Enhancing Manila UI: Adding Metadata Support to Share Snapshot Creation and Editing

To enhance the Manila UI by adding metadata support to the "Create Share Snapshot" dialog and allow for metadata editing, you need to understand and utilize the API microversions correctly. According to the REST API Version History, metadata for share snapshots was introduced in microversion 2.73. This blog post explain few steps to update the Manila UI and ensure you are using the correct microversion.

Step 1: Ensure API Microversion Compatibility
Before you start adding metadata fields to your forms, you need to make sure your code is set to use the correct API microversion (2.73 or later).

In the Horizon settings or where you configure the Manila client, ensure that you are using microversion 2.73 or higher. Typically, this is done in a configuration file or directly in the API client initialization.

Step 2: Adding the Metadata Textbox to the Create Snapshot Dialog
I Updated the form used for creating share snapshots to include a metadata textbox. This form is defined in manila_ui/dashboards/project/share_snapshots/forms.py.

Step 3: Connecting the API for Snapshot Creation
To connect the API for creating snapshots with the new metadata field, ensure the handle method in the form processes the metadata correctly.

Step 4: Implementing Metadata Editing for Share Snapshots
To allow editing metadata for existing share snapshots, update the form and view for editing share snapshots.

Key Git Commands: Descriptions and Uses
During the course of working on the task of enhancing the Manila UI, I had the opportunity to learn and use several Git commands. Below is a brief description of each command and its purpose:

1. git rebase git rebase is used to reapply commits on top of another base tip.I learnt this when I mistakenly used git commit --amend instead of using git commit then the commit message. It is often used to keep a feature branch up to date with the latest changes in the main branch.

Uses:

1. Integrate changes from the main branch into a feature branch.

2. Clean up commit history by creating a linear sequence of commits.

3. git rebase --continue
   After resolving conflicts during a rebase, git rebase --continue is used to resume the rebase process. It indicates that the conflicts have been resolved, and Git can continue applying the remaining commits.

Use:Continue the rebase process after resolving conflicts.

1. git rm -rm The command should be git rm (without the -rm). It is used to remove files from the working directory and the index (staging area). The -r option allows recursive removal, i.e., it can remove directories and their contents.

Use:Remove files or directories from the repository.

1. git diff git diff shows the differences between changes in the working directory and the index (staging area), or between different commits. It is useful for reviewing changes before committing them.

Uses:

1. View changes made to files.
2. Compare different versions of files.

Conclusion**

By following these steps, you can enhance the Manila UI to include metadata support for creating and editing share snapshots. Ensure that your code uses API microversion 2.73 or later to take advantage of the metadata functionality introduced in this version. This allows users to provide and manage additional information in the form of metadata, improving the organization and management of share snapshots.