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# FAQ

## Can I use pycsw within my WSGI application?

Yes. pycsw can be deployed as both via traditional CGI or WSGI. You can also integrate pycsw via Django views or Pylons controllers.

## How do I export my repository?

Use the `pycsw-admin.py` utility to dump the records as XML documents to a directory:

    $ pycsw-admin.py -c export_records -f default.cfg -p /path/to/output_dir

## How do I add a custom metadata format?

pycsw provides a plugin framework in which you can implement a custom profile (see Profile Plugins)

## How can I catalogue ‘sets’ of metadata?

Create a ‘parent’ metadata record from which all relevant metadata records (imagery, features) derive from via the same `dc:source` element of Dublin Core or `apiso:parentIdentifier` element of ISO 19139:2007. Then, do a `GetRecords` request, filtering on the identifier of the parent metadata record. Sample request:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
    <csw:GetRecords xmlns:csw="http://www.opengis.net/cat/csw/2.0.2" xmlns:ogc="http://www.opengis.net/ogc" service="CSW" version="2.0.2" resultType="results" startPosition="1" maxRecords="5" outputFormat="application/xml" outputSchema="http://www.opengis.net/cat/csw/2.0.2" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.opengis.net/cat/csw/2.0.2 http://schemas.opengis.net/csw/2.0.2/CSW-discovery.xsd" xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml" xmlns:gmd="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gmd" xmlns:apiso="http://www.opengis.net/cat/csw/apiso/1.0">
      <csw:Query typeNames="csw:Record">
        <csw:ElementSetName>brief</csw:ElementSetName>
        <csw:Constraint version="1.1.0">
          <ogc:Filter>
            <ogc:And>
              <ogc:PropertyIsEqualTo>
                <ogc:PropertyName>apiso:parentIdentifier</ogc:PropertyName>
                <ogc:PropertyName>$identifier</ogc:PropertyName>
              </ogc:PropertyIsEqualTo>
              <ogc:BBOX>
                <ogc:PropertyName>ows:BoundingBox</ogc:PropertyName>
                <gml:Envelope>
                  <gml:lowerCorner>47 -5</gml:lowerCorner>
                  <gml:upperCorner>55 20</gml:upperCorner>
                </gml:Envelope>
              </ogc:BBOX>
            </ogc:And>
          </ogc:Filter>
        </csw:Constraint>
      </csw:Query>
    </csw:GetRecords>

The above query will search for all metadata records of the same `apiso:parentIdentifier` (identified by `$identifier`) within a given area of interest. The equivalent query can be done against `dc:source` with the same design pattern.

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