How to Feel Around in the Dark
… while the quality of content is
paramount, its measure and utility can be
hampered by a format that is not
transparent or intuitive …
Metadata Legibilis
SCOPE
• LOJIC was forced to re-engineer Esri’s
ArcGIS Metadata style sheet to maintain
its established standard.
• This discussion discusses the
experiences, technologies, tools and
lessons encountered during the process.
• First phase of a two phase project with
the goal of creating a more robust search
engine to cull through our metadata
library and display results in a
standardized format.
• Phase 1 – Develop a metadata style to
handle standardization of format
• Phase 2 – Develop a more robust search
engine to search and retrieve metadata
on public facing website
Metadata Legibilis
BACKGROUND
• Why? The primary concern was
to have metadata results that were
easier to navigate and to have a
consistent display for both web and
ArcGIS desktop
• What? A style sheet is a
predefined style with which to
display metadata. It is technically a
composite of files.
• Where? The files in question are
located in the Metadata folder in
the ArcGIS 10 program folder.
Metadata Legibilis
CUSTOM METADATA STYLESHEET
• ArcGIS Metadata Toolkit
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
style sheets and website
• W3Schools (.com)
• StackOverflow (.com)
• FGDC Plus (.xsl) stylesheet
How to Feel Around in the Dark
RESOURCES
• Web development software
• Microsoft Visual Web Developer
• Adobe Dream Weaver
• etc.
• XML software
• XML Notepad
How to Feel Around in the Dark
TOOLS
• Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)
• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Javascript
How to Feel Around in the Dark
MARKUP & SCRIPTS
XPath
CSS
HTML
XSLT
HTML
MARKUPS & SCRIPT
The code above is taken from the ArcGIS.xsl file. This code tests for title
content in the source XML and , if the test result is true, it displays the
title.
How to Feel Around in the Dark
FILES & FILE STRUCTURE
T
T
CFG
T
T
FILES & FILE STRUCTURE
Files located completely within the rectangle represent system files used
to process the XML input file according to the customized style for HTML
display of metadata.
T
FILES & FILE STRUCTURE
This illustration simply plugs the actual files found in the system folder
into the archetype model, to make it the representation a little more
tangible.
XSLT: Imports all relevant XSLT
files from ArcGIS_Imports folder
XSLT: Creates variables
pertaining to
Each metadata style using Xpath
HTML
Calls on scripts
Tests for specific elements for
each style
Based on style – creates a
collapsible/expandable icon
Calls on specific template
depending on style
FILES & FILE STRUCTURE:
ArcGIS.xsl
This file is the primary file for displaying and transforming metadata. It
essentially tests for the most basic information regarding metadata style type,
calls on all the XSLT files for processing XML and displays the data as HTML.
1. Establishes all CSS rules for all
elements of metadata display.
(template name = “styles”)
2. Holds all the scripting code to
facilitate hide/show functionality of
metadata display.
(template name = “scripts”)
3. Using XSLT, it tests for various data
types and sets rules for processing style
and display.
4. Using XSLT, it tests for the various
dataelements in an effort to call on
element names from Esri resource files
FILES & FILE STRUCTURE :
general.xslt
This file is composed of all the essential CSS, scripting and XSLT which
manage the font styles, collapsible/expandable nodes and the rules for
handling different data types.
• How much time do I have to devote to
learning the additional technologies?
• Esri provides little to no support on
stylesheet customization.
• ArcGIS Metadata standard is designed for
internal storage of metadata as it is used in
ArcGIS software, therefore it is proprietary and
subject to change at Esri’s discretion. How
does this affect maintenance ?
• Custom style sheets require compatibility
with ArcGIS, Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome,
XML Spy, etc.
How to Feel Around in the Dark
CONSIDERATIONS
Now that the lights are on…
END