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RERUM API v1

A NodeJS web service for interaction with the RERUM digital object repository. Visit rerum.io for more general information and store.rerum.io for the hosted public instance. Want to use the API? Learn how in the API documentation.

Stores important bits of knowledge in structured JSON-LD objects:

• Web Annotation / Open Annotation objects
• SharedCanvas / International Image Interoperability Framework objects
• FOAF Agents
• any valid JSON object, even if there is no type specified!

Basic Principles

1. As RESTful as is reasonable—accept and respond to a broad range of requests without losing the map;
2. As compliant as is practical—take advantage of standards and harmonize conflicts;
3. Save an object, retrieve an object—store metadata in private (__rerum) property, rather than wrap all data transactions;
4. Trust the application, not the user—avoid multiple login and authentication requirements and honor open data attributions;
5. Open and Free—expose all contributions immediately without charge to write or read;
6. Attributed and Versioned—always include asserted ownership and transaction metadata so consumers can evaluate trustworthiness and relevance.

What we add

You will find a __rerum property on anything you read from this repository. This is written onto all objects by the server and is not editable by the client applications. While applications may assert anything within their objects, this property will always tell the Truth. The details are in the documentation, but broadly, you will find:

• @context the RERUM API JSON-LD context file for these terms
• alpha internal flag for RERUM API version control
• APIversion specific RERUM API release version for this data node
• createdAt specific creation date for this [version of this] object
• generatedBy the agent for the application that authenticated to create this object
• isOverwritten specific date (if any) this version was updated without versioning
• isReleased a special flag for RERUM, indicating this version is intentionally public and immutable
• releases an object containing the most recent anscestor and descendant releases
• history an object containing the first, previous, and immediate derivative versions of this object

🌟👍 Contributors 👍🌟

Trying to contribute or perform a fix in the public RERUM API? If not, are you sure you don't want to? Read the Contributors Guide for inspiration! If you are trying to set up your own RERUM then keep reading to learn more.

Installation

Get a Mongo Database

Check out MongoDB Atlas for a cloud hosted solution as well as instructions for installing MongoDB on your development machines.

Get the Code

The following is a git shell example for installing the RERUM API web application.

cd /code_folder
git clone https://github.com/CenterForDigitalHumanities/rerum_server_nodejs.git rerum_api
npm install

Create the Configuration File

Create a file named .env in the root folder. In the above example, the root is /code_folder/tiny_things. /code_folder/tiny_things/.env looks like this:

RERUM_API_VERSION = 1.0.0
RERUM_BASE = URL_OF_YOUR_DEPLOYMENT
RERUM_PREFIX = URL_OF_YOUR_DEPLOYMENT/v1/
RERUM_ID_PREFIX = URL_OF_YOUR_DEPLOYMENT/v1/id/
RERUM_AGENT_CLAIM = URL_OF_YOUR_DEPLOYMENT/agent
RERUM_CONTEXT = URL_OF_YOUR_DEPLOYMENT/v1/context.json
RERUM_API_DOC = URL_OF_YOUR_DEPLOYMENT/v1/API.html
MONGO_CONNECTION_STRING = OBTAINED_FROM_MONGODB_SET_UP
MONGODBNAME = OBTAINED_FROM_MONGODB_SET_UP
MONGODBCOLLECTION = OBTAINED_FROM_MONGODB_SET_UP
DOWN = false
READONLY = false

Set Up Auth0 Authorization

Please contact the Research Computing Group at Saint Louis University via an E-mail to research.computing@slu.edu for more information and assistance with step of the installation process.

The public RERUM uses Auth0 to authorize API calls for registered RERUM applications and to attribute data for those applications. This elicits the functionality that if an application has not registered with RERUM it will not be able to perform write (create - update - delete) actions with the RERUM API. It also allows queries into RERUM to query for data specific to individual applications when desired or required. The following properties need to be added to the .env file for this process.

AUDIENCE = OBTAINED_FROM_AUTH0_SET_UP
ISSUER_BASE_URL = OBTAINED_FROM_AUTH0_SET_UP
CLIENTID = OBTAINED_FROM_AUTH0_SET_UP
RERUMSECRET = OBTAINED_FROM_AUTH0_SET_UP
BOT_TOKEN = OBTAINED_FROM_BOT_REGISTRATION
BOT_AGENT = OBTAINED_FROM_BOT_REGISTRATION

You will notice these variables used throughout the code. The connection to Auth0 must be active and functioning for these pieces of code or you will encounter errors in testing, building, and running.

Run

Now, you can run tests

npm run runtest

And start the app

npm start

To stop the application, kill or exit the process via your shell (CTRL + C or CTRL + X).

Who is to blame?

The developers in the Research Computing Group at Saint Louis University authored and maintain this service. Neither specific warranty or rights are associated with RERUM; registering and contributing implies only those rights each object asserts about itself. We welcome sister instances of RERUM, ports to other languages, package managers, builds, etc. Contributions to this repository will be accepted as pull requests.