Edit dataset metadata page causing ~20s load time

[yesilms]

What steps does it take to reproduce the issue?

1. Create and publish a dataset in any collection.
2. Click Edit Dataset → Metadata in the UI.
3. Observe ~20 second page load time.

• When does this issue occur?
  When trying to update the metadata of a dataset.

• Which page(s) does it occurs on?
  Update metadata

• What happens?

Summary

In Dataverse v6.6 and earlier, setting a metadata field to hidden (include=false) via the collection General Information UI or the /api/dataverses/{id}/inputLevels API correctly suppressed that field from both the Create Dataset and Edit Dataset Metadata pages.
Since v6.7 (and persisting through v6.9), the Edit Dataset Metadata page no longer respects include=false and renders all fields from all enabled metadata blocks unconditionally.
This has a severe and measurable performance consequence. The Language field in the citation block uses a p:selectCheckboxMenu component. PrimeFaces renders all controlled vocabulary entries as hidden + pairs in the raw server-side HTML on every page load. With 7916 ISO 639-3 language entries, this generates a 2.26 MB hidden DOM subtree containing 15,832 nodes. Because include=false is now ignored on the Edit Metadata page, this component is rendered unconditionally regardless of administrator configuration, making the page take ~20 seconds to become usable.

Related History

This regression likely originates from the change to the Edit Dataset Metadata page introduced in v6.7 and subsequently reverted in v6.7.1 due to performance problems (#11700, #11698). It appears that the revert restored some performance characteristics but silently dropped the include=false field exclusion logic that had previously worked correctly in v6.6.

Environment

Affected versions: v6.7, v6.7.1, v6.8, v6.9 (confirmed working in v6.6)
Deployment: Container-based (gdcc/dataverse:6.9-noble) on OpenShift
Metadata blocks enabled: Citation only (at collection level)
Java / Payara: Payara 6.2025.x, Java 17

Diagnosis and Evidence

API response is fast — this is not a database issue

time curl -s \
  -H "X-Dataverse-key: $API_TOKEN" \
  "http://localhost:8080/api/datasets/6/versions/:latest"

# real  0m0.151s

Browser DevTools — Network tab

Request	Size	Time to First Byte
dataset.xhtml (Edit Metadata)	2.6 MB	3.44s
Subsequent XHR	1.4 kB	125ms

• To whom does it occur (all users, curators, superusers)?
  All users that can update a dataset

• What did you expect to happen?

• Setting include=false for a field at the collection level suppresses it from both the
• Create Dataset and Edit Dataset Metadata pages
• The Language p:selectCheckboxMenu is not rendered; its 15,832 hidden checkbox nodes do not exist in the DOM
• Edit Dataset Metadata page loads in under 2 seconds
• Total page HTML size: ~100–150 KB

Which version of Dataverse are you using?
Tried both on v6.8 and v6.9

Any related open or closed issues to this bug report?

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Are you thinking about creating a pull request for this issue?
Help is always welcome, is this bug something you or your organization plan to fix?

[pdurbin]

@yesilms just a quick thought for you... we fixed something related to hidden fields in 6.10:

• DD-2075: Hidden fields of a dataset creation form remain visible AND setting a field to 'hidden' is not working #11992 #12017

I'm not sure if this will help you or not, though.

[yesilms]

Hi @pdurbin
Thanks for the update. I will try to deploy the 6.10 version and confirm if it helps.

[yesilms]

Hi @pdurbin
It looks like long loading time for edit metadata page is resolved with v6.10.
Thanks for the input.
I am closing the ticket now.

[pdurbin]

@yesilms fantastic news! Thanks!