closes #180

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ The `pycldf` package adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.
 ## Unreleased
 
 - Make sure all local media files are copied with `Dataset.copy` as well.
+- Allow passing a description to `Dataset.add_table` and `Dataset.add_component`.
 
 
 ## [1.41.0] - 2025-02-15

src/pycldf/dataset.py

@@ -567,12 +567,16 @@ def add_table(self, url: str, *cols: ColSpecType, **kw) -> csvw.Table:
         :param cols: Column specifications; anything accepted by :func:`pycldf.dataset.make_column`.
         :param kw: Recognized keywords:
             - `primaryKey`: specify the column(s) constituting the primary key of the table.
+            - `description`: a description of the table.
         :return: The new table.
         """
         t = self.add_component({"url": url, "tableSchema": {"columns": []}}, *cols)
         if 'primaryKey' in kw:
             t.tableSchema.primaryKey = attr.fields_dict(Schema)['primaryKey'].converter(
                 kw.pop('primaryKey'))
+        if kw.get('description'):
+            t.common_props['dc:description'] = kw.pop('description')
+        t.common_props.update(kw)
         return t
 
     def remove_table(self, table: TableType):
@@ -600,6 +604,9 @@ def add_component(self,
 
         :param component: A component specified by name or as `dict` representing the JSON \
         description of the component.
+        :param kw: Recognized keywords: \
+            - `url`: a url property for the table;\
+            - `description`: a description of the table.
         """
         if isinstance(component, str):
             component = jsonlib.load(pkg_path('components', '{0}{1}'.format(component, MD_SUFFIX)))
@@ -609,6 +616,8 @@ def add_component(self,
 
         if kw.get('url'):
             component.url = Link(kw['url'])
+        if kw.get('description'):
+            component.common_props['dc:description'] = kw['description']
 
         for other_table in self.tables:
             if other_table.url == component.url:

tests/test_dataset.py

@@ -107,9 +107,17 @@ def test_primary_table(ds, ds_tc):
 
 
 def test_components(ds):
-    ds.add_component('LanguageTable')
-    ds.add_table('custom1.csv', 'id', **{'dc:conformsTo': None})
-    ds.add_table('custom2.csv', 'id', **{'dc:conformsTo': 'http://example.org'})
+    t = ds.add_component('LanguageTable', description='desc')
+    assert t.common_props['dc:description'] == 'desc'
+    t = ds.add_table('custom1.csv', 'id', **{'dc:conformsTo': None})
+    assert 'dc:conformsTo' in t.common_props
+    t = ds.add_table(
+        'custom2.csv',
+        'id',
+        description='desc',
+        **{'dc:conformsTo': 'http://example.org'})
+    assert 'dc:conformsTo' in t.common_props
+    assert t.common_props['dc:description'] == 'desc'
     assert len(ds.components) == 1