Creating an Empty Collection via the CLU

You can use a CLU command to create an empty collection in DME. With the same command, you can create a parent collection for the empty collection. This command has the following prerequisites for the existing collection in which you intend to create the empty collection or the parent collection of the empty collection:

• Your user account has the Write or Own permission level on the existing collection.
• That existing collection has been configured to contain another collection. 

To create an empty collection:

1. Consider the metadata requirements for the type of collection that you intend to create: 
   • What are the required attributes for this collection type?
   • What are the acceptable values and default values for each attribute?

2. In your file system, create a JSON file that specifies the metadata for the new collection, as follows:

   {
       "metadataEntries": [
           {
            "attribute": "project",
            "value": "my-project-name"
           },
           {
            "attribute": "collection_type",
            "value": "Folder"
           }
       ]
   }

3. In your JSON file, if you want to create a parent collection for the empty collection, also specify the metadata for the parent collection, as follows:

   {
       "metadataEntries": [
           {
            "attribute": "project",
            "value": "my-project-name"
           },
           {
            "attribute": "collection_type",
            "value": "Folder"
           }
       ],
       "createParentCollections": true,
       "parentCollectionsBulkMetadataEntries": 
           {
           "defaultCollectionMetadataEntries": 
               [{
               "attribute": "collection_type",
               "value": "Folder"
               }]
           }
   }

4. Run the following command:

   dm_register_collection [optional parameters] <description.json> <destination-path>

   The following table describes each parameter:

   Parameter	Description
   [-h]	If you want to print a usage (help) message for this command, specify this option.
   [-D <REST-response>]	An optional parameter, specifying a path and filename in your file system. The system always creates a response file: If you specify this parameter, the system saves the response from the server to the specified file in the specified location. If you omit this parameter, the system saves the file as collection-registration-response-header.tmp in your home directory.
   [-o <output-json-file>]	An optional parameter, specifying a path and filename in your file system. The system always creates an output file: If you specify this parameter, the system saves the output to the specified file in the specified location. If you omit this parameter, the system saves the output as collection-registration-response-message.json.tmp in your home directory.  If the command is successful, the output file is empty.
   <description.json>	A path to the JSON file that specifies the metadata for the new collection.
   <destination-path>	A path within DME, including the name of the collection you intend to create. Specify where you want the system to create the new collection. (If you specify an existing collection, this command updates the metadata for that collection. For details, refer to Updating Collection Metadata via the CLU.)

   The command registers the metadata specified in <description.json> to the <destination-path> in DME. 

For example, the following command creates a Project_New collection within the PI_Lab1 collection and applies to that new collection the metadata in the my-collection.json file:

dm_register_collection my-collection.json /Example_Archive/PI_Lab1/Project_New

The JSON file must contain metadata for the new collection, Project_New. If the parent collection, PI_Lab1, does not already exist, then the JSON file must also contain metadata for that collection.