.. _tipstricks:

Tips and Tricks
===============

Importing Metadata Recursively
------------------------------

- use the ``pycsw-admin.py`` ``-r`` switch

.. code-block:: bash

  $ pycsw-admin.py -c load_records -f path/to/default.cfg -p /path/to/metadata -r

Making CSW XML POST requests
----------------------------

- different from traditional HTTP POST

 - no form key/value pairs
 - client opens HTTP connection and send XML directly

Using ``pycsw-admin.py``:

.. code-block:: bash

  $ pycsw-admin.py -c post_xml -u http://labs.gatewaygeomatics.com/csw -x /path/to/request.xml

Using curl:

.. code-block:: bash

  $ curl -H "Content-Type: text/xml" -X POST -d @request_file.xml http://labs.gatewaygeomatics.com/csw

JSON Output
-----------

- for DescribeRecord, GetRecordById, GetRecords
- set ``outputformat`` to ``application/json`` as part of request

Get Raw Metadata
----------------

- use ``GetRepositoryItem`` (based on ebRIM profile)

.. code-block:: bash

  $ GET "http://labs.gatewaygeomatics.com/csw?service=CSW&version=2.0.2&request=GetRepositoryItem&id=urn:uuid:9a669547-b69b-469f-a11f-2d875366bbdc"

Optimizing the Repository
-------------------------

.. code-block:: bash

  $ pycsw-admin.py -c optimize_db


Dependency Tracing
------------------

- use ``pycsw-admin.py -c get_sysprof``
- valuable when multiple versions of pycsw and / or supporting libraries are on the same system

Multiple Configurations
-----------------------

By default, pycsw loads ``default.cfg`` at runtime.  To load an alternate configuration, modify ``csw.py`` to point to the desired configuration.  Alternatively, pycsw supports explicitly specifiying a configuration by appending ``config=/path/to/default.cfg`` to the base URL of the service (e.g. ``http://localhost/pycsw/csw.py?config=tests/suites/default/default.cfg&service=CSW&version=2.0.2&request=GetCapabilities``).  When the ``config`` parameter is passed by a CSW client, pycsw will override the default configuration location and subsequent settings with those of the specified configuration.

This also provides the functionality to deploy numerous CSW servers with a single pycsw installation.

Debugging Issues
-----------------

- turn on logging (set ``server.loglevel`` to ``DEBUG`` and ``server.logfile`` to a writable file)
- set ``server.pretty_print`` to ``true``
- monitor logfile when testing (i.e. ``tailf /path/to/pycsw-log.txt``)
- report issues / bugs to pycsw issue tracker / mailing list
- specify environment and supporting libraries (i.e. ``pycsw-admin.py -c get_sysprof``)