Custom Connector
Victoria Open Data Portal
Australia
The Victoria Open Data Connector provides seamless integration with the Victorian Government’s official open data portal, enabling secure, reliable, high-performance access to all publicly available datasets and metadata. It standardizes requests for datasets, resources, organizations, categories, and tags (CKAN).
Overview
Integration Overview
This document provides a detailed guide for each integration point, its purpose, configuration, and workflow support using the Victoria Open Data Connector.
- package_list. Returns a list of all dataset names (IDs).
- current_package_list_with_resources. Returns recent datasets with full resource metadata.
- package_search. Full-text and faceted search across all datasets.
- package_show. Retrieves complete metadata and resources for a specific dataset.
- organization_list. Lists all publishing organizations (departments and agencies).
- tag_list / group_list. Returns all tags, and all groups/categories used to organize datasets.
Documentation
Detailed Integration Documentation
List Datasets & Resources
| Action | package_list / current_package_list_with_resources |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Returns an array of all dataset identifiers, or recent datasets with full resource details (download URLs, formats) for building rich catalogs. |
| Configuration | Configure the base URL via CONNECTOR_ENV_VICTORIA_BASE_URL. |
| Parameters | package_list: none (empty POST body). current_package_list_with_resources optional: limit (integer). |
| Output | Successful: {success: true, result: [ids…]}, or full dataset objects with a resources array. Failure: a CKAN error object with success: false. |
| Workflow example | Execute package_list to enumerate the catalog, then fetch detail per dataset as needed. |
Search Datasets
| Action | package_search |
|---|---|
| Purpose | The primary discovery endpoint — full-text search, faceted filtering (organization, format, license), sorting, and pagination. |
| Configuration | Configure the base URL via CONNECTOR_ENV_VICTORIA_BASE_URL. |
| Parameters | Optional: q; fq (filter query); rows; start; sort; facet.field. |
| Output | Successful: search results with count, a results array, and facets. Failure: CKAN error object. |
| Workflow example | Execute package_search with q=water and facet.field=[organization] to build an interactive data portal. |
Get Dataset Metadata
| Action | package_show |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Retrieves full metadata for a single dataset — title, description, resources, tags, extras, and update history. |
| Configuration | Configure the base URL via CONNECTOR_ENV_VICTORIA_BASE_URL. |
| Parameters | Required: id (dataset name or UUID). |
| Output | Successful: the complete dataset object with a resources array (download URLs and formats). Failure: CKAN error object. |
| Workflow example | Execute package_show with id=road-crashes-victoria to display details and direct download links. |
Organizations, Tags & Groups
| Action | organization_list / tag_list / group_list |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Lists all publishing organizations (departments/agencies), all tags used across the portal, and thematic groups (Health, Transport, Environment). |
| Configuration | Configure the base URL via CONNECTOR_ENV_VICTORIA_BASE_URL. Supports authorization headers, JSON/form-encoded requests, streaming responses, and a 5-minute timeout for long searches. |
| Parameters | Optional: all_fields=true (organization_list — include descriptions and dataset counts). |
| Output | Successful: arrays of organization, tag, or group objects. Failure: CKAN error object. |
| Workflow example | Use organization_list to populate agency filters, and group_list / tag_list for topic-based navigation. |
Example Workflow: Building a Victorian Open Data Dashboard
| Organizations | Use organization_list to populate agency filters. |
|---|---|
| Discover | Execute package_search with faceted queries to power search and filtering. |
| Catalog | Use current_package_list_with_resources or package_search results to show titles, descriptions, and formats. |
| Detail & browse | Use package_show for full metadata and download links, and group_list / tag_list for thematic browsing. |
Support
For technical support, contact custom-connectors-support@isolutions.sa.