CEDAR Embeddable Editor¶
The CEDAR Embeddable Editor (CEE) adds structured metadata forms to an existing web application. The host supplies a CEDAR template, and the CEE renders the corresponding form. As the user completes it, the host can read the resulting metadata instance as JSON-LD or YAML.
The CEE is a framework-independent Web Component, distributed as a single JavaScript file. It can be embedded in a plain HTML page or used from Angular, React, Ember, and other web frameworks. It does not require a CEDAR account or a running CEDAR installation to render a form.
Why Use the CEE?¶
CEDAR templates express metadata requirements in a form that software can interpret. A template defines the fields to collect, their types and cardinalities, validation constraints, repeatable groups, and any controlled vocabularies or identifier authorities associated with them.
The CEE turns that specification into a working interface. A platform can therefore adopt or revise a metadata standard without writing a new form for every template. Researchers enter metadata without leaving the platform they already use, while the platform keeps control of template selection, persistence, and the surrounding workflow.
The division of responsibilities is:
| Part | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Template author | Defines the metadata structure, constraints, labels, and vocabulary bindings. |
| CEE | Renders the form, validates input, resolves configured terms and identifiers, and serializes the instance. |
| Host application | Supplies the template, stores the metadata, chooses service endpoints, and decides when a record may be submitted. |
The same component also supports read-only display, so a platform can use one renderer for both authoring and reviewing metadata.
What Goes In and What Comes Out¶
The CEE accepts templates in CEDAR's JSON Schema or YAML representation. It can start with an empty form or load an existing instance for editing.
The resulting instance contains more than display text. A controlled term records its IRI as well as its label, and an external-authority field records a persistent identifier such as an ORCID, ROR, DOI, PubMed ID, RRID, NIH grant identifier, or PFAS identifier. This preserves the semantics needed for validation, indexing, and reuse.
Templates and Metadata describes the input properties, output properties, and change event in detail.
Optional Network Services¶
Rendering, editing, local validation, and serialization all happen in the browser. Network access is needed only for features that depend on remote data or content:
| Feature | Source |
|---|---|
| Controlled-term suggestions | The CEDAR terminology service configured by the host. |
| External-authority lookup | The CEDAR bridge service configured by the host. |
| Additional interface languages | A language-map location configured by the host. |
| Images and videos in a template | The origins named by the template author. |
Neither CEDAR service has a default endpoint. If the host does not configure one, the corresponding lookup feature is unavailable but the rest of the form continues to work. The CEE never stores or submits the completed metadata; the host application decides where it goes.
See Security for the trust model, network requests, and content security policy guidance.
Current Limits¶
The CEE is intended for template-driven forms. It does not currently provide:
- conditional branching based on earlier answers;
- validation rules that compare multiple fields; or
- spreadsheet-style bulk entry.
For tabular workflows, see CEDAR's spreadsheet tooling.
Deployments¶
The CEE is used for metadata entry in the Open Science Framework and Dryad, and for read-only presentation in the RADx Data Hub and HuBMAP. The HuBMAP templates used by Dryad and OSF are the same exported templates: each platform supplies its own configuration and integrates the resulting metadata into its own workflow.
These deployments illustrate the main design goal of the CEE: a community can define a machine-actionable metadata standard once and use it in several independent applications without rebuilding the authoring interface for each one.
Browser and Accessibility Support¶
The CEE requires native Custom Elements and Shadow DOM support. Its automated browser suite covers current Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit engines; partner deployments have also tested releases in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and selected mobile browsers. Internet Explorer, EdgeHTML, and web views without these Web Component APIs are not supported.
The editor is designed for keyboard and screen-reader use, with WCAG AA as its accessibility target.
Get Started¶
- Build Your First Embedded Editor.
- Integrate the CEE with a Framework.
- Configure Services and Behavior.
- Work with Controlled Terms and External Authorities.
- Read Validation Results.
Citation and Source¶
The design, architecture, and deployments are described in:
O'Connor, M.J., Martinez-Romero, M., Egyedi, A.L., Akdogan, M.U., Dorf, M.V. and Musen, M.A. 2026. Author Once, Publish Everywhere: Portable Metadata Authoring with the CEDAR Embeddable Editor. Data Science Journal, 25: 2, pp. 1-18.
Source code is available from metadatacenter/cedar-embeddable-editor under the BSD 2-Clause License.