DCTap Dancer

A metadata application profile editor implementing the DC TAP (Dublin Core Tabular Application Profile) standard.

Features

• Workspace Management: Create, duplicate, and delete workspaces
• Spreadsheet-like Interface: Edit metadata profiles in a familiar spreadsheet format
• Shape Management: Organize properties into shapes (entity types)
• Namespace Prefixes: Manage and auto-complete namespace prefixes
• Import/Export: Import from and export to CSV/TSV files
• Validation: Real-time validation with inline error display
• Clipboard Support: Copy, cut, and paste cells and ranges
• Undo/Redo: In-session undo/redo support
• Concurrent Editing: Polling-based updates for multi-tab usage

Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express, TypeScript, SQLite (better-sqlite3)
• Frontend: Vue 3 (Options API), Vite, TypeScript

Project Structure

dctap-dancer/
├── backend/           # Express API server
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── index.ts           # Server entry point
│   │   ├── routes/            # API route handlers
│   │   ├── services/          # Business logic
│   │   │   ├── database.ts    # SQLite operations
│   │   │   ├── validation.ts  # DCTap validation
│   │   │   └── csv-parser.ts  # Import/export logic
│   │   ├── middleware/        # Error handling
│   │   └── types/             # TypeScript types
│   └── data/                  # SQLite database files
│
├── frontend/          # Vue 3 SPA
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── views/             # Page components
│   │   ├── components/        # Reusable components
│   │   │   └── spreadsheet/   # Spreadsheet editor
│   │   ├── services/          # API client
│   │   └── types/             # TypeScript types
│   └── index.html
│
└── package.json       # Monorepo workspace config

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm 9+

Installation

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start development servers (backend + frontend)
npm run dev

The frontend will be available at http://localhost:5173 The backend API will be at http://localhost:3000

Individual Commands

# Run backend only
npm run dev:backend

# Run frontend only
npm run dev:frontend

# Build frontend for production
npm run build

# Start production backend
npm run start

DC TAP Column Reference

Column	Description
shapeLabel	Human-readable name for the shape
propertyID	IRI/CURIE of the vocabulary term (e.g., dcterms:title) - Required
propertyLabel	Human-friendly display name
mandatory	Boolean: is this property required?
repeatable	Boolean: can this property appear multiple times?
valueNodeType	RDF node type: IRI, literal, or bnode
valueDataType	XSD datatype (e.g., xsd:string) - only for literals
valueShape	Reference to another shape - only for IRI/bnode
valueConstraint	Constraint value(s)
valueConstraintType	Type: picklist, IRIstem, pattern, etc.
note	Explanatory text

API Endpoints

Workspaces

• GET /api/workspaces - List all workspaces
• POST /api/workspaces - Create workspace
• GET /api/workspaces/:id - Get workspace
• PUT /api/workspaces/:id - Update workspace
• DELETE /api/workspaces/:id - Delete workspace
• POST /api/workspaces/:id/duplicate - Duplicate workspace

Shapes

• GET /api/workspaces/:id/shapes - List shapes
• POST /api/workspaces/:id/shapes - Create shape
• GET /api/workspaces/:id/shapes/:shapeId - Get shape
• PUT /api/workspaces/:id/shapes/:shapeId - Update shape
• DELETE /api/workspaces/:id/shapes/:shapeId - Delete shape

Rows

• GET /api/workspaces/:id/shapes/:shapeId/rows - List rows
• POST /api/workspaces/:id/shapes/:shapeId/rows - Create row
• PUT /api/workspaces/:id/shapes/:shapeId/rows/:rowId - Update row
• PUT /api/workspaces/:id/shapes/:shapeId/rows - Bulk update
• DELETE /api/workspaces/:id/shapes/:shapeId/rows/:rowId - Delete row

Namespaces

• GET /api/workspaces/:id/namespaces - List namespaces
• POST /api/workspaces/:id/namespaces - Create namespace
• PUT /api/workspaces/:id/namespaces/:prefix - Update namespace
• DELETE /api/workspaces/:id/namespaces/:prefix - Delete namespace

Folders

• GET /api/workspaces/:id/folders - List folders
• POST /api/workspaces/:id/folders - Create folder
• PUT /api/workspaces/:id/folders/:folderId - Update folder
• DELETE /api/workspaces/:id/folders/:folderId - Delete folder

Import/Export

• POST /api/import - Import CSV/TSV file
• GET /api/workspaces/:id/export?format=csv|tsv - Export workspace

Marva Profile Export

• GET /api/marva-profile/export/:id - Download Marva/Sinopia profile JSON

LC Starting Points

• POST /api/starting-point/import/:id - Import LC Starting Point JSON
• GET /api/starting-point/export/:id - Download Starting Points JSON
• GET /api/starting-point/has/:id - Check if workspace has starting points

Serve Endpoints (with caching)

• GET /api/serve/workspaces - List workspaces with URLs to all export formats
• GET /api/serve/:id/profile - Serve Marva profile JSON (cached)
• GET /api/serve/:id/starting-points - Serve Starting Points JSON (cached)
• GET /api/serve/:id/csv - Serve CSV export (cached)
• GET /api/serve/:id/tsv - Serve TSV export (cached)
• GET /api/serve/cache/stats - Cache statistics (debug)

Health

• GET /api/health - Health check endpoint

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Arrow keys	Navigate cells
Enter	Edit cell
Escape	Cancel editing
Tab	Move to next cell
Shift+Tab	Move to previous cell
Delete/Backspace	Clear selection
Ctrl/Cmd+C	Copy
Ctrl/Cmd+X	Cut
Ctrl/Cmd+V	Paste
Ctrl/Cmd+Z	Undo
Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z	Redo

Docker

Build and run the full application (frontend + backend) in a single container:

# Build image
docker build -t dctap-dancer .

# Run container
docker run -d --name dctap -p 3000:3000 -v dctap-data:/app/data dctap-dancer

# Access at http://localhost:3000

The -v dctap-data:/app/data flag persists the SQLite databases between container restarts.

Testing

# Run backend tests
cd backend && npm test

# Run tests in watch mode
cd backend && npm run test:watch

License

Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal