Overview

The Compound Solution pack module adds the ability to to create what are called "compound objects." Compound objects function as "parent" objects that gather together "child" objects created with any other Islandora solution pack. When you associate Islandora objects with a parent compound object, the parent-child relationship is recorded in the RELS-EXT structural metadata of the child objects (see bottom of page for sample RELS-EXT). Order can also be recorded in the RELS-EXT metadata so child objects can be displayed in a sequence.

For example, a scanned postcard with a front and back view would have the following structure:

Parent object: Postcard Object (the compound object)

The "Compound" management tab allows for the addition, removal, and reordering of child objects from the parent compound object. Configuration options for the module are available through the Compound objects administrative menu (admin/islandora/solution_pack_config/compound_object)

Dependencies

Downloads

Release Notes and Downloads

Installation

Enable the Islandora compound object module (admin/modules). There are two block options for displaying compound objects within Islandora. Select one of the following:

Configuration

The module has configuration options at admin/islandora/solution_pack_config/compound_object. 

  1. Only allow compound objects to have child objects associated with them.
  2. Generate a thumbnail for compound objects from their first child.
  3. Hide child objects in RI results
  4. Hide child objects in Solr results
    1. Checked: Child objects will not be displayed in Solr search results. Only parent objects will display.
    2. Unchecked: Child objects and parent objects will be displayed in the Islandora search.
  5. Solr Filter Query
  6. Child relationship predicate
  7. Use alternative, autoloading display for compounds?
  8. Display compound object parents in the breadcrumbs on children objects
  9. Compound Member Query

Usage

To create a compound object:

  1. Go to parent collection.
  2. Click "Manage".
  3. Enable the "Compound Object" object under "Collection" tab, then click "Update Collection Policy".
  4. After adding compound objects to your Collection Policy, you will be able to click the "Overview" tab and "Add an Object".
  5. Select "Compound Object" then "Next".
  6. Select your metadata form, such as the "Compound Object MODS form", then "Next".
  7. Fill in your metadata form form then click "Next".
  8. After the compound object has been created, go to "Manage" > "Compound" to associate objects with the parent compound object.
  9. Under the "Add Child Object" field, enter the PID for each object to be added to the compound object.
  10. Click "Save" when all the child objects are associated with the parent objects.

Once a child has been added to the compound, the view of the compound will use the metadata and thumbnail from the first object to render the main object view. To reorder objects, go to the parent object's Manage tab, select "Compound", and use the "Reorder" list.

Child objects can be removed from parent objects from the parent object Manage >Compound tab. This removes the association from the RELS-EXT metadata but does not remove the child object from the repository.

Display

The object view of a compound object is replaced by the view of its first child object. After a compound object is created, the "Islandora Compound Object Navigation" block must be activated and set in an appropriate region. When a user navigates to a compound object, this block will render a thumbnail view of all the additional objects linked via the compound object.

Block options

There are two block options for displaying compound objects within Islandora. The default "Islandora Compound Object Navigation" block will provide navigation controls and loading of all objects related to the parent compound. The second option is a block utilizing the JAIL library which allows for "lazy loading" of images. This allows the block to load images only when they are being accessed, which will greatly increase performance on compound objects with many children. See the "Installation" section for more information about the two display options.

Theme

The "Islandora Compound Object Navigation" block can be themed. See theme_islandora_compound_prev_next().

Drush

Previous versions of this module (Islandora 7.x-1.2 and earlier) had a different predicate in the RELS-EXT to associate child objects with parent objects. To update to the new compound object predicate, run the drush command `update_rels_predicate`. This will update the predicates of existing compound objects to `isConstituentOf`. This command accepts no arguments.

Content Models, Prescribed Datastreams and Forms

The Compound Solution Pack comes with the following objects in http://path.to.your.site/admin/islandora/solution_packs:

A parent object created using the Compound Solution Pack's content model will have the following datastreams:

RELS-EXT

Default Fedora relationship metadata

MODSMODS record, created at time of ingest
DCDublin Core record
TN

Thumbnail image, created at time of ingest

The Compound Solution Pack comes with the Compound Object MODS form.

Sample RELS-EXT for Parent Object (Compound Object)


<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:fedora="info:fedora/fedora-system:def/relations-external#"
xmlns:fedora-model="info:fedora/fedora-system:def/model#" xmlns:islandora="http://islandora.ca/ontology/relsext#">
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="info:fedora/islandora:3">
    <fedora:isMemberOfCollection rdf:resource="info:fedora/islandora:compound_collection"></fedora:isMemberOfCollection>
    <fedora-model:hasModel rdf:resource="info:fedora/islandora:compoundCModel"></fedora-model:hasModel>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>


Sample RELS-EXT for Child Object (Large Image Object)

<rdf:RDF xmlns:fedora="info:fedora/fedora-system:def/relations-external#" xmlns:fedora-model="info:fedora/fedora-system:def/model#" 
xmlns:islandora="http://islandora.ca/ontology/relsext#" xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="info:fedora/islandora:2">
    <fedora:isMemberOfCollection rdf:resource="info:fedora/islandora:sp_large_image_collection"></fedora:isMemberOfCollection>
    <fedora-model:hasModel rdf:resource="info:fedora/islandora:sp_large_image_cmodel"></fedora-model:hasModel>
    <fedora:isConstituentOf rdf:resource="info:fedora/islandora:3"></fedora:isConstituentOf>
    <islandora:isSequenceNumberOfislandora_3>1</islandora:isSequenceNumberOfislandora_3>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>