7.x-1.12

Check out what’s new in the latest version of DKAN (7.x-1.12)! Have questions or thoughts? Let us know on our public DKAN Repo with issues or chat with us in our Gitter room.

New Features and Enhancements

New DKAN Workflow Module

DKAN Workflow is a new module that ships with DKAN but is not enabled by default. Once the module is enabled, DKAN Workflow creates an editorial publishing workflow on DKAN for moderating content. Within this module is a secondary set of permissions and roles layered on core DKAN roles and permissions. This module can be very useful to establish more controls among large teams managing content.

Read more about Workflow in the main DKAN Documentation.

Check out the blog post: http://www.nucivic.com/new-feature-alert-dkan-workflow/

Large File Support and Fast Import

Through the file_resup module we've added the ability to support large file uploads on DKAN. There are no limits technically imposed by the software, but file sizes limited up to few gigabytes will produce the best results. For large files, we also added a mySQL statement to quickly import the files into the DKAN datastore. We're calling this DKAN Data Datastore Fast Import module and it appears as such in the module configuration on DKAN. The module is disabled by default, and must be enabled and then configured to be utilized in DKAN. OOB DKAN defaults to using the Drupal file importer that also processes the data (better for smaller files). In configuration, the mySQL statement may replace the Drupal file importer or appear as an additional option for importing a file into the DKAN Datastore. Rather than processing the data, the mySQL statement favors a faster load time by importing directly to a mySQL database.

Large file support also makes for a more robust DKAN Datastore API. Files imported into the DKAN Datastore are included in the public DKAN Datastore API.

Read more details about the DKAN Datastore and the Datastore API on our blog post.

Topics

DKAN Topics is a new module added into DKAN core with the 7.x-1.12 release. Topics are preset by an administrator that reflect the areas of interest to the target audience. Topics are configured by default to appear as a panel on the homepage of a DKAN site.

In DKAN, Topics are a taxonomy with a vocabulary (also set by the admin) and can be associated to datasets by lower-access users as they contribute data to DKAN. Additionally admins can set which icons may or may not be used within a font set for Topics by other users. OOB DKAN includes a font set of over 100 icons to choose from, and new font sets can easily be added. Alternatively, images may be uploaded for Topics icons.

Read more details about Topics on our blog post.

Minor Upgrades and Improvements

• Changed UI of DKAN Charts to include "Tick Values" "Step" and "Goal" line in chart. This gives users added functionality in what they can do with Charts. The UI is also more organized to tell users how the options affect which parts of the Charts.
• Upgrade Drupal core to 7.43 to fix security vulnerabilities.
• Security update for Features
• Security update for Fieldable Panels Panes
• Move permissions dependency of from features_roles_permissions to dkan_permissions module.
• Remove export of administrator permissions when new modules are enabled, so that dkan_permissions does not appear as overridden. With the admin_role module, admin roles automatically receive permissions for modules as they are enabled. By removing the export of administrator permissions, overrides will only appear when true changes to the dkan_permissions module have been made.

User experience improvements

• Enable Pretty Paths Facet API to make URL paths on DKAN pages human-readable and SEO optimized. This module is combined with the Drupal Search API module.
• With the new search page redesign in DKAN 7.x-1.11, this release includes optimized search functionality. Previously only datasets were displayed in search results; in version 1.12 all content appears in search results. The /search path will lead to the main search page and the /dataset page will redirect to the /search?type=dataset for backward compatibility, pre-filtered for dataset content search results.
• The dkan_sitewide_profile_page module was removed and new code added to existing modules (detailed documentation as code comments). With the removal of this module, the DKAN command center no longer exists and profiles of any user role appear the same.
• A "Data dashboard" creation link was added on user admin menu.
• Facet titles between user, search and group pages were standarized.

Patches and Bug Fixes

• Added permission to allow anonymous users to see any piece of content created with the visualization entity module such charts and maps.
• Created patch to solve bug that kept fonts enabled after being turned off.
• Fixed regex used to rewrite font file paths on Dkan Topics, which was breaking filepaths in data.json.

Upgrade Notes

If you upgrade an existing site to 7.x-1.12 and enable DKAN Topics, you may encounter issues with your search index. For troubleshooting tips, see the DKAN Topics Readme.

7.x-1.12-beta

Upgrade instructions

For final release, these should be automated as much as possible.

