Javascript Data Request Form
From OPeNDAP Documentation
Revision as of 15:50, 15 April 2010 by EvanKroske (talk | contribs) (Added execution path and started application structure)
My goal is to create a Javascript API for accessing OpenDAP metadata and an intuitive, Javascript-based data-request construction form.
Plan of action
- Create generalized Javascript OpenDAP-metadata bridge
- Write Javascript OpenDAP-metadata retrieval module (may involve server-side modifications)
- Write OpenDAP-metadata parser
- Write JSON emitter
- Create data request form constructor using metadata bridge
- Write basic form constructor to build simple but clear HTML forms
- Add more advanced form controls (maps, timelines, etc.) for more capable browsers
Execution path
- User requests data-request form
- Server sends simple HTML page with form-generation Javascript
- Javascript requests DDS and DAS for selected data
- Javascript parses DDS and DAS to generate HTML form
- User requests data through form
- Server returns user-selected data
Application structure
Form generator
Public interface
The public interface gives developers a dead-simple interface to create data-specific request forms.
createDataRequestForm({"url" : "http://test.com/data.gz", "containerID" : "requestform"});
Generator
The heart of the form generator transforms the JSON-encoded DAS and DDS into an interactive HTML form.
var generator = createFormGenerator();
var form = generator.generateForm(dasData, ddsData);
document.appendChild(form);