This code is no longer being developed here - please go to https://describo.github.io.

describo

Describo is a tool to describe and package research data and corresponding metadata following the RO-Crate standard. You will start from a directory and then use Describo to describe the data therein as a Dataset, including metadata on the "who, what and where" properties such as author - where the value is not just a string, but a Contextual Item - a Person - which in turn may link to other Contextual Items. Describo runs as a desktop app on your Mac, Windows or Linux computer. There is also a version that can be installed as a web application, e.g., to make it available from your servers for all the researchers at your institution.

describo for users

You can get a pre-built bundle from the download section on our web pages: https://arkisto-platform.github.io/describo/.

Once you have installed the desktop version of describo, on the first run you will be welcome with a guided tour showing step by step how to use it. You can take that guided tour with you or share it with colleagues by downloading the PDF version here. By default, describo will work with a predefined profile that fits needs for most users. If you want to create your own customize profile, you can visit our wiki where you will find further documentation.

describo for developers

We do not have yet a formal tutorial documentation for developers but would be interested to hear what people make of the tool anyway. Here we provide some instructions to run it in a dev environment so an application will start on your computer.

• describo
  • describo for users
  • describo for developers
  • Technology
  • Running the development environment
  • Tests
  • Repository Structure
  • Building a release
  • Updating the github pages site

Technology

• ElectronJS
• VueJS
• ElementFE - component toolkit
• TailwindCSS
• Fontawesome Free Icons
• rclone
• Jest - tests

Running the development environment

Install the packages and then start the dev env.

npm install
npm run develop

Hot updates are enabled so the app will reload when you save file changes.

Tests

There are two way to run the tests:

• npm run test to run the tests on demand
• npm run test-watch to start the test server in watch mode and re-run tests on spec file changes.

DO:

• create tests named as test-***.spec.js
• create the tests alongside the code being tested

Repository Structure

The entry point to the Vue app is in src/renderer/index.js. The store and route files are in that folder also. The application components are in src/components whist the css assets are in src/assets but since the app uses tailwindcss you likely won't need to create any / many custom css classes.

Building a release

See the wiki

Updating the github pages site

See the wiki