Table (module for Omeka S)

New versions of this module and support for Omeka S version 3.0 and above are available on GitLab, which seems to respect users and privacy better than the previous repository.

Table is a module for Omeka S that allows to manage tables of data, for example a list of language codes, a list of country codes, or unimarc codes. Each code can have multiple labels, for example for variants.

A table has a single optional language, common to all its labels. To manage translations, create one table per language.

It is a library useful to normalize data or to denormalize them. It can be used by some other modules or in themes:

• Advanced Resource Template to display a select for literal data. Unlike Custom Vocab or Value Suggest, the data type should be literal.
• Advanced Search adapter for Solr to normalize data to index and to search, in particular when it is not possible to have consistent data because some librarians want to fill languages, countries or other data as plain text and other ones as an iso code with two letters, some other ones with the three letters iso codes, some other ones with the three-letters bibliographic variant, or when data are fetched from various external repositories with specific codes.
• Bulk Import to convert codes into data (label, translation, or a more standard code) or the reverse.
• User Profile to add a select in user form.

An associative table contains two columns: a code, a keyword or a uri and the matching value or label. The language, when set, applies to the whole table.

When using a uri, the purpose is similar to a list of uris managed by the module Custom Vocab. Of course, when possible, it is recommended to use online standard vocabularies via module Value Suggest, for example for countries or languages.

Visibility

Each table has a public/private flag. Private tables remain editable by users with the right permissions but are excluded from public API responses and from the default browse for users without view-all. Existing tables are public by default after upgrade.

Resource templates and data types

Each group of sibling tables is exposed as a data type named table:<base>, where <base> is the slug shared by sibling tables minus the -<lang> suffix (for example, the tables iso639-1-eng, iso639-1-fra and iso639-1-spa are grouped under the data type table:iso639-1). The language can be the code with two or three letters.

In a resource template, pick the data type for a property as for any other data type. In the resource form, a Chosen select is displayed with the labels of the active locale; only the code is stored as @value (no @language). On render, the label is resolved from the sibling table matching the current view locale, with a fallback chain: primary alpha-2 code => ISO 639-2/T (terminologic) => ISO 639-2/B (bibliographic) => canonical table whose slug equals <base>. The same data type is also available for value annotations.

When the last sibling of a group is deleted, the corresponding table:<base> data type is removed from all resource templates automatically.

Sibling tables convention

To provide labels in several languages for the same set of codes, create one table per language and use the convention <base>-<lang> for the slug, with <lang> matching the table's own lang field. For example:

A table whose slug equals <base> (no -<lang> suffix) is treated as the canonical fallback when no sibling matches the view locale. The language can be the code with two or three letters.

Installation

See general end user documentation for installing a module.

This module requires the module Common, that should be installed first.

• From the zip

Download the last release Table.zip from the list of releases, and uncompress it in the modules directory.

• From the source and for development

If the module was installed from the source, rename the name of the folder of the module to Table.

Then install it like any other Omeka module and follow the config instructions.

• For test

The module includes a comprehensive test suite with unit and functional tests. Run them from the root of Omeka:

vendor/bin/phpunit -c modules/Table/phpunit.xml --testdox

Usage

Just fill the form: set a unique name (the slug, a lower case string starting with a letter), a title, an optional language for the whole table, and fill the text area with a list of codes and labels, separated with a =, one pair by line. When the table is not associative, the same code can appear on multiple lines with different labels.

User Profile and config of themes

To use a table in module User Profile or in config of themes, add it like that:

elements.userprofile_organisation.name                          = "userprofile_organisation"
elements.userprofile_organisation.type                          = "Table\Form\Element\TableSelect"
elements.userprofile_organisation.options.element_group         = "profile"
elements.userprofile_organisation.options.label                 = "Organisation"
elements.userprofile_organisation.options.table                 = "organisation"
elements.userprofile_organisation.options.empty_option          = ""
elements.userprofile_organisation.attributes.id                 = "userprofile_organisation"
elements.userprofile_organisation.attributes.class              = "chosen-select"
elements.userprofile_organisation.attributes.data-placeholder   = "Select an organisation…"

The option table can be the table id or the table slug.

TODO

• [x] Add an option to allow to use the same code for multiple values, for example for multiple labels or languages or a code with different meanings. The point is mainly the api representation.
• [ ] Use js datatables (or see packagist/github) or use direct edition (see module Group).
• [ ] Provide common tables by default (languages, countries, unimarc). The module Value Suggest already include them, but hard to translate by site.
• [x] Finalize integration in resource template (each table is exposed as a data type table:<base>, with sibling-language fallback at render).
• [-] Remove the limit of two columns. Decided: kept at two columns (KISS, variants handled by insertion order, translations by sibling tables).
• [-] Allow to use any column header. Decided: not needed with two columns.

Warning

Use it at your own risk.

It’s always recommended to backup your files and your databases and to check your archives regularly so you can roll back if needed.

Troubleshooting

See online issues on the module issues page on GitLab.

License

This module is published under the CeCILL v2.1 license, compatible with GNU/GPL and approved by FSF and OSI.

This software is governed by the CeCILL license under French law and abiding by the rules of distribution of free software. You can use, modify and/ or redistribute the software under the terms of the CeCILL license as circulated by CEA, CNRS and INRIA at the following URL "http://www.cecill.info".

As a counterpart to the access to the source code and rights to copy, modify and redistribute granted by the license, users are provided only with a limited warranty and the software’s author, the holder of the economic rights, and the successive licensors have only limited liability.

In this respect, the user’s attention is drawn to the risks associated with loading, using, modifying and/or developing or reproducing the software by the user in light of its specific status of free software, that may mean that it is complicated to manipulate, and that also therefore means that it is reserved for developers and experienced professionals having in-depth computer knowledge. Users are therefore encouraged to load and test the software’s suitability as regards their requirements in conditions enabling the security of their systems and/or data to be ensured and, more generally, to use and operate it in the same conditions as regards security.

The fact that you are presently reading this means that you have had knowledge of the CeCILL license and that you accept its terms.

Copyright

• Copyright Daniel Berthereau, 2023-2026 (see Daniel-KM on GitLab)

Initially created for the digital library Numistral.