How to Manage and Edit Resources

It is important for publishers and administrators to not only publish resources to the geoportal, but to manage their published resources as well. Tasks such as updating existing records with new information, setting the access level of a resource, reviewing and approving records (if you are an administrator), and maintaining updated registration information for registered resources on the network are important maintenance tasks for resources within the geoportal. This topic discusses how to use the Manage page on the geoportal web application, and then discusses different ways to edit resources.

How to Manage Resources

Resources are managed through the Administration > Manage interface in the geoportal web application. A publisher user can only view and manage the resources he/she owns, whereas an administrator can view and manage all the records uploaded by all publishers and him/herself. The Manage Resources page, available when a publisher or administrator clicks Administration > Manage has five parts. Each is described below.

1. Links at the Top: At the top of the page, just above the Manage Resources text, there are two links.
   • Manage: brings users to the Manage Resources page, and is activated by default when a user first clicks the Administration tab.
   • Add: directs users to a list of choices for adding a resource to the geoportal through publishing.
2. Manage resources search fields: The Manage resources search allows publishers to search through the resources they published to the geoportal. Underneath the Manage Resources text, there are fields that help organize the list of resources. By filling these fields with terms, publishers can filter the records he/she owns to find specific records. Each field is described below. The filters are applied when the publisher clicks Search.

   Filter	Description
   Document title	searches the resources' title elements for the search term
   Document UUID	searches for the DocUID from the geoportal database (will be the same DocUID in the resource's REST URL)
   Document owner	Select a publisher from this drop down list to search for resources that are owned by that publisher. If you are not a geoportal administrator, this drop down list will only populate with your username.
   Approval status	Select a status from this drop down list to search for resources that have a status of Posted, Approved, Incomplete, Disapproved, Reviewed, or Draft. If the Any option is selected, then resources will be returned regardless of their status.
   Publication method	Select a publication method from this drop down list to search for resources that were published to the geoportal by a certain method: Any: resources will be returned regardless of their publication method Registration: resources registered as a network resource Upload: resources published by Uploading Editor: resources published through the Geoportal's Create Metadata form Synchronization: resources published from synchronizing with a registered network resource Batch: resources published using the Geoportal Publish Client Other: resources published by a means other than Registration, Upload, Editor, Synchronization, or Batch
   Update date	These two fields define the beginning and ending dates between which the resource was most recently updated

   When results are returned, you can work with each resource individually, or if you are an Administrative user you can apply changes to the status of all resulting records by checking the Apply action to the entire result set checkbox. Note, this checkbox will only appear after you have carried out a search using the manage resources search fields, and any status changes you apply will be reflected in the Geoportal Search page after the Lucene index synchronizes with the Geoportal database (a process that occurs at a scheduled time increment set in the Geoportal configuration files).
3. For selected records drop down list: Below the search fields section, there is a drop down box where publishers can dictate specific actions that change the status of selected resources in the resources table. The actions available from the drop down list are different for publishers and administrators. Actions are carried out when a user checks the checkbox next to one or more resources in the resources table, chooses an action, and clicks the Execute Action button. The table below describes the actions and which user roles can access them.

   Action	Description	Roles that can access
   Set as Posted	Posted resources have not yet been approved, and therefore cannot be discovered through the geoportal search interface.	publisher, administrator
   Set as Approved	Marks the resource as searchable through the geoportal interface.	administrator
   Set as Incomplete	Marks the resource as not having sufficient information to be approved.	publisher, administrator
   Set as Disapproved	Marks the resource as being reviewed and not approved by the geoportal administrator. Disapproved resources are not discoverable through the geoportal search interface.	administrator
   Set as Reviewed	Marks the resource as having been reviewed by the geoportal administrator, and discoverable in search results.	administrator
   Transfer Ownership	Allows the administrator to select the resource's new owner from a drop down list that appears below the actions drop down box. Changing the ownership of a resource will not change its status or its update date.	administrator
   Delete	Deletes the resource from the geoportal.	publisher, administrator
   Set Access Level	Allows the publisher to determine what groups should be allowed access the resource. For more information, see How to Restrict Access to Resources	publisher, administrator

4. Resources Table: This table lists all of the resources returned as a result of the Manage Resources search field criteria. Above the resources table is text indicating how many records were returned and how many are displayed on the page. If many resources are returned, results may span more than one page, and can be navigated using the page number boxes just above the table. There are several headings in the table. The resources in the table can be sorted according to the headings by clicking on the heading. Each record has an empty checkbox and also buttons next to it. Select the record by clicking the checkbox, and then choose an action to be executed from the For selected records drop down list above the table.
5. Icons next to each resource in the table: There are two types of resources in the resource table. One type is metadata documents that are published by uploading, using the Publish Client, synchronized from a network resource, or created using the geoportal editor. The other type is registered resources on the network. In the resources table, each resource button icons next to it. Some buttons appear for both types of resources, whereas others appear only for one or the other. The table below describes the buttons, their functionalities, and with which types of resources they are used.

