Normalized submission section data when retrieving them from item object

src/app/shared/form/builder/ds-dynamic-form-ui/ds-dynamic-form-control-container.component.ts

@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ import { followLink } from '../../../utils/follow-link-config.model';
 import { paginatedRelationsToItems } from '../../../../+item-page/simple/item-types/shared/item-relationships-utils';
 import { RelationshipOptions } from '../models/relationship-options.model';
 import { FormBuilderService } from '../form-builder.service';
+import { FormFieldMetadataValueObject } from '../models/form-field-metadata-value.model';
 
 export function dsDynamicFormControlMapFn(model: DynamicFormControlModel): Type<DynamicFormControl> | null {
   switch (model.type) {
@@ -303,9 +304,9 @@ export class DsDynamicFormControlContainerComponent extends DynamicFormControlCo
       }
 
       if (hasValue(this.model.metadataValue)) {
-        this.value = Object.assign(new MetadataValue(), this.model.metadataValue);
+        this.value = Object.assign(new FormFieldMetadataValueObject(), this.model.metadataValue);
       } else {
-        this.value = Object.assign(new MetadataValue(), this.model.value);
+        this.value = Object.assign(new FormFieldMetadataValueObject(), this.model.value);
       }
 
       if (hasValue(this.value) && this.value.isVirtual) {

src/app/shared/form/builder/ds-dynamic-form-ui/models/ds-dynamic-input.model.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
-import { DynamicFormControlLayout, DynamicInputModel, DynamicInputModelConfig, serializable } from '@ng-dynamic-forms/core';
+import {
+  DynamicFormControlLayout,
+  DynamicInputModel,
+  DynamicInputModelConfig,
+  serializable
+} from '@ng-dynamic-forms/core';
 import { Subject } from 'rxjs';
 
 import { LanguageCode } from '../../models/form-field-language-value.model';
@@ -6,7 +11,6 @@ import { VocabularyOptions } from '../../../../../core/submission/vocabularies/m
 import { hasValue } from '../../../../empty.util';
 import { FormFieldMetadataValueObject } from '../../models/form-field-metadata-value.model';
 import { RelationshipOptions } from '../../models/relationship-options.model';
-import { MetadataValue } from '../../../../../core/shared/metadata.models';
 
 export interface DsDynamicInputModelConfig extends DynamicInputModelConfig {
   vocabularyOptions?: VocabularyOptions;
@@ -19,7 +23,7 @@ export interface DsDynamicInputModelConfig extends DynamicInputModelConfig {
   metadataFields: string[];
   submissionId: string;
   hasSelectableMetadata: boolean;
-  metadataValue?: MetadataValue;
+  metadataValue?: FormFieldMetadataValueObject;
 
 }
 
@@ -34,7 +38,7 @@ export class DsDynamicInputModel extends DynamicInputModel {
   @serializable() metadataFields: string[];
   @serializable() submissionId: string;
   @serializable() hasSelectableMetadata: boolean;
-  @serializable() metadataValue: MetadataValue;
+  @serializable() metadataValue: FormFieldMetadataValueObject;
 
   constructor(config: DsDynamicInputModelConfig, layout?: DynamicFormControlLayout) {
     super(config, layout);

src/app/submission/objects/submission-objects.actions.ts

@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@ export const SubmissionObjectActionTypes = {
   DISABLE_SECTION: type('dspace/submission/DISABLE_SECTION'),
   SECTION_STATUS_CHANGE: type('dspace/submission/SECTION_STATUS_CHANGE'),
   SECTION_LOADING_STATUS_CHANGE: type('dspace/submission/SECTION_LOADING_STATUS_CHANGE'),
-  UPLOAD_SECTION_DATA: type('dspace/submission/UPLOAD_SECTION_DATA'),
+  UPDATE_SECTION_DATA: type('dspace/submission/UPDATE_SECTION_DATA'),
+  UPDATE_SECTION_DATA_SUCCESS: type('dspace/submission/UPDATE_SECTION_DATA_SUCCESS'),
   SAVE_AND_DEPOSIT_SUBMISSION: type('dspace/submission/SAVE_AND_DEPOSIT_SUBMISSION'),
   DEPOSIT_SUBMISSION: type('dspace/submission/DEPOSIT_SUBMISSION'),
   DEPOSIT_SUBMISSION_SUCCESS: type('dspace/submission/DEPOSIT_SUBMISSION_SUCCESS'),
@@ -199,7 +200,7 @@ export class DisableSectionAction implements Action {
 }
 
 export class UpdateSectionDataAction implements Action {
-  type = SubmissionObjectActionTypes.UPLOAD_SECTION_DATA;
+  type = SubmissionObjectActionTypes.UPDATE_SECTION_DATA;
   payload: {
     submissionId: string;
     sectionId: string;
@@ -227,6 +228,10 @@ export class UpdateSectionDataAction implements Action {
   }
 }
 
