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2 | <head>
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3 | <title>Using the Z39.50 Client in Greenstone</title>
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4 | </head>
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5 |
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6 | <body>
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7 | <a name=top>
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8 | <h1>Using the Z39.50 Client in Greenstone</h1>
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9 | </a>
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10 | <b>Table of Contents</b><br>
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11 | <a href="#whatis">About: What is Z39.50?</a><br>
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12 | <a href="#config">Configuring Greenstone - Adding Servers</a><br>
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13 | <a href="#todo">Currently known problems, and TODO list</a><br>
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14 | <a href="#contact">Contacting Us</a><br>
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15 |
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16 |
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17 |
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18 | <a name=whatis>
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19 | <h2>What is Z39.50?</h2>
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20 | </a>
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21 | Z39.50 is an international client/server protocol for searching bibliographic
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22 | data. It can use the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), which makes the databases
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23 | on a server available from almost anywhere around the globe. It is widely
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24 | used, for example, in on-line library catalogues. It allows a user to search
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25 | one or more databases and retrieve the results of the query.
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26 |
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27 | <p>
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28 | Our implementation uses the YAZ z39.50 toolkit, written by
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29 | <a href="http://www.indexdata.dk">Index Data</a>.
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30 |
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31 |
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32 |
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33 | <a name=config>
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34 | <h2>Adding Servers</h2>
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35 | </a>
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36 | The file z3950.cfg in the etc/recpt directory contains entries for
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37 | each server. By default, no servers are set up, although the config file
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38 | comes with two (commented out) example Z39.50 servers, both for servers
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39 | of the United States' <b>Library of Congress</b>.
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40 | <p>
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41 | Each entry consists of:
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42 | <ul>
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43 | <li>A unique "short name" for internal use by Greenstone.</li>
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44 | <li>The internet name or address of the server, and optionally the
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45 | port that the server is running on if not the default port 210.</li>
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46 | <li>The name of the database to search on that server.</li>
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47 | <li>A string that provides a meaningful name for the "collection".</li>
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48 | <li>An optional "About" string, providing some information about the database
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49 | and/or server.</li>
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50 | <li>Optional icon fields, which are displayed instead of the text on the
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51 | front page.</li>
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52 | </ul>
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53 | The entries need only be separated by whitespace, but for the purposes of
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54 | clarity the sample entry uses newlines and tabs.
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55 | <p>
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56 | The sample Library of Congress entry looks like this:
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57 | <pre>
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58 | LOC
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59 | z3950.loc.gov:7090
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60 | Voyager
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61 | "Library of Congress z39.50 server"
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62 | About en "This is the z39.50 interface to the US LoC catalogue
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63 | system. It contains approximately 12 million bibliographic records.
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64 | For server capabilities, look at
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65 | <a href=\"http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/lcserver.html\">their web pages</a>."
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66 | </pre>
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67 | There is a list at the Library Of Congress website containing some
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68 | <a href="http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/agency/resources/testport.html">servers
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69 | publicly available for testing</a>.
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70 |
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71 |
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72 | <a name=todo>
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73 | <h2>Known Problems/Issues and Todo list</h2>
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74 | </a>
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75 | Note - a more up-to-date list (and possibly even fixes...) may be available
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76 | on the main website at <a href="http://www.nzdl.org/">www.nzdl.org</a>.
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77 | <ul>
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78 | <li>Because of the open nature of the standard, our client may not work with
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79 | some servers. Please notify the author (contact details below) of any
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80 | such problems.</li>
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81 | <li>Because of the large number of Marc fields, only the most frequently
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82 | used fields have been given explicit names in the results. </li>
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83 | <li><b>The z39.50 client will not work when fast-cgi is used!</b>. Currently,
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84 | the use of the fast-cgi package (off by default) will disable the
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85 | use of the z39.50 client code for Greenstone.</li>
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86 | <li>There are spurious <B> tags in the title of the window when
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87 | viewing an individual record.</li>
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88 | <li>Greenstone will claim there are no collections if there are no
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89 | sub-directories in the "collect" directory, even if there are configured
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90 | z39.50 servers, although it will work if there are unbuilt collections.</li>
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91 | </ul>
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92 |
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93 | <b>History</b><br>
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94 | Oct 2000 - cache results from server, so cut down the number of connections for
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95 | a single query/document. Also added href for MARC field 856.<br>
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96 | Aug 2000 - Various bug fixes and minor modifications.<br>
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97 | Fri Aug 4 2000 - The z39.50 code is now "stable" in the main source code (in CVS).<br>
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98 | Tue 1 Aug 2000 - selecting a field from the drop-down box now actually works.
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99 | This results in both quicker replies and more accurate results.<br>
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100 | Mon 24 Jul 2000 - queries are now "AND"ed - for example, the query "computer
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101 | science" will now only return records that contain both words.<br>
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102 | May-June 2000 - Code written.<br>
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103 |
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104 | <a name=contact>
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105 | <h2>Contact Details</h2>
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106 | </a>
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107 | For general comments about Greenstone, or suggestions for improvements, send
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108 | email to
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109 | <a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=z39.50 client in Greenstone">[email protected]</a><br>
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110 | <br>
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111 | For bug reports or questions about the z39.50 code itself, send email to
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112 | the author, John McPherson -
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113 | <a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=z39.50 client in Greenstone"
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114 | >[email protected]</a>. (I am currently at the University of Waikato
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115 | until June 2001)
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116 |
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117 | <p>
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118 | <a href="#top">Back to top</a>
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119 | <p>
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120 | <address>Last modified: October 27, 2000 by John McPherson</address>
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121 | </body>
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122 | </html> |
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