire "lists" section.
  • labels (mandatory): Label with language tags in the form {"<lang>": "<label>", "<lang>": "<label>", ... }. At least one language needs to be specified. Currently, en, de, fr, it, and rm are supported.
  • comments (mandatory for root node, optional for all other nodes): Comment with language tags in the form {"<lang>": "<comment>", "<lang>": "<comment>", ... }. Currently, en, de, fr, it, and rm are supported.
  • nodes (optional): Array of sub-nodes.

Example of a "lists" section that contains the two lists "color" and "category":

{
    "lists": [
        {
            "name": "color",
            "labels": {
                "de": "Farbe",
                "en": "Color"
            },
            "comments": {
                "de": "Eine Liste mit einigen Farben",
                "en": "A list with some colors"
            },
            "nodes": [
                {
                    "name": "red",
                    "labels": {
                        "de": "rot",
                        "en": "red"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "name": "yellow",
                    "labels": {
                        "de": "gelb",
                        "en": "yellow"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "name": "blue",
                    "labels": {
                        "de": "blau",
                        "en": "blue"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "name": "green",
                    "labels": {
                        "de": "grün",
                        "en": "green"
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "name": "category",
            "labels": {
                "de": "Kategorie",
                "en": "category"
            },
            "comments": {
                "de": "Eine Liste mit Kategorien",
                "en": "A list with categories"
            },
            "nodes": [
                {
                    "name": "artwork",
                    "labels": {
                        "de": "Kunstwerk",
                        "en": "artwork"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "name": "vehicles",
                    "labels": {
                        "de": "Fahrzeuge",
                        "en": "vehicles"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "name": "nature",
                    "labels": {
                        "de": "Natur",
                        "en": "nature"
                    },
                    "nodes": [
                        {
                            "name": "humanes",
                            "labels": {
                                "de": "Menschen",
                                "en": "Humanes"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "name": "animals",
                            "labels": {
                                "de": "Tiere",
                                "en": "Animals"
                            },
                            "nodes": [
                                {
                                    "name": "mammals",
                                    "labels": {
                                        "de": "Säugetiere",
                                        "en": "Mammals"
                                    }
                                },
                                {
                                    "name": "insects",
                                    "labels": {
                                        "de": "Insekten",
                                        "en": "Insects"
                                    }
                                },
                                {
                                    "name": "birds",
                                    "labels": {
                                        "de": "Vögel",
                                        "en": "Birds"
                                    }
                                },
                                {
                                    "name": "amphibians",
                                    "labels": {
                                        "de": "Ambhibien",
                                        "en": "Amphibians"
                                    }
                                },
                                {
                                    "name": "reptiles",
                                    "labels": {
                                        "de": "Reptilien",
                                        "en": "Reptiles"
                                    }
                                }
                            ]
                        },
                        {
                            "name": "plants",
                            "labels": {
                                "de": "Pflanzen",
                                "en": "Plants"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "name": "weather",
                            "labels": {
                                "de": "Wetter",
                                "en": "Weather"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "name": "physics",
                            "labels": {
                                "de": "Physik",
                                "en": "Physics"
                            }
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

lists from Excel

Instead of being described in JSON, a list can be imported from one or several Excel files. In this case, the nodes element of the root node consists of {"folder": "<path-to-folder-containing-the-excel-files>"}. In the above example, the list "color" could be imported as follows:

{
    "lists": [
        {
            "name": "color",
            "labels": {
                "de": "Farbe",
                "en": "Color"
            },
            "comments": {
                "de": "Eine Liste mit einigen Farben",
                "en": "A list with some colors"
            },
            "nodes": {
                "folder": "path-to-folder"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "category",
            "labels": {
                "de": "Kategorie",
                "en": "category"
            },
            "comments": {
                "de": "Eine Liste mit Kategorien",
                "en": "A list with categories"
            },
            "nodes": [
                "..."
            ]
        }
    ]
}

To do so, it would be necessary to place the following two files into the folder "path-to-folder":
Colors_en
Farben_de

The expected format of the Excel files is documented here. The only difference to the explanations there is that column A of the Excel worksheet is not interpreted as list name (root node), but as node name of the first children level below the root node.

ontologies

(required)

"ontologies": [<ontology-definition>, <ontology-definition>, ...]

