pyCCMM - Python CCMM Metadata Handler

Python parser and metadata generator for Czech Core Metadata Model (CCMM).

Installation

pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

Basic usage

from pyccmm import CCMMHandler

# Initialize handler (uses bundled CCMM schemas)
handler = CCMMHandler()

# Set basic required fields
handler.set_title("My dataset")
handler.set_publication_year(2024)

# Add identifier
handler.add_identifier("12345", "DOI")

# Add description
handler.add_description("Dataset description")

# Validation
if handler.is_valid():
    print("Dataset is valid!")
    
# Save to file
handler.save_to_file("metadata.xml")

Gradual parameter filling

# Add metadata as needed
handler.add_subject("keyword", "CCMM")
handler.add_agent_relationship("Author", "creator", "person")
handler.add_distribution("https://example.com/data", "text/csv")
handler.add_location("Prague", "place")
handler.add_time_reference("2024-01-01", "created")

Loading from file

# Load existing metadata file
handler = CCMMHandler()
if handler.load_from_file("existing_metadata.xml"):
    print("File loaded successfully!")
    print("Title:", handler.get_title())

API Reference

CCMMHandler

Main class for CCMM metadata manipulation.

Constructor

• __init__(ccmm_path: Optional[str] = None) - Initializes handler with path to CCMM schemas (uses bundled schemas if None)

Required fields

• set_title(title: str) - Set dataset title
• set_publication_year(year: int) - Set publication year
• add_identifier(value: str, scheme: IdentifierScheme, iri: Optional[str] = None) - Add identifier

Optional fields

• set_version(version: str) - Set version
• add_description(text: str) - Add description
• add_alternate_title(title: str, title_type: Optional[str] = None) - Add alternate title
• add_subject(subject: str, scheme: Optional[str] = None) - Add subject/keyword
• add_agent_relationship(agent_name: str, role: AgentRole, agent_type: AgentType = AgentType.PERSON) - Add agent relationship
• add_distribution(access_url: str, format_type: Optional[DistributionFormat] = None) - Add distribution
• add_location(location: str, location_type: LocationType) - Add location
• add_time_reference(time_value: str, time_type: TimeReferenceType) - Add time reference

Validation

• is_valid() -> bool - Check overall validity (includes XSD validation)

Import/Export

• load_from_file(xml_file_path: str) -> bool - Load from file
• save_to_file(file_path: str) - Save to file
• to_xml_string(pretty_print: bool = True) -> str - Convert to XML string

Querying

• get_title() -> str - Get dataset title
• get_publication_year() -> int - Get publication year
• get_identifiers() -> List[Identifier] - Get all identifiers
• get_subjects() -> List[Subject] - Get all subjects
• get_summary() -> Dict[str, Any] - Get dataset summary

CCMM Structure

The library supports the following CCMM structure:

• Dataset (root element)
  • title (required)
  • publication_year (required)
  • identifier (required)
  • version
  • description
  • alternate_title
  • subject
  • qualified_relation (agent relationships)
  • distribution
  • location
  • time_reference
  • and more...

CCMM Schema Integration

This library includes the official CCMM schemas as a git submodule from the CCMM repository. The schemas are automatically bundled with the package and used for validation.

Examples

See examples/example_usage.py for complete usage examples.

Dependencies

• lxml - for XSD validation
• xml.etree.ElementTree - for XML manipulation (part of Python standard library)
• typing - for type hints (part of Python standard library)

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

Developed by Roman Dvořák (romandvorak@mlab.cz) at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (FZU).