Administrative UI

Cordra includes a graphical interface for web browsers which enables users to create, retrieve, update, delete, search, and protect digital objects. When logged into the Cordra UI as an administrator, you will see an additional “Admin” dropdown menu at the top of the screen.

Each of these options can be used to modify how Cordra looks and functions. The options are described below.

Types

The Types page can be used to add and/or modify the types stored in Cordra. A list of types is shown. There are three default types. To edit a type, click on its name. An editor will appear, showing the schema and JavaScript for the type. Make any changes you would like, and then click the “Save” button.

New types can be added either one at a time or in bulk. To add an individual type, click the “Add” button. In the dialog that pops up, choose a name for the type and a template. If you would like for an example JavaScript to be populated in the editor, select the “Include example JavaScript” checkbox. Then click the “Add” button. The dialog will close, and the new type will be available in the editing interface. Make any additional changes required, and then click the “Save” button to save the new type.

To add multiple types at once, you will first need JSON file containing the types. Here is an example file:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "test/171a0606f7c74580fd39",
      "type": "Schema",
      "content": {
        "identifier": "test/171a0606f7c74580fd39",
        "name": "Group",
        "schema": < Schema json omitted for brevity >,
        "javascript": < JavaScript omitted for brevity >
      },
      "metadata": {
        "createdOn": 1535479938849,
        "createdBy": "admin",
        "modifiedOn": 1535479938855,
        "modifiedBy": "admin",
        "txnId": 65
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "test/171a0606f7c74580fd39",
      "type": "Schema",
      "content": {
        "identifier": "test/171a0606f7c74580fd39",
        "name": "Document",
        "schema": < Schema json omitted for brevity >
      },
      "metadata": {
        "createdOn": 1535479938849,
        "createdBy": "admin",
        "modifiedOn": 1535479938855,
        "modifiedBy": "admin",
        "txnId": 65
      }
    },
  ]
}

The format of the file is similar to the format of the response to an object query. You can download json for types currently in Cordra using the Search API:

GET /search?query=type:"Schema"

The results of this query can be edited to create a new file for upload. Extra fields like pageNum and pageSize do not need to be removed.

To upload the types file, first click the “Load from file” button in the Types admin UI. Next, select the file to upload. If you would like to delete existing types, check the checkbox indicting such. If you choose not to delete existing types first, an error will be throw if you try to upload a duplicate type. Click the “Load” button to load the types into Cordra.

Design Object

See Design Object for details.

UI Menu

Some UI configuration is stored as JSON within Cordra. Clicking on the UI menu will bring up an editor that can be used to modify this configuration.

Example UI Configuration:

{
    "title": "RepositoryTest",
    "allowUserToSpecifySuffixOnCreate": false,
    "initialFragment": "urls/intro.html",
    "relationshipsButtonText": "Show Relationships",
    "navBarLinks": [
        {
            "type": "url",
            "title": "External link",
            "url": "https://example.com/"
        },
        {
            "type": "about",
            "title": "About"
        },
        {
            "type": "menu",
            "title": "Queries",
            "links": [
                {
                    "type": "query",
                    "title": "All Objects",
                    "query": "*:*",
                    "sortFields": [
                        {
                            "name": "metadata/modifiedOn",
                            "reverse": true
                        }
                    ]
                },
                {
                    "type": "query",
                    "title": "Documents createdBy user",
                    "query": "+type:Document +(metadata/createdBy:\"{0}\") +(/description:{1})",
                    "queryForm": {
                        "description": "Form to select use and specify words in /description",
                        "fields": [
                            {
                                "name": "Username",
                                "type": "handleReference",
                                "types": [
                                    "User"
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "name": "Words in description",
                                "type": "string"
                            }
                        ]
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "type": "typeDropdown",
            "title": "Types"
        }
    ]
}

Here are the attributes available in the UI configuration object.

Attribute name	Description
title	The text used in the title bar to identify the service.
relationshipsButtonText	The text shown on the button used to show the relationships between objects.
allowUserToSpecifySuffixOnCreate	Provides an input box for the suffix of the object id when creating objects. The prefix is set in the handleMintingConfig.
allowUserToSpecifyHandleOnCreate	Provides an input box for the complete object id when creating objects.
initialQuery	A query to be loaded if none is present when the app is loaded.
initialFragment	A hash fragment to be loaded if none is present when the app is loaded. This can be used to run a query on page load or show a document.
initialSortFields	Sort fields to use in the UI if none is specified.
hideTypeInObjectEditor	Do not display object type under object ID in UI when editing.
numTypesForCreateDropdown	Number of types to display in the creation dropdown. If more than this number are available, a search interface will be shown instead.
aclUiSearchTypes	A list of types to be used in the UI for editing ACLs; typically the list of types which represent users and groups.
navBarLinks	An array of objects used for adding links to the navigation bar. Details below.
searchResults	Configuration for search results. Details below.
customAuthentication	Configuration of custom UI for client interaction with a 3rd party authentication provider to acquire an access token. See External Authentication Provider for details.

navBarLinks

Attribute name	Description
type	Can be query, typeDropdown, typeObjectsDropdown, url, about, or menu.
title	The text used on the link.
query	If the type is query this attribute holds the query to run.
sortFields	Sort fields for the query results.
url	If the type is url this attribute holds the url.
links	If the type is menu this property contains an array of link object that should be on menu.
queryForm	If the type is query this property contains configuration for a form that can be used to populate a pattern query.