   Icon name	Description	Type of resource
   View	Opens a new window displaying the raw metadata XML for the resource.	metadata resource
   History	Navigates to the Synchronization History page, where it is possible to view reports on the synchronization sessions.	registered resource on the network
   Edit	If the resource was published using an online form in the geoportal interface, then this icon will be activated. It opens the form and allows users to change the resource's metadata (for metadata resources) or registration information (for registered resources on the network). This button will be grayed out if the record was published through Upload, the Publish Client, or synchronization from another resource.	metadata resource and registered resource on the network
   Download	Allows the owner of the resource to download the metadata resource from the geoportal. The downloaded XML document can be imported in ArcCatalog with the original dataset or updated using external XML editors.	metadata resource
   Synchronize content	Initiates a synchronization session immediately upon clicking. Once clicked, the user will be prompted to continue and synchronization will begin.	registered resource on the network
   Cancel Synchronization	If the resource is being synchronized at this moment, this icon will replace the Synchronize content icon. Clicking the Cancel synchronization icon will prompt the user if he/she wants to cancel the synchronization process. If he/she chooses to cancel it, all records that have already been synchronized during that session will remain in the geoportal, but the synchronization session will immediately halt.	registered resource on the network
   Delete	Allows the owner of the resource to delete the selected resource from the collection.	metadata resource and registered resource on the network
   Find Parent Resource	Will find and display the parent resource from which the selected resource is synchronized.	metadata resource
   Find Child Resources	Will find and display all resources synchronized from the selected registered network resource.	registered resource on the network

Editing Resources

There are a number of ways to edit resources published to the Geoportal. Best practice is to edit metadata at its source, and then republish the metadata so it is updated in the geoportal catalog. For example, if you use ArcGIS Desktop to author and update metadata, you would want to make your edits to the metadata using ArcCatalog, and then republish by either registering your resource on the network, uploading the updated metadata xml, or running the Publish Client. This way, the latest information is published to the geoportal, but the information is also associated with your data resource as well.

Sometimes it is not possible to edit metadata at the source. In these cases, it is possible to use tools provided by the Geoportal to edit the information about the resource. For example, if you used the Geoportal's dedicated editor to create metadata manually, then you can use the dedicated editor to edit and update the metadata. Or if you uploaded the metadata or it was synchronized from a registered resource on the network, you can edit the metadata using an external metadata editor. These two methods are described below.

Edit metadata using the geoportal editor

The geoportal metadata editor is accessed from the Administration tab, when a publisher or administrator clicks the pencil icon next to a record in the document table. The metadata editor form is loaded and populated with the information previously entered describing the resource. After updating information in the form, click the Save button at the bottom of the screen. The old information will be replaced with your new information, and the resource is republished.

Caution:

If the metadata was not created using the geoportal metadata editor, then the pencil icon will be grayed out, and the edit option will not be available.

Edit metadata in an external editor

It is possible to update a resource's metadata in an external non-geoportal editor by accessing the record's REST URL. You then will open the record in an external XML editor, such as Altova® XMLSpy, make edits to the raw XML, and when the document is saved, it is updated in the geoportal catalog. Steps for editing in an external editor are below.

Caution:

Do not use this edit method for resources that are synchronized in the geoportal catalog through a registered network resource. Any edits made with the external XML editor will be overwritten the next time the resource is synchronized.

1. Verify that you are the owner of the resource whose metadata you want to edit. You can do this by logging in to the geoportal, clicking the Administration tab, finding your document and looking at the owner column.
2. Procure the REST URL for the resource. Do this by searching for the resource, and then clicking on the Details link when you see it in the search results list. The REST URL for the record is at the bottom of the Details page, and is prefixed with the following: /geoportal/rest/document?f=html&id=
3. This REST URL will contain a document ID. This is not the same ID that appears in the browser URL for the record. Copy the entire REST URL from the Details page and paste it into a text editor such as Notepad.
4. Copy the following sample text and paste it in the text editor, below your REST URL: http://server:port/geoportal/rest/manage/document/
5. In your text editor, edit the sample text. Replace server with the geoportal server name and port with the port number (if applicable).
6. Copy the URL after the &id= part of the REST URL and paste it after document part in the sample text, similar to the example below.
   http://serverName:8080/geoportal/rest/manage/document/%7B2A850F59-354D-46BF-B63C-E8FB2B7B79A6%7D

7. Now that you have constructed the URL for connecting to the resource, you can make the connection to the resource in the geoportal through the third party external editor. Open the XML editor software.

   Note:

   Steps here describe the process using Altova® XMLSpy.

8. Click the File menu, and then select the Open URL option.
9. Enter the URL that you have just constructed in your text editor into the dialog.
10. Provide your geoportal username and password.
11. Click OK.
12. Your document should appear as raw XML in the interface.
13. Make any edits necessary. When you save the file, the changes are reflected in the document available from the geoportal. There is no need to republish your document, as edits are published when you save in the external editor.