+export class UpdateSectionDataSuccessAction implements Action {
+  type = SubmissionObjectActionTypes.UPDATE_SECTION_DATA_SUCCESS;
+}
+
 export class RemoveSectionErrorsAction implements Action {
   type = SubmissionObjectActionTypes.REMOVE_SECTION_ERRORS;
   payload: {

src/app/submission/objects/submission-objects.effects.spec.ts

@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ describe('SubmissionObjectEffects test suite', () => {
 
   describe('saveSubmissionSuccess$', () => {
 
-    it('should return a UPLOAD_SECTION_DATA action for each updated section', () => {
+    it('should return a UPDATE_SECTION_DATA action for each updated section', () => {
       store.nextState({
         submission: {
           objects: submissionState

src/app/submission/objects/submission-objects.effects.ts

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
 import { Actions, Effect, ofType } from '@ngrx/effects';
 import { Store } from '@ngrx/store';
 import { TranslateService } from '@ngx-translate/core';
-import { isEqual, union } from 'lodash';
+import { union } from 'lodash';
 
 import { from as observableFrom, Observable, of as observableOf } from 'rxjs';
 import { catchError, filter, map, mergeMap, switchMap, take, tap, withLatestFrom } from 'rxjs/operators';
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ import {
   SaveSubmissionSectionFormSuccessAction,
   SubmissionObjectAction,
   SubmissionObjectActionTypes,
-  UpdateSectionDataAction
+  UpdateSectionDataAction,
+  UpdateSectionDataSuccessAction
 } from './submission-objects.actions';
 import { SubmissionObjectEntry, SubmissionSectionObject } from './submission-objects.reducer';
 import { Item } from '../../core/shared/item.model';
@@ -48,6 +49,8 @@ import { RemoteData } from '../../core/data/remote-data';
 import { getFirstSucceededRemoteDataPayload } from '../../core/shared/operators';
 import { SubmissionObjectDataService } from '../../core/submission/submission-object-data.service';
 import { followLink } from '../../shared/utils/follow-link-config.model';
+import { normalizeSectionData } from '../../core/submission/submission-response-parsing.service';
+import { difference } from '../../shared/object.util';
 
 @Injectable()
 export class SubmissionObjectEffects {
@@ -69,7 +72,7 @@ export class SubmissionObjectEffects {
         if (sectionDefinition.sectionType !== SectionsType.SubmissionForm) {
           sectionData = (isNotUndefined(action.payload.sections) && isNotUndefined(action.payload.sections[sectionId])) ? action.payload.sections[sectionId] : Object.create(null);
         } else {
-          sectionData = action.payload.item.metadata;
+          sectionData = normalizeSectionData(action.payload.item.metadata);
         }
         const sectionErrors = null;
         mappedActions.push(
@@ -246,13 +249,14 @@ export class SubmissionObjectEffects {
    * Adds all metadata an item to the SubmissionForm sections of the submission
    */
   @Effect() addAllMetadataToSectionData = this.actions$.pipe(
-    ofType(SubmissionObjectActionTypes.UPLOAD_SECTION_DATA),
+    ofType(SubmissionObjectActionTypes.UPDATE_SECTION_DATA),
     switchMap((action: UpdateSectionDataAction) => {
       return this.sectionService.getSectionState(action.payload.submissionId, action.payload.sectionId)
         .pipe(map((section: SubmissionSectionObject) => [action, section]), take(1));
     }),
     filter(([action, section]: [UpdateSectionDataAction, SubmissionSectionObject]) => section.sectionType === SectionsType.SubmissionForm),
     switchMap(([action, section]: [UpdateSectionDataAction, SubmissionSectionObject]) => {
+      if (section.sectionType === SectionsType.SubmissionForm) {
         const submissionObject$ = this.submissionObjectService
           .findById(action.payload.submissionId, followLink('item')).pipe(
             getFirstSucceededRemoteDataPayload()
@@ -265,9 +269,17 @@ export class SubmissionObjectEffects {
 
         return item$.pipe(
           map((item: Item) => item.metadata),
-        filter((metadata) => !isEqual(action.payload.data, metadata)),
-        map((metadata: any) => new UpdateSectionDataAction(action.payload.submissionId, action.payload.sectionId, metadata, action.payload.errors))
+          map((metadata: any) => {
+            if (!this.isEqual(action.payload.data, normalizeSectionData(metadata))) {
+              return new UpdateSectionDataAction(action.payload.submissionId, action.payload.sectionId, normalizeSectionData(metadata), action.payload.errors)
+            } else {
+              return new UpdateSectionDataSuccessAction();
+            }
+          })
         );
+      } else {
+        return observableOf(new UpdateSectionDataSuccessAction());
+      }
     }),
   );
 
@@ -382,4 +394,30 @@ export class SubmissionObjectEffects {
     return mappedActions;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Check if the section data has been enriched by the server
+   *
+   * @param sectionData
+   *    the section metadata retrieved from the server
+   * @param itemData
+   *    the item data retrieved from the server
+   */
+  isEqual(sectionData: any, itemData: any): boolean {
+    const diffResult = [];
+
+    // compare current form data state with section data retrieved from store
+    const diffObj = difference(sectionData, itemData);
+
+    // iterate over differences to check whether they are actually different
+    Object.keys(diffObj)
+      .forEach((key) => {
+        diffObj[key].forEach((value) => {
+          if (value.hasOwnProperty('value')) {
+            diffResult.push(value);
+          }
+        });
+      });
+    return isEmpty(diffResult);
+  }
+
 }

src/app/submission/objects/submission-objects.reducer.ts

@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ export function submissionObjectReducer(state = initialState, action: Submission
       return changeSectionState(state, action as EnableSectionAction, true);
     }
 
-    case SubmissionObjectActionTypes.UPLOAD_SECTION_DATA: {
+    case SubmissionObjectActionTypes.UPDATE_SECTION_DATA: {
       return updateSectionData(state, action as UpdateSectionDataAction);
     }