org.osid.repository

Interface Summary
Interface	Description
Asset	An `Asset` represents some digital content.
AssetAdminSession	This session creates, updates, and deletes `Assets.`
AssetCompositionDesignSession	This session provides the means for adding assets to an asset composiiton.
AssetCompositionSession	This session defines methods for looking up `Asset` to `Composition` mappings.
AssetContent	`AssetContent` represents a version of content represented by an `Asset.`
AssetContentForm	This is the form for creating and updating content for `AssetContent.`
AssetContentList	Like all `OsidLists,` `AssetContentList` provides a means for accessing `AssetContent` elements sequentially either one at a time or many at a time.
AssetContentQuery	This is the query for searching asset contents.
AssetContentQueryInspector	This is the query inspector for examining asset content queries.
AssetForm	This is the form for creating and updating `Assets.`
AssetList	Like all `OsidLists,` `AssetList` provides a means for accessing `Asset` elements sequentially either one at a time or many at a time.
AssetLookupSession	This session defines methods for retrieving assets.
AssetNotificationSession	This session defines methods to receive notifications on adds/changes to `Asset` objects in this `Repository.`
AssetQuery	This is the query for searching assets.
AssetQueryInspector	This is the query inspector for examining asset queries.
AssetQuerySession	This session provides methods for searching among `Asset` objects.
AssetReceiver	The asset receiver is the consumer supplied interface for receiving notifications pertaining to new, updated or deleted `Asset` objects.
AssetRepositoryAssignmentSession	This session provides methods to re-assign `Assets` to `Repositories.`
AssetRepositorySession	This session provides methods to retrieve `Assets` to `Repository` mappings.
AssetSearch	The search interface for governing asset searches.
AssetSearchOrder	An interface for specifying the ordering of search results.
AssetSearchResults	This interface provides a means to capture results of a search.
AssetSearchSession	This session provides methods for searching among `Asset` objects.
AssetSmartRepositorySession	This session manages queries and sequencing to create "smart" dynamic catalogs.
AssetSpatialAssignmentSession	This session defines methods to manage the spatial coverage of an asset.
AssetSpatialSession	This session defines methods to access spatial mappings of an asset.
AssetTemporalAssignmentSession	This session defines methods to manage temporal coverage of an asset.
AssetTemporalSession	This session defines a means for accessing temporal coverage of an asset.
Composition	A `Composition` represents an authenticatable identity.
CompositionAdminSession	This session creates, updates, and deletes `Compositions.`
CompositionForm	This is the form for creating and updating `Compositions.`
CompositionList	Like all `OsidLists,` `CompositionList` provides a means for accessing `Composition` elements sequentially either one at a time or many at a time.
CompositionLookupSession	This session provides methods for retrieving `Composition` objects.
CompositionNotificationSession	This session defines methods to receive notifications on adds/changes to `Composition` objects in this `Repository.`
CompositionQuery	This is the query for searching compositions.
CompositionQueryInspector	This is the query inspector for examining composition queries.
CompositionQuerySession	This session provides methods for searching among `Composition` objects.
CompositionReceiver	The composition receiver is the consumer supplied interface for receiving notifications pertaining to new, updated or deleted `Composition` objects.
CompositionRepositoryAssignmentSession	This session provides methods to re-assign `Compositions` to `Repository` objects.
CompositionRepositorySession	This session provides methods to retrieve `Composition` to `Repository` mappings.
CompositionSearch	The interface for governing composition searches.
CompositionSearchOrder	An interface for specifying the ordering of search results.
CompositionSearchResults	This interface provides a means to capture results of a search.
CompositionSearchSession	This session provides methods for searching among `Composition` objects.
CompositionSmartRepositorySession	This session manages queries and sequencing to create "smart" dynamic catalogs.
Repository	A repository defines a collection of assets.
RepositoryAdminSession	This session creates, updates, and deletes `Repositories.`
RepositoryForm	This is the form for creating and updating repositories.
RepositoryHierarchyDesignSession	This session defines methods for managing a hierarchy of `Repository` objects.
RepositoryHierarchySession	This session defines methods for traversing a hierarchy of `Repository` objects.
RepositoryList	Like all `OsidLists,` `RepositoryList` provides a means for accessing `Repository` elements sequentially either one at a time or many at a time.
RepositoryLookupSession	This session provides methods for retrieving `Repository` objects.
RepositoryManager	The repository manager provides access to asset lookup and creation session and provides interoperability tests for various aspects of this service.
RepositoryNode	This interface is a container for a partial hierarchy retrieval.
RepositoryNodeList	Like all `OsidLists,` `RepositoryNodeList` provides a means for accessing `RepositoryNode` elements sequentially either one at a time or many at a time.
RepositoryNotificationSession	This session defines methods to receive notifications on adds/changes to `Repository` objects.
RepositoryProfile	The repository profile describes interoperability among repository services.
RepositoryProxyManager	The repository manager provides access to asset lookup and creation session and provides interoperability tests for various aspects of this service.
RepositoryQuery	This is the query for searching repositories.
RepositoryQueryInspector	This is the query inspector for examining repository queries.
RepositoryQuerySession	This session provides methods for searching among `Repository` objects.
RepositoryReceiver	The repository receiver is the consumer supplied interface for receiving notifications pertaining to new, updated or deleted `Repository` objects.
RepositorySearch	The interface for governing repository searches.
RepositorySearchOrder	An interface for specifying the ordering of search results.
RepositorySearchResults	This interface provides a means to capture results of a search.
RepositorySearchSession	This session provides methods for searching among `Repository` objects.

