Management Domains: Asset and Dataset specialization pt. 1

[paullatzelsperger]

Feature Request

As part one of the implementation of management domains this issue is about changes to the Asset class.

Changes to the Asset class

Specifically, Assets will receive a method boolean isCatalog() that indicates, whether an Asset is a catalog asset (i.e. refers to another remote catalog) or not.
This information is stored and persisted as a boolean flag in the privateProperties of an Asset.

Changes to the Management API

• ingress: when an Asset's has a @type: edc:CatalogAsset set, then the aforementioned boolean flag isCatalog is set to true. Naturally, it is also possible to omit the @type: edc:CatalogAsset, and directly set the flag when creating the Asset.
• egress: when an Asset#privateProperties contains the boolean flag isCatalog: true, then the transformer sets the Asset's @type: edc:CatalogAsset.

The reason for this duplication is that EDC does not persist the @type field. Conversely, the privateProperties are not serialized over DSP.

Which Areas Would Be Affected?

Management API, Asset data model

Why Is the Feature Desired?

to enable the implementation Management Domains, in particular linked catalogs

Solution Proposal

• this change should not break existing management API client implementations!