CONTENTdm Catcher API Release Notes, April 2025

New Parameter: disableValidation in the processCONTENTdm edit action.

Previously, when editing records with CONTENTdm Catcher, the default behavior was to validate all fields against their controlled vocabularies, even if only some fields were being edited. This often led to silent rejections of edits due to vocabulary validation failures. Users may have had to temporarily disable vocabularies for successful batch edits.

The processCONTENTdm edit action now includes a disableValidation parameter, allowing you to disable controlled vocabulary validation during the transaction.

Usage:

• Parameter Name: <disableValidation>
• Values: true or false
• Default Behavior: If set to false or not supplied, the edit action will validate fields as usual.
• Disable Validation: To disable validation, set the disableValidation parameter to true

<disableValidation>true</disableValidation>

Important Notice: Setting disableValidation to true does not manage or respect record locks in CONTENTdm Administration. The default behavior remains unchanged when disableValidation is set to false or not supplied, ensuring record locks are checked and applied before indexing.

Amended Transaction Messages

• Successful Edit with disableValidation set to true: "Edit initiated" along with the transaction ID.
• Edit with disableValidation set to false or not supplied: "Notice: Controlled vocabularies have been applied to one or more fields in the collection. If any vocabulary term fails to validate, the edit request is rejected. To review vocabulary terms, use getCONTENTdmControlledVocabTerms."

Example of processCONTENTdm edit action call.  Note the disableValidation parameter after the collection alias:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:v6="http://catcherws.cdm.oclc.org/v6.0.0/">
<soapenv:Header/>
<soapenv:Body>
<v6:processCONTENTdm>
<action>edit</action>
<validateVocabularies>true</validateVocabularies>
<cdmurl>http://server20015.qa.oclc.org:8888</cdmurl>
<username>USERNAME</username>
<password>PASSWORD</password>
<license>ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-PQRST</license>
<collection>COLLECTION_ALIAS</collection>
<disableValidation>true</disableValidation>
<metadata>
<metadataList>
<metadata>
<field>dmrecord</field>
<value>0</value>
</metadata>b
<metadata>
<field>transc</field>
<value>Attempting to insert this transcript to Transcript field transc</value>
</metadata>
</metadataList>
</metadata>
</v6:processCONTENTdm>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>