Web Services - Add Custom Fields

We are seeking your feedback on our current design proposal.

We've been discussing and designing a new feature for DataShop—the ability to add and modify custom fields for existing data in DataShop. We'd like your feedback! If you have a moment, take a look at the PDF below, pages 1-9 (the rest is an archive of our discussion that you're also welcome to read). Then send us feedback or add it to this page below.

In the document we talk a lot about web services (a way to programmatically retrieve and annotate data), but the idea of custom fields would be universal. Would this proposal meet your needs for annotating (adding columns to) your data? If not, how can it be improved?

Please add your comments by Wed January 19 2011 (after which we'll be writing low-level requirements)

User Stories

1. As a researcher (EDM, M&M, CMDM), I want to retrieve transaction data programmatically and append custom fields to transactions in DataShop so that I can more easily run my models on the data outside of DataShop and put the results back in.
2. As a researcher with a machine learning background, I want to retrieve student-step data programmatically so that I can more easily run my analyses on the data without much human intervention.
3. As a researcher who has created a custom field for an existing data set, I want to import that new field into the step rollup table so that it is both preserved and available in DataShop tools. - Ryan Baker, 12/15/2008

Notes/Comments

Comments on the Proposal for Web Services: Custom Fields

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