Package org.osid.repository Description

The Open Service Interface Definitions for the org.osid.repository service.

The Repository OSID provides the service of finding and managing digital assets.

Assets

An Asset represents a unit of content, whether it be an image, a video, an application document or some text. The Asset defines a core set of definitions applicable to digital content, such as copyright and publisher, and allows for a type specification to be appended as with other OsidObjects.

Asset content, such as a document, is defined such that there may be multiple formats contained with the same asset. A document may be accessible in both PDF and MS Word, but is the same document, for example. An image may have both a large size and a thumbnail version. Generally, an asset contains more than one version of content when it is left to the application to decide which is most appropriate.

The Asset Type may define methods in common throughout the content variations. An example asset is one whose content Types are "Quicktime" and "MPEG", but the Asset Type is "movie" and defines methods that describe the move aside from the formats. This "double" Type hierarchy stemming from the asset requires more care in defining interfaces.

Assets also have "credits" which define the authors, editors, creators, performers, producers or any other "role", identified with a role Type, with the production of the asset. These are managed externally to the asset through another OsidSession.

Through additional optional OsidSessions, the Asset can be "extended" to offer temporal information. An asset may pertain to a date, a period of time, or a series of dates and periods. This mechanism is to offer the ability to search for assets pertaining to a desired date range without requiring understanding of a Type.

Similarly, the Asset can also map to spatial information. A photograph may be "geotagged" with the GPS coordinates where it was taken, a conical shape in stellar coordinates could be described for an astronimocal image, or there may be a desire to may a historical book to the spatial coordinates of Boston and Philadelphia. Unlike temporal mappings, the definition of the spatial coordinate is left to a spatial Type to define. The Repository OSID simply manages spatial mappings to the Asset.

Asset Tagging

Assets may also relate to Ontology OSID Subjects. The Subject provides the ability to normalize information related to subject matter across the Assets to simplify management and provide a more robust searching mechanism. For example, with a photograph of the Empire State Building, one may wish to describe that it was designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon and completed in 1931. The information about the building itself can be described using a Subject and related to the photograph, and any other photograph that captures the building. The Asset Type for the photograph may simply be "photograph" and doesn't attempt to describe a building, while the AssetContent Type is "image/jpeg".

An application performing a search for Empire State Building can be execute the search over the Subjects, and once the user has narrowed the subject area, then the related Assets can be retrieved, and from there negotiate the content.

A provider wishing to construct a simple inventory database of buildings in New York may decide to do so using the Resource OSID. The Resource Type may describe the construction dates, height, location, style and architects of buildings. The Type may also include a means of getting a reference image using the Asset interface. Since there is no explicit relationship between Subject and Resource, the Resource can be adapted to the Subject interface (mapping a buildingResourceType to a buildingSubjectType ) to use the same data for Subject to Asset mappings and searching.

Asset Compositions

Asset compositions can be created using the Composition interface. A Composition is a group of Assets and compositions may be structured into a hierarchy for the purpose of "building" larger content. A content management system may make use of this interface to construct a web page. The Composition hierarchy may map into an XHTML structure and each Asset represent an image or a link in the document. However, the produced web page at a given URL may be represented by another single Asset that whose content has both the URL and the XHTML stream.

Another example is an IMS Common Cartridge. The Composition may be used to produce the zip file cartridge, but consumers may access the zip file via an Asset .

Repository Cataloging

Finally, Assets and Compositions may be categorized into Repository objects. A Repository is a catalog-like interface to help organize assets and subject matter. Repositories may be organized into hierarchies for organization or federation purposes.

This number of service aspects to this Repository OSID produce a large number of definitions. It is recommended to use the RepositoryManager definition to select a single OsidSession of interest, and work that definition through its dependencies before tackling another aspect.

Sub Packages

The Repository OSID includes a rules subpackage for managing dynamic compositions.

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