Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Methods
    1. describeRepository
    2. findObjects
    3. getDatastreamDissemination
    4. getDissemination
    5. getObjectHistory
    6. getObjectProfile
    7. listDatastreams
    8. listMethods
    9. resumeFindObjects
  3. WSDL

  1. Introduction

    The Fedora Access service defines an open interface for accessing digital objects. The access operations include methods to do reflection on a digital object (i.e., to discover the kinds of disseminations that are available on the object), and to request disseminations. The major function of the Fedora Access service is to fulfill a client's request for dissemination. To support disseminations, the underlying repository system must evaluate the behavior associations specified in a digital object, and figure out how to dispatch a service request to a supporting service with which the digital object associates. The supporting service may be internal to the repository system, or it may be an external web service that the repository must call upon. The underlying repostitory system facilitates all external service bindings on behalf of the client, simply returning a dissemination result via the Access service layer.

  2. Methods

    1. describeRepository

      Gets information that describes the repository.

      Returns: A data structure that contains key metadata describing the Fedora repository server including repository name, version, base URL, pid namespace, and sample request URLs.

    2. findObjects

      Lists the specified fields of each object matching the given criteria.

      Parameters:
      • resultFields: The names of the fields to return.
      • maxResults: The maximum number of results to return at a time.
      • query: The terms or conditions for the search.
      Returns: the specified fields of each object matching the given criteria.

    3. getDatastreamDissemination

      Gets the content of a datastream.

      Parameters:
      • pid: The PID of the object.
      • dsID: The datastream ID.
      • asOfDateTime: A dateTime indicating the version of the datastream to retrieve. If null, Fedora will use the most recent version.
      Returns: the datastream as a mime-typed stream.

    4. getDissemination

      Disseminates the content produced by executing the specified method of the associated Behavior Mechanism object of the specified digital object.

      Parameters:
      • pid: The pid of the object.
      • bDefPid: The PID of the Behavior Definition object.
      • methodName: The name of the method to be executed.
      • parameters: An array of name-value pairs.
      • asOfDateTime: The versioning dateTime. If null, Fedora will use the most recent version.
      Returns: A MIME-typed stream containing the result of the dissemination.

    5. getObjectHistory

      Gets a list of timestamps that correspond to modification dates of components. This currently includes changes to datastreams and disseminators.

      Parameters:
      • pid: The pid of the object.
      Returns: An array containing the list of timestamps indicating when changes were made to the object.

    6. getObjectProfile

      Gets the ObjectProfile of an object, which includes key metadata fields and URLs for the object Dissemination Index and the object Item Index. Can be thought of as a default view of the object.
      • pid: The pid of the object.
      • asOfDateTime: the date/time stamp specifying the desired view of the object. If null, the current view of the object (the most recent time) is assumed.
      Returns: the ObjectProfile of the object.

    7. listDatastreams

      Lists the datastreams of an object.

      Parameters:
      • pid: The pid of the object.
      • asOfDateTime: the date/time stamp specifying the desired view of the object. If null, the current view of the object (the most recent time) is assumed.
      Returns: A sequence of DatastreamDefs.

    8. listMethods

      Lists all the methods that the object supports.

      Parameters:
      • pid: The pid of the object.
      • asOfDateTime: the date/time stamp specifying the desired view of the object. If null, the current view of the object (the most recent time) is assumed.
      Returns: A sequence of ObjectMethodsDefs.

    9. resumeFindObjects

      Gets the next list of results from a truncated findObjects response.

      Parameters:
      • sessionToken: The token of the session in which the remaining results can be obtained.
      Returns: the remaining specified fields of each object matching the given criteria.

  3. WSDL

    1. Offline For reference, an offline copy of the API-A WSDL is available here.
    2. Online When running your own Fedora server, an online copy of the API-A WSDL will be made publicly available at /wsdl?api=API-A. For example: http://localhost:8080/fedora/wsdl?api=API-A