Overview

I am just now realizing that we need to refresh the networkx graphs when vocab updates happen.

Sub-tasks

• 1. SOP or automation for updating deployments
  • Special consideration for post-funding
• 2. SOP or automation for what to do locally
• May also need to fix this issue before doing automation: Bug: Vocab/Counts refresh: updating DB vars with _new #857
  • Else need to also check the dates on these _new variables as well

Solution

We may be able to solve (1) & (2) simultaneously with something clever. I suggest that we have the application check if these graphs need to be regenerated at specific times, and that it should do so without needing to redeploy.

When to check:

1. When backend is starting up
2. Whenever a user does a GET on the home page

What happens:
The app will check when the vocab tables were last updated (ideally this should be 1 var, but right now each vocab table has its own separate var, e.g. last_updated_concept for concept table). It will compare that to the date of the graphs (e.g. relationship_graph.pickle). If the graph is outdated, it will regenerate.

Additional info

How often this will happen
The vocab tables have been updating, I think, more often than what N3C staff have told us would be expected. They say every 6 mon, but the GitHub actions reflect something like once every month or few.