ASDD node managers
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Edit node description
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Introduction

Using this document management facility you can describe your collections of geospatial data. You will be guided through the procedure of documenting a node description using fill-out forms.

Whenever you choose to update your node description, your existing details will be presented in an HTML forms. Simple interfaces (with pre-defined option lists and error checking) allow you to complete each section of the document at your own pace. The application will ensure that all required fields are present and legitimate.

Submitting the form will validate your node description, generate presentation documents, and give you the option to publish. You can edit the documents whenever, and as often as, you choose.

Some fields can contain HTML elements

To give you better control over presentation, some fields can accept either plain text (presented as a single paragraph) or a limited set of HTML elements. The two tables below explain the "Inline text elements" and "Block text elements" that can be used.

Inline text elements

Inline text elements Description
tt teletype (fixed width font)
i italic
b bold
big big font
small small font
em emphasis (usually italic)
a anchor, hypertext link to Internet resource
br forced line break
sub subscript
sup superscript

Block text elements

Block text elements Description
p paragraph
pre pre-formatted (fixed width font)
ul unordered list
ol ordered list
li list item
dl descriptive list
dt descriptive list term
dd descriptive list definition

See notes about known problems if you are using MS Internet Explorer version 3.

Validate the node description

After every editing session your document is validated against the set of rules for node descriptions. Mandatory elements must be present and any additional HTML elements must be valid.

The Guide to parser error messages explains some of the error messages that you may encounter when producing your documents, especially if you add HTML elements to enhance the document presentation. The parser is strict.

Generate presentation documents

An HTML presentation document is generated whenever you edit a node description.

Any empty elements are not shown on the presentation document. So if you do not want to publicise a contact phone number then simply leave this optional element empty.

Some elements are never shown, such as manager contact details.

Publish the document

The documents that you generate will remain in your preparation folders while you edit them, view them, and perhaps edit them again. When you are satisfied with the presentation of your node description, and have gained clearance, you can then choose to publish it.

Publishing happens immediately. The ASDD node descriptions index page is automatically regenerated.

Explanation of metadata elements