1. drush updatedb -y
2. drush en dkan_featured_topics -y
3. Enable 'field_topics' on dataset index (admin/config/search/search_api/index/datasets/fields)
4. drush fr dkan_sitewide_search_db -y
5. drush sapi-c datasets
6. drush sapi-r datasets
7. drush sapi-i datasets
8. drush fra -y
9. Remove the 'Add Dataset' link from main menu
10. Remove the 'Datasets' link from main menu that point to the old /dataset url for search
11. drush rr

7.x-1.12-alpha1

Known issues

• After upgrade, groups index needs to be re-indexed to make new granularity setting for date field work
• Topics menu does not get a drop-down

7.x-1.11

DKAN Distribution

Check out what’s new in the latest version of DKAN (7.x-1.11)! Have questions or thoughts? Let us know on our public DKAN Repo through issues or chat with us in our Gitter room.

New Features and Enhancements

New roles and permissions module

We made a new module (“DKAN Permissions”) to replace the previous “Sitewide Roles and Permissions” module. The previous feature largely left it to the administrator to determine user roles and what each role could do. While administrators will still have the ability to customize user roles and permissions, we wanted to make it easier to use DKAN right after installation. We have a detailed post about the standard roles in this new feature, DKAN roles and permissions made simple. Read up on how this standard DKAN feature makes user management easier out-of-the-box.

Group roles and permissions in a new module

The old “Sitewide Roles and Permissions” module also included group roles and permissions. As the new “DKAN Permissions” replaces the old module, groups were also updated. The capabilities of groups, the roles and permissions within, and how groups interact with the rest of a DKAN site have been moved to a new module, “DKAN Dataset Group Perms”. You can read more detailed user-documentation about Group roles and permissions as part of DKAN roles and permissions made simple.

Re-designed dataset/search page

In this version of DKAN, we improved the layout and visual appearance of the datasets page to make it easier for site visitors to browse, search and find content. In previous versions, the search box on the homepage was the only way for site visitors to search all content types. The re-designed datasets page directs site visitors to a page with results pre-selected to filter the datasets content type. Site visitors have the option to add and remove filters on the datasets page in order to browse all content types as well use the search bar at the top of the page to find specific content.

Related visualizations on resource page enhancement

The visualization entity on DKAN makes it easy for content contributors, editors, and site managers to create charts, graphs and maps based on resources in their DKAN data catalog. With the resource-visualizations enhancement, site visitors will see all the visualizations made with a resource as related content at the bottom of the specific resource page.

Minor Upgrades and Improvements

User experience improvements

• Dataset page layout: The dataset page now has a cleaner layout and overall better visual design that is a more intuitive user experience. We also added icons for content types that are standard across the site, so that site visitors can quickly recognize what type of content they are clicking on.
• User profile image UX: In this release we removed the confusion in the user experience of changing a user’s profile image including the existing Gravatar integration.
• Groups view: We changed the default number of groups displayed on a page from 10 to 12. This keeps the layout of groups evenly separated in neat rows of 3.

Patches and Bug Fixes

• Colorizer feature bug fix: fix to the colorizer feature on DKAN so that style changes don’t disappear after running the Poormanscron Drupal module.
• Group node page bug fix: a quick fix to remove an extra page on the Groups page.
• Warning message bug fix: a quick fix to remove redundant error messages for admins upon installing DKAN.
• Fontyourface module patch: makes it easier to see fonts changes on your DKAN site by updating as soon as changes saved.
• FacetAPI module patch: patched a potential security breach that appeared through cross-site scripting.

Special Notes

Permissions/roles upgrade

As mentioned above, this release includes a new module called DKAN Permissions (dkan_permissions), which is meant to replace the old DKAN Sitewide Roles and Permissions (dkan_sitewide_roles_perms). New installs of DKAN will enable this module and ignore the old one, while existing sites will see no change (but are recommended to upgrade). See more information in the module's README file.

