DAITSS Transformation Service

DAITSS Transformation Service execute the format transformation on a given file/resource based on given transformation identifier. The transformation identifier is used to look up the transformation instruction to perform the format transformation.

• Given a request to transform a file/resource, extract the transformation identifier from the request.
• Look up the transformation instruction for the transformation identifier in the config file i.e., config/transform.xml.
• The Transformation Service then performs the format transformation, locally cache the created files with proper file extension and send back the link(s) of the created file(s). The Transformation Service would also return associated PREMIS event and agent to record the result of the transformation and the software that is used for the transformation.
• The calling client would parse the returned links to retrieve the created files.
• Once the created file(s) are retrieved by the calling clients, the local caches for the files are removed.

Quickstart

1. Retrieve a copy of the trasnformation service.  You can either create a local git clone of the transformation service, ex.
%git clone git://github.com/daitss/transform.git
or download a copy from the download page.

2. Install all the required gems according to the Gemfile in this project
% bundle install

3. Test the installation via the test harness. 
% bundle exec cucumber feature/*

4. Run the transformation service with thin (use "thin --help" to get additional information on using thin)
% bundle exec thin start

Current Production Code

• Release 2.0.3, https://github.com/daitss/transform/releases/tag/v2.0.3

Requirement

• ruby 1.9.3 - master
• ruby (tested on 1.8.6 and 1.8.7) - please use ruby1.8.7 branch
• cucumber (gem)
• libxml-ruby (gem)
• log4r (gem)
• sinatra (gem) - a minimal web application framework. It will work with any web server such as mongrel, thin, apache etc.
• install any desired format conversion tools (such as ffmpeg, libquicktime, mencoder, etc) on your system. The config/transform.xml contains default setup to use those tools.

License

GNU General Public License

Directory Structure

• config: configuration files. It currently only contains transform.xml which provide instructions on using desired tools for file format transformation.
• feature: cucumber feature files
• files: contain test files for test harness. These files are for testing only and can be deleted after deployment.
• lib: ruby source code

Usage

• Use http GET method with a location parameter pointing to the FILE url of the intended file and a transformation identifier defined in transform.xml For example, if using curl curl http://transformation.fda.edu/transform/WAVE_NORM?location=file:///Users/Dummy/testdata/audio/wave/stereol.wav where the WAVE_NORM is the transformation identifier and "/Users/Dummy/testdata/audio/wave/stereol.wav" is the file to be transformed.

• Use http GET method with a location parameter pointing to the http url of the intended resource. For example, if using curl curl http://transformation.fda.edu/transform/WAVE_NORM?location=http://www.fcla.edu/daitss-test/files/GLASS.WAV where the WAVE_NORM is the transformation identifier and "http://www.fcla.edu/daitss-test/files/GLASS.WAV" is the URL resource to be transformed.

• Use http POST method by uploading the intended resource to the transformation service For example, if using curl curl -F file=@GLASS.WAV http://transformation.fda.edu/transform/WAVE_NORM where the WAVE_NORM is the transformation identifier and "GLASS.WAV" is the file to be uploaded.

HTTP return code

• 200 - successful.
• 400 - missing the transformation identifier. The request does not specify a transformation identifier.
• 404 - not found. Cannot locate the specified source file
• 500 - Service Error, encounter errors during transformation process.
• 501 - Cannot locate the transformation instruction in the daitss config file, on the given transformation identifier.

Documentation

development wiki