Creating multiple child records

[Stuart Bligh]

Hi - apologies if I've missed another thread on this. I need to create 500 child `file' level records under a sub-series so is there an easy way to create this many records automatically and then edit them afterwards ie without having to create 500 children individually under the relevant sub-series? Thanks for any advice you can give ...

[Dan Gillean]

Hi Stuart, 

The easiest and fastest way to do that would probably be to prepare a CSV for import. You can find the CSV import templates on our wiki here - if there's no newer version, then that means it works for the current release (e.g. the 2.6 CSV template will also work with 2.7, etc): 

• https://wiki.accesstomemory.org/Resources/CSV_templates
  

Instructions for preparing an AtoM CSV for import: 

• Docs: https://wiki.accesstomemory.org/Resources/CSV_templates
• Slides: https://www.slideshare.net/accesstomemory/csv-import-in-atom

A couple tips to help you: 

• Hopefully using a CSV will allow you to create one basic row, and then cut/paste as needed where data is identical
• If you use a spreadsheet application, I strongly recommend LibreOffice Calc over Microsoft Word -  AtoM expects CSV files to use the default UTF-8 character encoding and unix-style line ending characters -  see this part of the docs. MS has historically had a bad habit of using their own custom character encodings and line endings, which can cause problems in AtoM. Calc is free and open source, uses the proper line endings, and allows you to set the preferred encoding every time you open a CSV (and defaults to UTF-8). Alternatively, Google Sheets seems to consistently export CSVs with the right elements so that's an option too. 
• The CSV template has a column called qubitParentSlug. If you already have your subseries created in the application, then copy the slug of that description (i.e. the permalink - the unique part of the URL. If your description's URL is www.example.com/my-subseries, the my-subseries would be the slug) into the qubitParentSlug column for every row. This will make them import as child descriptions of the subseries. See this part of the docs for more. 
• You don't have to fill in all columns in the CSV for your import to succeed. 
• If you're using a different standards-based template in AtoM (such as DACS), use the ISAD(G) CSV template. 
• You can try importing the CSV template's example data as a draft description to see how each field/column maps to your target standard template's fields if needed.
• Remember that AtoM has automatic inheritance for creator names and repositories, so you don't need to add these for each file-level description if there is already a repository and/or a creator name at the subseries level or higher (such as the fonds/collection). Only add them if they are different from the parent - this is actually better for performance

Hope that helps! 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

he / him

On Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 3:50 PM Stuart Bligh <bligh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi - apologies if I've missed another thread on this. I need to create 500 child `file' level records under a sub-series so is there an easy way to create this many records automatically and then edit them afterwards ie without having to create 500 children individually under the relevant sub-series? Thanks for any advice you can give ...

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[Stuart Bligh]

Hi Dan - many thanks I'll give that a go. I think it's worth you considering adding that functionality to a future version of ATOM. I know archive management systems like CALM have it and its very useful when you've got a large number of records in a file series which have, for example, exactly the same description but with different date coverage.

Ideally you'd want to be able to specify the number of duplicate records to be created under a sub series level description and then the records below are created automatically.

Thanks for your help

Stuart

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[Stuart Bligh]

Hi Dan - can I ask one further question which I cant find the answer to in the user manual. Is it possible to change/customise the terms in the archival description area? For example could I change title of the section `access points' to `keywords'? And adjust the headings below eg `subject access points' to `subject keywords'?

Thanks again

Stuart

[Dan Gillean]

Hi Stuart, 

It's possible to add, edit, and delete terms in a taxonomy through the user interface - but unfortunately, changing the labels on the various fields will require changes to AtoM's code itself. We do actually have some labels that can be configured this way via settings - including the word "Subject", but not the "access points" part of the label! See: 

• https://www.accesstomemory.org/docs/latest/user-manual/administer/settings/#user-interface-labels
  

If you were going to try to change the access point labels in AtoM then this would ideally be done via a custom theme - that way it is easier to maintain over time in the future through subsequent upgrades. However, if that's not a viable option, then changes could also be applied directly to the relevant templates... the challenge is just finding all the right places (because the term is used throughout AtoM), changing labels without breaking anything, and remembering where you've made those changes for next time. 

If you do decide to proceed, please MAKE A BACKUP of your data before attempting anything! And note that if you make local code changes directly in AtoM, you will need to reapply them every time you upgrade - this is what I meant by "next time" above - an upgrade will override your local changes. 

For example - in the default Bootstrap 2 theme (i.e. not the new Bootstrap 5 theme overhaul available in 2.7), if you are using the ISAD template, then I think at minimum you would need to change the labels shown in quotes in the following lines: 

• https://github.com/artefactual/atom/blob/HEAD/plugins/sfIsadPlugin/modules/sfIsadPlugin/templates/editSuccess.php#L206
• https://github.com/artefactual/atom/blob/qa/2.x/apps/qubit/modules/object/templates/_subjectAccessPoints.php#L8

There may be other places 9for example, where the term appears on the authority record templates, etc), but try that and see how it goes! 

Note that after making changes I would suggest that you: 

• Restart PHP-FPM
• Restart memcached if you have it installed
• Clear the application cache
• Clear your web browser cache as well before testing, to be sure you are seeing the changes. 

Instructions for the 3 AtoM related tasks listed above can be found from the Troubleshooting page. 

Cheers, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

he / him

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[Stuart Bligh]

That's really helpful - thanks again Dan 

Best wishes

Stuart

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