The command line method, including deleting the now-deprecated "storyteller" role, would look like this:

$ drush dis dkan_sitewide_roles_perms -y
$ drush rdel 'storyteller' 
$ drush en dkan_permissions -y
$ drush fra -y
$ drush fr dkan_permissions -y

Group-level permissions have been moved to DKAN Dataset Groups Permissions. To start using them, enable the new module, and revert it using Features. Do this via the UI or on the command line with Drush:

$ drush en dkan_dataset_groups_perms -y
$ drush fr dkan_dataset_groups_perms -y

Avoiding PHP errors after upgrade

In some cases, changes to the codebase may cause PHP errors when the Drupal bootstrap process looks for a file that no longer exists. As always, backing up your db before upgrading is recommended. In addition, if you get to a state in which Drupal will not bootstrap successfully due to an issue with views_autocomplete_filters, try some combination of:

$ drush sql-query 'DELETE FROM registry WHERE filename LIKE "%views_autocomplete_filters_handler_filter_string.inc%"';
$ drush cc all
$ drush rr

Search page redesign

This release of DKAN includes a redesigned search page, which is also the page used to browse datasets. This redesign required some changes to the included search indexes. Use the following drush commands to rebuild your search indexes, or go to admin/config/search/search_api/index/datasets and disable, re-enable and re-index the datasets search index.

$ drush search-api-disable datasets -y 
$ drush search-api-enable datasets -y
$ drush sapi-r -y
$ drush sapi-i -y

DKAN Dataset

See the DKAN Dataset release notes for 7.x-1.11 for notes specific to the DKAN Dataset module.

7.x-1.10

DKAN Distribution

• A number of improvements to our test infrastructure
• Improved user experience for user photos and Gravatar image fallback
• Improvements to views on group pages
• Enabled and improved UX of tools for adding existing visualizations directly into panels layouts
• Fixed an extremely annoying bug in the Colorizer module that blew away colorizer CSS every time Drupal cron ran (sites using external/system cron were unaffected)
• Added better HTTPS by loading certain external images over HTTPS
• Upgraded to Drupal version 7.x-1.41
• Added a CONTRIBUTING.md file to provide community contribution guidelines for DKAN project.

DKAN Dataset Module

https://github.com/NuCivic/dkan_dataset

• Various improvements to dataset teaser displays.
• Support for external previews (opening catalogued resources instantly in third-party visualization services, * including ArcGIS and CartoDB)
• Support for Flaticon at module level, so vector icons work on any theme
• Minor improvements and bugfixes

NuBoot Radix Theme

https://github.com/NuCivic/dkan_dataset

• Style improvements for "open with" button
• Fix default logo path when svg not available

7.x-1.9

• Added "Data Dashboards" and "Data Stories" content types with customizable layouts
• Added Panopoly Widgets for use in Dashboards, Stories, the front page and panel pages
• Added new custom DKAN widgets for use on panel pages
• The Visualization Entity module, along with the additional Charts bundle, are now included in DKAN core
• Added a "command center" to the user's own profile page to more easily find common functions
• @font-your-face module added w/configuration for easier font admin
• Multiple security updates and other contrib module and theme updates.
• Drupal now on version 7.39.
• Many bug fixes and code cleanups
• See release notes for nuboot_radix theme and individual DKAN modules for additional release notes

Search API Database upgrade issue

This release updates the Search API DB module, which, if you are using the database backend, may break your search indexes, resulting in either a) nothing, or b) all nodes regardless of type on your search/datasets
pages.

To fix, follow these steps after updating your database:

1. Go to /admin/config/search/search_api/index/datasets/edit to edit the database node index
2. Set the Server to "< No Server >" and Save. Your index will now show as "disabled."
3. Edit it again (by clicking "Edit" next to "Database Node Index") and set the Server back to "Database Server" and Save.
4. Click the "enable" link while viewing the resulting page, or edit the index again and check the "Enabled" box.
5. Once the index is enabled, you should see "0/[total] Indexed" on the index page. Click "Index Now" at the bottom of the page to re-index all your datasets.
6. Repeat for any other indexes you have running on a database server.

This issue has been identified and documented for other Drupal distributions using Search API. See release notes for the Panopoly and OpenAtrium distros on Drupal.org.

7.x-1.9-RC2

Second release candidate intended for testing with NuCivic-managed sites.

7.x-1.9-RC1

Early testing release candidate 7.x-1.9

7.x-1.8

• Drupal core update to 7.36
• Some tweaks to display properly drupal admin pages using nuboot_radix
• Removed unnecessary drupal warning messages (colorizer, updates, etc)
• Tweaks to behat tests
• Security updates for contrib modules