Link Type query:

{
    "type": "query",
    "title": "All Objects",
    "query": "*:*",
    "sortFields": [
        {
            "name": "metadata/modifiedOn",
            "reverse": true
        }
    ]
}

A link of type query can contain a query and sortFields configuration. When clicked on that query will be performed and the results shown in the UI. The above example searches for all objects sorted by most recently modified.

Link Type query with a queryForm:

{
    "type": "query",
    "title": "Documents createdBy user",
    "query": "+type:Document +(metadata/createdBy:\"{0}\") +(/description:{1})",
    "queryForm": {
        "description": "Form to select use and specify words in /description",
        "fields": [
            {
                "name": "Username",
                "type": "handleReference",
                "types": [
                    "User"
                ]
            },
            {
                "name": "Words in description",
                "type": "string"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Sometimes it can be helpful to present a UI form for entering values that are then composed into a query. Here the query contains the numeric place holders {0} and {1}. The queryForm contains an array of fields. Each field will be rendered in a UI form for the user to interact with. When the query is run the values from those fields will be substituted into the numeric place holds in the query based on field order in the fields array. For example here the first field value will replace the {0} and the second field value will replace the {1}.

The above example uses string and handleReference field types. Available types are:

string: This will provide a text box in the form. The value of that text box will be substituted into the corresponding numeric place holder in the query.

boolean: This will provide a check box in the form. The value from the checkbox will be inserted into the query as the strings “true” or “false”

enum: Use this in combination with an array property allowedValues. The will provide a select box containing the values.

handleReference: This field type will create a search box in the form. The user can enter term to search for objects and select an object from the results. The id of the selected object will inserted into the queries numeric placeholder. Use this in combination with array properties types and optionally excludeTypes. The values in those arrays controls what types of objects may be selected.

Link Type url:

{
    "type": "url",
    "title": "External link",
    "url": "https://example.com/"
}

The url link when clicked on will show the page at the http url in an iframe embedded in the Cordra UI.

Link Type about:

{
    "type": "about",
    "title": "About"
}

The about link will display a page showing the Cordra server version information.

Link Type typeDropdown:

{
    "type": "typeDropdown",
    "title": "Show Objects of Type",
    "maxItems": 15
}

The typeDropdown link will add a menu listing the names of the types in the system. Clicking on one of those names will search for all objects of that type.

Link Type typeObjectsDropdown:

{
    "type": "typeObjectsDropdown",
    "title": "Types",
    "maxItems": 15
}

The typeObjectsDropdown link will add a menu listing the names of the types in the system. Clicking on one of those names will show the Schema object with that name.

Link Type menu:

{
    "type": "menu",
    "title": "Queries",
    "links": [
        {
            "type": "query",
            "title": "All Objects",
            "query": "*:*",
            "sortFields": [
                {
                    "name": "metadata/modifiedOn",
                    "reverse": true
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "type": "query",
            "title": "Documents createdBy",
            "query": "+type:Document"
        }
    ]
}

Here we create a menu in the navigation bar that contains links to two queries.

searchResults

Attribute name	Description
includeType	Include type in results display.
includeModifiedDate	Include modification date in results display.
includeCreatedDate	Include creation date in results display.

customAuthentication

Attribute name	Description
url	Url of the custom html page to be inserted into an iframe in the authentication dialog.
tabName	Name of the tab to be for this custom authentication in the authentication dialog.
height	Optional height to set the iframe.

Authorization Menu

Default access control lists are stored as JSON within Cordra. Clicking on the Authorization menu will bring up an editor that can be used to modify this configuration.

Example Authorization Configuration:

{
  "schemaAcls": {
    "User": {
      "defaultAclRead": [
        "authenticated"
      ],
      "defaultAclWrite": [
        "self"
      ],
      "aclCreate": []
    },
    "CordraDesign": {
      "defaultAclRead": [
        "public"
      ],
      "defaultAclWrite": [],
      "aclCreate": []
    },
    "Schema": {
      "defaultAclRead": [
        "public"
      ],
      "defaultAclWrite": [],
      "aclCreate": []
    }
  },
  "defaultAcls": {
    "defaultAclRead": [
      "authenticated"
    ],
    "defaultAclWrite": [
      "creator"
    ],
    "aclCreate": [
      "authenticated"
    ]
  }
}

For more information on configuring ACLs in Cordra, see Authorization.

Handle Records Menu

This screen can be used to modify Cordra’s Handle minting configuration. Once the configuration is modified, you can use the “Update All Handles” button to propagate changes to the affects Handle records. For more information on configuring Cordra and Handle integration, see Handle Integration.

Security Menu

This screen can be used to reset the password for the built-in Cordra admin user.

Design JavaScript Menu

JavaScript can be added to the Design object for the purposes of programmatically generating object ids when creating new objects. see Generate Object Id Hook, as well as for customizing queries, see Customize Query Hook.

Additionally, service-level static type methods can be defined in the Design object JavaScript, in the same way they are defined on Type objects. See Service-level Static Methods for details.

Warning

Care must be taken when importing Type methods using require statements. Since the Design object is sometimes loaded before any Types it might be requiring from, top-level require statements may fail. In such cases, you may need to import the module from within the method instead.