Hello, I would like to know how can one create a new pod and assign it to an existing WebID so that the owner of the WebID sees multiple http://www.w3.org/ns/pim/space#storage options in their profile card. I want the users of my application to be able to select which pod should the application use for data storage. I am aware of the fact that a WebID can be associated with more pods but I don’t know how to create more pods for my WebID. I tried searching the Web and the forum but wasn’t able to find the answer. Thank you for all replies.
1 Like
Is there a reason to store these things in multiple pods rather than as separate containers in a given pod? The only real advantage of having separate pods is having separate WebIDs but that’s not what you want it seems.
If you do want multiple pods then either create them on localhosts or get them from a free pod provider or pay for them. If you get them from a provider they may or may not let you “bring your WebID”. If they insist on assigning you another, you can give your first WebID rights to the other pods. You’ll have to add them as storages in your original profile, there is no thing that automatically inserts them.
1 Like
I thought that I’d give my users more freedom if they could choose which pod associated with their WebID should the application use. Maybe I won’t make it as a feature as I was planning and only if the application detects multiple pods in a profile upon logging in then I’ll ask the user which one do they want to use. By the way, I’m creating an eating preferences profile editor and the profile is being stored as a single dataset in a pod, similarly to a profile card. I am also allowing users to export their profile, and the reason is that they can sign in via a traditional identity provider like Facebook or Google and switch to Solid whenever they feel like it.
2 Likes
That all sounds like exciting stuff. I invite you (and anyone reading this) to come to our Solid Practitioners meeting where we discuss and support projects like yours.
One thing you might look at is type-indexes - these allow much finer tuned ways to find where to store things.
1 Like
It depends on the Pod Provider and the Solid server they are running. On CSS, e.g. running on solidweb.me) you can choose to use an existing WebID when signing up and creating a new Pod:
@jeffz I see several reasons why one would have multiple Pods with a single WebID. I myself am having several Pods. One reason is to separate data with different level of security. While I am happy to store some data on an experimental Pod on the Web, I am also running my own instances of CSS, some on a VPS, some on a raspi at home in local network and some only on localhost, but I do not want to have a dedicated WebID for all of those.
PS:
This box should only be ticked on the Pod you want to use as Identity Provider
2 Likes
@aveltens - I am not implying that there are no reasons to have more than one WebID, I have five or six. I am saying that people should really evaluate their needs and make an informed decision about whether another WebID is needed.
2 Likes
True, my point was about having multiple Pods with a single WebID
3 Likes
Has anyone already find a solution to this how a user can choose which pod he wants to use. This is for my intership project where I’m making a Solid app in Flutter.
Depends on exactly what you’re trying to do, but easies option if the user has their pim:storages in their WebId; then you can present that list of storages to the user and have them select which one they want to use after they have logged in.
Since you’re using flutter you may want to take a look at some of the apps that ANU has built which also make use of Flutter:
3 Likes
Hi @jeswr
Thank you very much for the quick response! So I’ve done some research about the pim:storage, but is it possible that the Community Solid Server (CSS) does not include pim:storage in the WebID? I read some posts about CSS not doing this.
I’m currently running CSS locally and don’t know if their is a configuration where I can enable pim:storage to be included in the WebID.
Also, thank you for the flutter examples. I’ve tested these but I believe they are just using one pod per WebID, but I like to know if I could view all the pods linked to one specific WebID while using CSS. So from my understanding this could be possible by using pim:storage, but yeah, I don’t think CSS does this.
Do you know if there is any solution for this or should I stick to having one pod per WebID, because then I can just take the WebID and do replaceAll('/profile/card#me, ' ') to get the pod.
Any user can add a pim:storage triple to their WebID Profile, it does not need to be pre-provisioned by the server operator.
can just take the WebID and do
replaceAll('/profile/card#me, ' ')to get the pod.
No, that will not work in all cases. WebID URLs can take many forms and, while that is the most common, it is by no means the only format.
Hi @jeffz , thanks for the quick reply!
I apologize for the confusion, but I don’t think that solves the problem I’m currently facing. Let me try to explain it a bit more clearly.
I’m using the Community Solid Server (CSS), and I can run it locally or use an existing one. When I open my browser, I connect to the Solid server and log in. I can see my WebID and Pods. For now, let’s assume I have one Pod linked to one WebID. Now, I want to create another Pod that uses the same WebID. So, using the UI, I create a Pod and select “Use existing WebID” and select my existing WebID. Now I have two Pods associated with the same WebID.
When I go to my Flutter app, log in, and select my WebID, I cannot see or select which of the two Pods I want to use. I’ve read a lot about pim:storage, but I can’t find how to use it with the CSS. I can’t just add my Pod URL to pim:storage because my app doesn’t know which Pods exist. So, what I need is a way to discover which Pods are linked to the WebID selected in my app.
You can insert triples like <#me> pim:storage <sormeURL>. in your WebID profile, as many as you like.
After that, it is an issue of the UI of the app you use which can be written to look for all such triples and offer you a choice. The app already knows your WebID so it can open the document. You know the predicate you want ‘pim:storage’ so the app just needs to cycle through all triples in that document to find the storages. This is very simple and straightforward. OTOH, I am not aware of apps which have that as part of their UI so you may need to write something or request it as a feature in the app you use.
Blockquote You can insert triples like
<#me> pim:storage <sormeURL>.in your WebID profile, as many as you like.
Is it the problem then of the Community Solid Server that they do not automatically add the Pod Url (in your case the sormeUrl) to the pim:storage after creating a new Pod? Because my flutter app cannot know which pods exist under that WebID.
There are two parts.
-
Getting the storage listed in the WebID Profile. I don’t know if CSS does automatically add it. In my opinion, it should. If it doesn’t I suggest you file a feature request issue on CSS. As I mentioned, you can also add it manually if needed.
-
Having a UI that looks for multiple storages. If your flutter app chooses only one storage, then the app needs to be rewritten to look for multiple storages using the process I described above.
To follow what Jeff said:
-
I think there is a way to configure CSS to include this but I don’t remember where it was described.
-
The easiest way to do this is use the Dart rdflib package to query the user’s pod for all the storage predicates after authenticating with your Solid Pod server and provide them a screen where they have a dropdown list to select the storage and then navigate to your main screen.