Suggestion: edit the format of the config.properties file to better allocate multiple values

[Zack-83]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Ontology metadata are mainly stored in a config.properties file. If a field contains multiple values, they are separated via a semicolon with no empty space. Several multiple-valued fields in 1:1 correspondence (contributors, contributorsURI, contributorsInstitution etc.) are listed separately. This makes it difficult to keep an overview and is prone to mistakes.

Describe the solution you'd like
Solution 1: Allow a table-similar syntax (e.g. allowing nonsignificant leading/trailing spaces, which are trimmed during parsing)

contributors		   = Contributor1             ; Contributor2             ; ...
contributorsURI		   = https://orcid.org/ORCID1 ; https://orcid.org/ORCID2 ; ...
contributorsInstitution	   = Affiliation1 (Acronym1)  ; Affiliation2 (Acronym2)  ; ...
contributorsInstitutionURI = https://ror.org/ROR1     ; https://ror.org/ROR2     ; ...

Solution 2: Group corresponding items (contributor 1 together with URI 1 and affiliation 1), maybe in a JSON-similar syntax

contributorsBlock1 = {
    contributors		= Contributor1
    contributorsURI		= https://orcid.org/ORCID1
    contributorsInstitution	= Affiliation1 (Acronym1)  
    contributorsInstitutionURI	= https://ror.org/ROR1    
}
contributorsBlock2 = {
    contributors		= Contributor2
    contributorsURI		= https://orcid.org/ORCID2
    contributorsInstitution	= Affiliation2 (Acronym2)  
    contributorsInstitutionURI	= https://ror.org/ROR2    
}

Describe alternatives you've considered
The .properties format allows breaking lines with a backslash. Therefore a syntax like

contributorsInstitutionURI = https://ror.org/ROR1;\
    https://ror.org/ROR2;\
    https://ror.org/ROR3

might be used to increase legibility, but would not be tremendously helpful if the number of authors is large.

[dgarijo]

Another option is keeping the info in RDF in the ontology itself, which works quite well and it's easier for maintenance.
Probably a JSON-like properties file would be better to avoid complicating things

[Zack-83]

Probably a JSON-like properties file would be better to avoid complicating things

Could we for instance exploit the "Citation file format"?
https://github.com/citation-file-format/citation-file-format

[dgarijo]

It may be a good idea, but then it would have to be extended, as there are fields not needed by cff that widoco uses and viceversa. El vie., 11 ago. 2023 1:16 p. m., Giacomo Lanza ***@***.***> escribió:

…

Probably a JSON-like properties file would be better to avoid complicating things Could we for instance exploit the "Citation file format"? https://github.com/citation-file-format/citation-file-format — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#603 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AALTIGSAW6NY4Q5NRGQPC6TXUYIBPANCNFSM6AAAAAA2XALMOU> . You are receiving this because you were assigned.Message ID: ***@***.***>