Inside the ontologies array, a project may have multiple ontology definitions. An ontology definition consists of the following fields:

  • name
  • label
  • properties
  • resources

The ontologies array is documented here

Fully Fleshed-Out Example of a JSON Project File

DaSCH provides you with two example repositories that contain everything which is necessary to create a project and upload data. Both of them also contain a JSON project definition file. You can find them here:

In addition, there is another complete example of a JSON project file here:

{
  "prefixes": {
    "foaf": "http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/",
    "dcterms": "http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
  },
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dasch-swiss/dsp-tools/main/src/dsp_tools/resources/schema/project.json",
  "project": {
    "shortcode": "0170",
    "shortname": "teimp",
    "longname": "Test Import",
    "descriptions": {
      "en": "This is a project for testing the creation of ontologies and data.",
      "de": "Dies ist ein Projekt, um die Erstellung von Ontologien und Datenimport zu testen."
    },
    "keywords": [
      "test",
      "import"
    ],
    "lists": [
      {
        "name": "orgtype",
        "labels": {
          "en": "Organization Type",
          "de": "Organisationsart"
        },
        "comments": {
          "en": "List of different organization types",
          "de": "Liste unterschiedlicher Organisationstypen"
        },
        "nodes": [
          {
            "name": "business",
            "labels": {
              "en": "Commerce",
              "de": "Handel"
            },
            "nodes": [
              {
                "name": "transport",
                "labels": {
                  "en": "Transportation",
                  "de": "Transport"
                }
              },
              {
                "name": "finances",
                "labels": {
                  "en": "Finances",
                  "de": "Finanzen"
                }
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "name": "society",
            "labels": {
              "en": "Society",
              "de": "Gesellschaft"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "ontologies": [
      {
        "name": "teimp",
        "label": "Test import ontology",
        "properties": [
          {
            "name": "firstname",
            "super": [
              "hasValue",
              "foaf:givenName"
            ],
            "object": "TextValue",
            "labels": {
              "en": "Firstname",
              "de": "Vorname"
            },
            "gui_element": "SimpleText",
            "gui_attributes": {
              "size": 24,
              "maxlength": 32
            }
          },
          {
            "name": "lastname",
            "super": [
              "hasValue",
              "foaf:familyName"
            ],
            "object": "TextValue",
            "labels": {
              "en": "Lastname",
              "de": "Nachname"
            },
            "gui_element": "SimpleText",
            "gui_attributes": {
              "size": 24,
              "maxlength": 64
            }
          },
          {
            "name": "member",
            "super": [
              "hasLinkTo"
            ],
            "object": ":organization",
            "labels": {
              "en": "member of",
              "de": "Mitglied von"
            },
            "gui_element": "Searchbox"
          },
          {
            "name": "name",
            "super": [
              "hasValue"
            ],
            "object": "TextValue",
            "labels": {
              "en": "Name",
              "de": "Name"
            },
            "gui_element": "SimpleText",
            "gui_attributes": {
              "size": 64,
              "maxlength": 64
            }
          },
          {
            "name": "orgtype",
            "super": [
              "hasValue"
            ],
            "object": "ListValue",
            "labels": {
              "en": "Organization type",
              "de": "Organisationstyp"
            },
            "comments": {
              "en": "Type of organization",
              "de": "Art der Organisation"
            },
            "gui_element": "List",
            "gui_attributes": {
              "hlist": "orgtype"
            }
          }
        ],
        "resources": [
          {
            "name": "person",
            "super": "Resource",
            "labels": {
              "en": "Person",
              "de": "Person"
            },
            "comments": {
              "en": "Represents a human being",
              "de": "Repräsentiert eine Person/Menschen"
            },
            "cardinalities": [
              {
                "propname": ":firstname",
                "gui_order": 1,
                "cardinality": "1"
              },
              {
                "propname": ":lastname",
                "gui_order": 2,
                "cardinality": "1"
              },
              {
                "propname": ":member",
                "gui_order": 3,
                "cardinality": "0-n"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "name": "organization",
            "super": "Resource",
            "labels": {
              "en": "Organization",
              "de": "Organisation"
            },
            "comments": {
              "en": "Denotes an organizational unit",
              "de": "Eine Institution oder Trägerschaft"
            },
            "cardinalities": [
              {
                "propname": ":name",
                "gui_order": 1,
                "cardinality": "1-n"
              },
              {
                "propname": ":orgtype",
                "gui_order": 2,
                "cardinality": "1-n"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}