DSpace 7 Preview Release

Overview

DSpace 7 brings to DSpace a single, modern user interface and REST API and integrates current technological standards and best practices. This new UI combines with the existing core backend of DSpace 6, resulting in a lean, responsive, next-generation repository.

The preview release provides a first look at many of the new features that make DSpace 7 the largest development effort in the history of the software:

• New Angular UI that is modern, responsive, and built using a Bootstrap theme for easy customization. See demo site at https://dspace7-demo.atmire.com/
• A completely redesigned REST API that is self-documenting and human browsable. See demo site at https://dspace7.4science.cloud/dspace-spring-rest/
• Redesigned submissions and workflows featuring a one page submission process with a drag-and-drop interface, and automatic metadata extraction from common formats like PDFs.
• Configurable entities, an optional new item type inspired by the DSpace-CRIS project that allows for complex linked relationships between items. DSpace 7 will include the option to implement this feature for two use cases popular with the DSpace community:
• Journal Hierarchy: create and link objects for a Journal, Volume, Issue, Article, and Author
• Faculty & Organizational Units: a lightweight, CRIS-like option to represent Projects, Faculty, Department/Unit, Publication, etc.

Configurable entities help to better align DSpace with Next Generation Repository recommendations related to Identifiers as well as alignment with OpenAIRE v4.

DSpace 7 builds on DSpace 6 to create a modern and future-focused repository. The backend restructuring from DSpace 6 is retained and combined with the features above to create a powerful repository designed to address current user needs and plan for future standards.  

DSpace 7 is the first version of DSpace to be developed using test-driven development practices designed to identify and address issues earlier in the development process and lead to more stable releases. It is also the first release to use a working group model for decisions related to design and development.

Try it out using the Demo Site

If you want to quickly test out the DSpace 7 Preview Release, you may do so using our demo site.

• DSpace 7 User Interface Demo: https://dspace7-demo.atmire.com/  (Login: dspacedemo+admin@gmail.com , Password: dspace)
• DSpace 7 REST API Demo: https://dspace7.4science.cloud/dspace-spring-rest/  (Login: dspacedemo+admin@gmail.com , Password: dspace)

Keep in mind, our User Interface Demo uses the REST API Demo as the backend.  So, any content created (by anyone) will immediately appear in both locations.

Installation

For this Preview release, we offer three different ways to install / run DSpace 7 locally.  The route you choose may depend on exactly what you'd like to try out.

1. Install via Docker - This is the easiest/quickest way to get everything running locally.  We even have a script to automatically load some test data and test accounts into your Docker instance.
2. Install the User Interface (only), while using the demo REST API backend - This is the easiest way to try out just the User Interface locally.  Keep in mind, by default, the User Interface will be installed to use our DSpace 7 REST API Demo as a backend.  Therefore, you will be interacting with the content on that demo site and will need to use the login information for the demo site (see above)
3. Install both the User Interface and REST API locally (bring your own test content).  This is a fully manual local installation. Keep in mind this installation process is may still change slightly before the final 7.0 release.