Created by: james-monkeyshines
Changes have already been approved and merged on release/100 branch (https://github.com/Ensembl/ensembl/pull/467), this replicates them on master.
Description
Storing web_data as a flattened Perl hash is cumbersome, and, as it turns out, unnecessary - it's required by the webcode, but it is converted into JSON for processing. So we can make everone's lives easier by storing it as JSON in the first place. (cf. https://www.ebi.ac.uk/panda/jira/browse/ENSINT-396)
Use case
The main use case is for the webcode to retrieve the web_data in order to determine how to display a track. Setting the web_data field via the API is uncommon, but might occasionally be necessary.
Benefits
The web_data field no longer needs special treatment, it's just a JSON string that is set/got like any other text field.
Possible Drawbacks
Changing this requires tight integration with webcode changes. Those have been made (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/panda/jira/browse/ENSWEB-5249), and the plan is to get a sandbox running ASAP for testing the web display.
Testing
Have you added/modified unit tests to test the changes? Yes, analysis.t updated.
If so, do the tests pass/fail? Pass
Have you run the entire test suite and no regression was detected? Yes, all fine.