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Documentation Technical documentation for the Get Information about Schools service.

Azure Table Storage Usage

Overview

The GIAS web front end uses Azure Table Storage as its main directly-managed persistence store.

This storage is used for web-owned data rather than the core establishment, group, governor, approval, and extract domain model. Core GIAS business data is retrieved and updated through the back-end APIs. Azure Table Storage is used by the web application for supporting content, UI state, user preferences, operational diagnostics, and a small number of administration features.

The integration is implemented through Edubase.Data.Repositories.TableStorage.TableStorageBase<T>, which:

  • reads the DataConnectionString
  • creates an Azure CloudTableClient
  • resolves a table per entity type
  • ensures the table exists
  • applies an exponential retry policy

Most repository classes in Web/Edubase.Data/Repositories inherit from this base class.

Main usage pattern

The web application uses Azure Table Storage in three broad ways:

  1. Persisted UI and user state
  2. CMS-style and operational content managed in the web tier
  3. Diagnostics and support data for the web application itself

Data types stored

1. Search tokens

Entity:

  • Token

Stored data:

  • serialized search and filter state in the Data field

Used for:

  • persisting search/filter form state
  • loading results and downloads using ?tok=<token>
  • restoring saved searches after login

Main usage points:

  • SearchApiController
  • TokenValueProviderFactory
  • AccountController

This is documented in more detail in tokens.md.

2. User preferences

Entity:

  • UserPreference

Stored data:

  • SavedSearchToken

Used for:

  • remembering a signed-in user’s chosen saved search token
  • redirecting the user back to their saved search after sign-in

Main usage points:

  • UtilApiController
  • AccountController
  • EstablishmentsSearchController

3. Local authority sets

Entity:

  • LocalAuthoritySet

Stored data:

  • a title
  • a BSON-serialized list of local authority IDs

Used for:

  • predefined local authority sets in the tools area
  • reusing saved authority selections in independent school search workflows

Main usage points:

  • ToolsController

4. FAQ groups

Entity:

  • FaqGroup

Stored data:

  • group name
  • display order

Used for:

  • grouping FAQ content for display
  • maintaining editable ordering in the admin UI

Main usage points:

  • FaqController

5. FAQ items

Entity:

  • FaqItem

Stored data:

  • title
  • content
  • display order
  • owning FAQ group ID

Used for:

  • rendering public FAQ content
  • allowing administrators to create, edit, delete, regroup, and reorder FAQ entries

Main usage points:

  • FaqController

6. Glossary items

Entity:

  • GlossaryItem

Stored data:

  • title
  • content

Used for:

  • rendering glossary content in the public web UI
  • allowing administrators to create, edit, and delete glossary terms

Main usage points:

  • GlossaryController

7. Notification templates

Entity:

  • NotificationTemplate

Stored data:

  • reusable template content

Used for:

  • providing pre-authored content when administrators create notification banners
  • reducing repeated manual editing of common banner messages

Main usage points:

  • NotificationsController

8. Notification banners

Entity:

  • NotificationBanner

Stored data:

  • banner content
  • importance
  • start and end times
  • optional links
  • version and audit metadata
  • tracker ID
  • current/archive partition state

Used for:

  • showing time-bound notification banners across the site
  • supporting admin-managed banner creation and editing
  • retaining audit/history snapshots of previous versions and deletions

Important behaviour:

  • active banners are cached in memory for the public template path
  • updates first archive the existing version, then replace the live version
  • deletions also create archive/audit records

Main usage points:

  • NotificationsController
  • _NotificationsBannersPartial

9. News articles

Entity:

  • NewsArticle

Stored data:

  • title
  • content
  • article date
  • show/hide date flag
  • version and audit metadata
  • tracker ID
  • current/archive partition state

Used for:

  • rendering public news content
  • allowing administrators to manage future and live news items
  • preserving historical versions and delete audit records

Important behaviour:

  • live filtering is based on ArticleDate
  • updates and deletes create archive snapshots

Main usage points:

  • NewsController
  • HomeController

10. Data quality status records

Entity:

  • DataQualityStatus

Stored data:

  • establishment-type dataset identifier
  • last updated date
  • data owner name
  • data owner email

Used for:

  • showing freshness/status information for key establishment datasets
  • allowing authorised users to confirm their dataset has been reviewed
  • allowing administrators to maintain data owner details

Important behaviour:

  • records are seeded if the table is empty
  • row keys are tied to specific enum values, so the enum ordering matters

Main usage points:

  • DataQualityController
  • DataQualityReadService
  • DataQualityWriteService

11. API recorder session items

Entity:

  • ApiRecorderSessionItem

Stored data:

  • HTTP method
  • path
  • request headers
  • response headers
  • raw request body
  • raw response body
  • elapsed time
  • session ID / user-scoped partition key

Used for:

  • optional recording of front-end to back-end API calls
  • diagnostics for troubleshooting REST interactions made by the web front end

Important behaviour:

  • records are only written when API logging is enabled
  • the logging is performed inside HttpClientWrapper
  • entries are partitioned by session or user identifier

Main usage points:

  • HttpClientWrapper
  • ToolsController (ApiSessionRecorder)

12. Web log records

Entity:

  • AZTLoggerMessages

Stored data:

  • timestamp
  • environment
  • log level
  • message
  • exception text
  • URL and request details
  • client IP address
  • user ID and user name
  • user agent and referrer

Used for:

  • storing application and operational log messages in Azure Table Storage
  • supporting the admin log viewer
  • querying logs by ID or date range

Important behaviour:

  • logs are written by the Azure table logging service configured in IocConfig
  • the web application reads them back via WebLogItemRepository

Main usage points:

  • IocConfig
  • AdminController
  • WebLogItemRepository

Summary by purpose

UI state and user-specific state

  • Token
  • UserPreference
  • LocalAuthoritySet

These support saved searches, reusable selections, and browser/UI workflows.

Managed site content

  • FaqGroup
  • FaqItem
  • GlossaryItem
  • NotificationTemplate
  • NotificationBanner
  • NewsArticle

These allow the web tier to own and manage content without routing that content through the Java back end.

Operational and governance support

  • DataQualityStatus

This supports data stewardship and review workflows presented in the web UI.

Diagnostics and support

  • ApiRecorderSessionItem
  • AZTLoggerMessages

These support troubleshooting and operational visibility for the web application.