MAINT: allow the apply_list_of_updates function to be used elsewhere

Summary

This extracts the old push_identifiables_to_caosdb function from the crawler and allows other programms to use the logic.

Test Environment

Unit and integration tests

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• All automated tests pass
• Reference related Issues
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  • Intent of new code
  • Problems with old code
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Check List for the Reviewer

• I understand the intent of this MR
• All automated tests pass
• Up-to-date CHANGELOG.md
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src/caosadvancedtools/crawler.py

@@ -66,10 +66,25 @@ def separated(text):
     return "-"*60 + "\n" + text
 
 
-def apply_list_of_updates(to_be_updated, update_flags,
+def apply_list_of_updates(to_be_updated, update_flags={},
                           update_cache=None, run_id=None):
-    """
-    Updates the to_be_updated Container, i.e. pushes the changes to CaosDB
+    """Updates the `to_be_updated` Container, i.e., pushes the changes to CaosDB
+    after removing possible duplicates. If a chace is provided, uauthorized
+    updates can be cached for further authorization.
+
+    Parameters:
+    -----------
+    to_be_updated : db.Container
+        Container with the entities that will be updated.
+    update_flags : dict, optional
+        Dictionary of CaosDB server flags that will be used for the
+        update. Default is an empty dict.
+    update_cache : UpdateCache or None, optional
+        Cache in which the intended updates will be stored so they can be
+        authorized afterwards. Default is None.
+    run_id : String or None, optional
+        Id with which the pending updates are cached. Only meaningful if
+        `update_cache` is provided. Default is None.
     """
 
     if len(to_be_updated) == 0:
@@ -90,9 +105,10 @@ def apply_list_of_updates(to_be_updated, update_flags,
 
     baseurl = db.configuration.get_config()["Connection"]["url"]
 
+    def make_clickable(txt, id):
+        return "<a href='{}/Entity/{}'>{}</a>".format(baseurl, id, txt)
+
     for el in to_be_updated:
-        def make_clickable(txt, id):
-            return "<a href='{}/Entity/{}'>{}</a>".format(baseurl, id, txt)
         info += str("\t" + make_clickable(el.name, el.id)
                     if el.name is not None
                     else "\t" + make_clickable(str(el.id), el.id))
@@ -378,7 +394,7 @@ class Crawler(object):
                 self._cached_find_or_insert_identifiables(cfood.identifiables)
 
                 cfood.update_identifiables()
-                self.apply_list_of_updates(
+                apply_list_of_updates(
                     cfood.to_be_updated,
                     cfood.update_flags,
                     update_cache=self.update_cache,