MEF services

This section describes the services related to the Metadata Exchange Format. These services allow import/export metadata using the MEF (Metadata Exchange Format) format.

Note

before using these services please review the section on the MEF format at Metadata Exchange Format

mef.export

This service exports GeoNetwork metadata using the MEF file format. The metadata record can be specified using a uuid or the currently selected set of metadata records can be used - see Select metadata records (xml.metadata.select) for more details on how to select a set of metadata records.

This service is public but metadata access rules apply. For a partial export, the view privilege is enough but for a full export the download privilege is also required. Without a login step, only partial exports on public metadata are allowed.

This service uses the system temporary directory to build the MEF file. By default the tmp directory is INSTALL_DIR/web/geonetwork/data. You will need to ensure that sufficient disk space is available on that filesystem for full exports (ie. those that include data files uploaded with the metadata record) to be successful. Alternatively, you can specify a different directory by configuring the uploadDir parameter in the general section of the INSTALL_DIR/web/geonetwork/WEB-INF/config.xml file.

Request

This service accepts requests in GET/POST and XML form. The input parameters are all optional and are as follows:

  • uuid the universal unique identifier of the metadata to be exported. If this parameter is optional then the selected set of metadata will be exported. To select a set of metadata see Select metadata records (xml.metadata.select).
  • format which MEF format to use. Can be one of: simple, partial, full. Default is full - which means thumbnails and data files uploaded with the metadata record are included in the MEF.
  • skipUuid (true|false) If set to true, the metadata record UUIDs will not be exported into the MEF info.xml file. Without a UUID (which is a unique key inside the database) the metadata records in a MEF can be repeatedly imported as they will receive a new UUID on import. The default value is false.
  • version (true|false) If set to true, MEF Version 2.0 is used, otherwise MEF Version 1.0 is used. This parameter needs to be present if related records are being included in the MEF - see the relation parameter below.
  • resolveXlink (true|false) If set to true, then any XLinks in the metadata records are resolved before the records are exported. If false, the metadata records are exported with unresolved XLinks. Default is true.
  • removeXlinkAttributes (true|false) If set to true, then any XLink attributes in the metadata records are removed before the records are exported. Default is true.
  • relation (true|false) If set to true and version is also set to true, then related records (eg.parent, feature catalog) are exported into the MEF with the metadata record. Default is true.

Example POST request:

<request>
 <uuid>f80bca2e-ff75-4107-8999-4c1864cb1b1b</uuid>
 <format>full</format>
 <skipUuid>true</skipUuid>
 <version>true</version>
 <relation>true</relation>
</request>

URL:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/mef.export

Response

If successful the service returns HTTP status code 200 and the response is a MEF file with name as follows:

  • prefix is export-
  • MEF format: simple, partial, full
  • current time in milliseconds since 1970
  • zip extension

eg. export-full-1357949862822.zip

If an exception occurred then service returns HTTP status code 500 and an XML document describing what went wrong. An example of such a response is:

<error id="metadata-not-found">
  <message>Metadata not found</message>
  <class>MetadataNotFoundEx</class>
  .......
</error>

See Exception handling for more details.

mef.import

This service is used to import a metadata record in the MEF format.

Only users with the Administrator profile can run this service.

Request

The service accepts a multipart/form-data POST request with a single mefFile parameter that must contain the MEF information.

Response

If the import is successful, the service returns HTTP status code 200 along with an XML document containing the GeoNetwork integer id of the created metadata. Example:

<ok>123</ok>

If an exception occurred then service returns HTTP status code 500 and an XML document describing what went wrong. An example of such a response is:

<error id="metadata-not-found">
  <message>Metadata not found</message>
  <class>MetadataNotFoundEx</class>
  .......
</error>

See Exception handling for more details.

Notes

  • Version 1.0 of the MEF format does not capture the metadata owner (the creator) and the group owner. During import, the user that is performing this operation will become the metadata owner and the group owner will be set to null.
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