[Archivesspace_Users_Group] Merge Overlay

[Carlos Lemus]

Hello,

I was just wondering if it would be possible to create a merge(overlay)
system/or edit the current one through a plugin that could overlay data
from the victim to the target. We would want to merge data such as the
authority id and even the name, not necessarily all of the record itself.

The reason I ask is because we noticed the imports will not overwrite
existing records even if they are missing information such as the authority
id. However, it will also not create a new record if the name from the
importing record matches the Archivesspace record. I imagine this is a
safety feature so work on the record is not overwritten.

Our workaround would be to import the records under a different source
(which seems to create a new record regardless of the name match) and merge
that record with our ArchivesSpace record. However, the merge function
doesn't really merge it more "assimilates" the data and I thought maybe it
would be possible to overlay the data we do need so the victim needed
information is copied to the target.

Looking through the ArchivesSpace code, I notice that a lot of the merge
functionality lays withing the ASModels themselves and some other in the
agent_controller/ApplicationController. I'm not sure if rewriting over
these in plugin would be a good idea in case of future ArchivesSpace
updates. Is what I'm discussing at all possible? is there another way than
what I described? or maybe would it be better to edit the import merging
ability?

Thank you,

Carlos Lemus
Application Programmer, Special Collections Technical Services
University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
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