Populating the database of a clld app

In the following we will show how to create instances of all core model classes, thus populating the database of a clld app. The code snippets should be understood as living inside the main function of an app’s scripts.initializedb module.

Metadata

data = Data()

dataset = common.Dataset(id=myapp.__name__, domain='myapp.clld.org')
DBSession.add(dataset)

# All ValueSets must be related to a contribution:
contrib = common.Contribution(id='contrib', name='the contribution')

# All ValueSets must be related to a Language:
data.add(common.Language, 'eng', id='eng', name='English', latitude=52.0, longitude=0.0)
data.add(common.Language, 'abk', id='abk', name='Abkhaz', latitude=43.08, longitude=41.0)

Note

We use a clld.cliutil.Data instance and its add method to create objects we want to reference lateron.

Language-level parameters and values

Structural databases like WALS are best modeled using clld.db.models.common.Parameter objects for structural features and clld.db.models.common.Value objects for a single value assignment. So code to add WALS-like data could look as follows:

feature1 = common.Parameter(id='1A', name='Consonant Inventories')

# ValueSets group Values related to the same Language, Contribution and Parameter
vs = common.ValueSet(id='1A-eng', language=data['Language']['eng'], parameter=feature1, contribution=contrib)

# Values store the actual "measurements":
DBSession.add(common.Value(id='1A-eng', name='Average', valueset=vs))

Parameters often allow only values from a fixed domain. This can be modeled using clld.db.models.common.DomainElement objects:

feature2 = common.Parameter(id='9A', name='The velar nasal')

# We add a DomainElement for Paramter feature2 ...
no_velar_nasal = common.DomainElement(id='9A-1', name='No velar nasal', parameter=feature2)

vs = common.ValueSet(id='1A-abk', language=data['Language']['abk'], parameter=feature2, contribution=contrib)

# ... and reference this DomainElement when creating a Value:
DBSession.add(common.Value(id='1A-abk', valueset=vs, domainelement=no_velar_nasal))

Unit-level parameters and values

Lexical databases typically provide information on words or lexemes. This kind of data can be modeled using clld.db.models.common.Unit and clld.db.models.common.UnitParameter objects.

# We model words as units of a language:
unit = common.Unit(id='unit', name='hand', language=data['Language']['eng'])

# Part of speech is a typical parameter which can be "measured" for words or lexemes.
pos = common.UnitParameter(id='pos', name='part of speech')

DBSession.add(common.UnitValue(id='unit-pos', name='noun', unit=unit, unitparameter=pos, contribution=contrib))

Note

We could have used clld.db.models.common.UnitDomainElement objects to model a controlled list of valid part-of-speech values.