Bulk editing allows changes to be made to the attributes of a set of objects of the same subtype without triggering a validation workflow and regardless of their status. The modifications to the objects are made by setting the same value for each chosen attribute across all selected objects.
Bulk editing is only available to users with the administrative API permission, since objects can be edited in states that would otherwise be impossible without that permission.
Once the subtype has been selected and the necessary filters applied, the objects to be edited can be marked. The bottom of the screen will progressively display the number of selected objects (in the case of datasets, the number of dataset_fields they contain will also appear).
Proceeding to the next step displays the full list of attributes from the template corresponding to the selected object subtype. These attributes are selectable and, as they are checked, they are added to the form.
These attributes are loaded into the form with the predefined values and validations configured in the template. For example, if a numeric attribute has a validation preventing its value from exceeding 100, bulk editing will also not allow a value greater than 100 to be entered for it. Or if the value of a Reference Metadata attribute depends on the value chosen for another template attribute, it cannot be edited without first selecting the other attribute. Furthermore, inheritable or non-editable attributes cannot be edited this way.
Once the values have been entered for the attributes, clicking “View old values” displays, for each attribute, the new value entered and the current values in the selected objects.
When selecting “Bulk attribute edit”, a window appears with the auto-generated job name that Anjana has created, giving the user the option to change it. This window also includes the option “Remove objects from workspace” to help the user manage their workspace.
Upon confirmation, the progress of the job is displayed on screen.
When finished, the user is shown a link to access the job details. If the editing of more than 20 objects was requested, they will be processed in separate jobs and multiple links will be shown.
Clicking on these links, the user accesses the screen displaying the completed job and the editing status for each object, along with the reason for failure in cases where editing an object caused an error.
When accessing each edited object, the changes in its template can be seen
The editing of each object is audited and the corresponding snapshot of the object is saved.
LIMITATIONS:
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To avoid loss of processing performance and overloading the machine, it is recommended not to bulk edit more than 5,000 objects. Therefore, when modifying datasets with dataset fields, the total number of entities (both datasets and dataset fields) must not exceed 5,000. If more than 5,000 entities or relationships need to be edited, this must be done in separate jobs.