- <para>
- Pazpar2 is a stand-alone metasearch engine with a web-service API, designed
- to be used either from a browser-based client (JavaScript, Flash,
- Java applet,
- etc.), from server-side code, or any combination of the two.
- Pazpar2 is a highly optimized client designed to
- search many resources in parallel. It implements record merging,
- relevance-ranking and sorting by arbitrary data content, and facet
- analysis for browsing purposes. It is designed to be data-model
- independent, and is capable of working with MARC, DublinCore, or any
- other <ulink url="&url.xml;">XML</ulink>-structured response format
- -- <ulink url="&url.xslt;">XSLT</ulink> is used to normalize and extract
- data from retrieval records for display and analysis. It can be used
- against any server which supports the
- <ulink url="&url.z39.50;">Z39.50</ulink> or <ulink url="&url.sru;">SRU/SRW</ulink>
- protocol. Proprietary
- backend modules can function as connectors between these standard
- protocols and any non-standard API, including web-site scraping, to
- support a large number of other protocols.
- </para>
- <para>
- Additional functionality such as
- user management and attractive displays are expected to be implemented by
- applications that use Pazpar2. Pazpar2 itself is user-interface independent.
- Its functionality is exposed through a simple XML RPC web-service API,
- designed to be easy to use from an AJAX-enabled browser, Flash
- animation, Java applet, etc., or from a higher-level server-side language
- like PHP, Perl or Java. Because session information can be shared between
- browser-based logic and server-side scripting, there is tremendous
- flexibility in how you implement application-specific logic on top
- of Pazpar2.
- </para>
- <para>
- Once you launch a search in Pazpar2, the operation continues behind the
- scenes. Pazpar2 connects to servers, carries out searches, and
- retrieves, deduplicates, and stores results internally. Your application
- code may periodically inquire about the status of an ongoing operation,
- and ask to see records or result set facets. Results become
- available immediately, and it is easy to build end-user interfaces than
- feel extremely responsive, even when searching more than 100 servers
- concurrently.
- </para>
- <para>
- Pazpar2 is designed to be highly configurable. Incoming records are
- normalized to XML/UTF-8, and then further normalized using XSLT to a
- simple internal representation that is suitable for analysis. By
- providing XSLT stylesheets for different kinds of result records, you
- can configure Pazpar2 to work against different kinds of information
- retrieval servers. Finally, metadata is extracted in a configurable
- way from this internal record, to support display, merging, ranking,
- result set facets, and sorting. Pazpar2 is not bound to a specific model
- of metadata, such as DublinCore or MARC: by providing the right
- configuration, it can work with any combination of different kinds of data in
- support of many different applications.
- </para>
- <para>
- Pazpar2 is designed to be efficient and scalable. You can set it up to
- search several hundred targets in parallel, or you can use it to support
- hundreds of concurrent users. It is implemented with the same attention
- to performance and economy that we use in our indexing engines, so that
- you can focus on building your application without worrying about the
- details of metasearch logic. You can devote all of your attention to
- usability and let Pazpar2 do what it does best -- metasearch.
- </para>
- <para>
- If you wish to connect to commercial or other databases which do not
- support open standards, please contact Index Data on
- <email>info@indexdata.com</email>. We have a
- proprietary framework for building connectors that enable Pazpar2
- to access
- thousands of online databases, in addition to the vast number of catalogs
- and online services that support the Z39.50/SRU/SRW protocols.
- </para>
- <para>
- Pazpar2 is our attempt to re-think the traditional paradigms for
- implementing and deploying metasearch logic, with an uncompromising
- approach to performance, and attempting to make maximum use of the
- capabilities of modern browsers. The demo user interface that
- accompanies the distribution is but one example. If you think of new
- ways of using Pazpar2, we hope you'll share them with us, and if we
- can provide assistance with regards to training, design, programming,
- integration with different backends, hosting, or support, please don't
- hesitate to contact us. If you'd like to see functionality in Pazpar2
- that is not there today, please don't hesitate to contact us. It may
- already be in our development pipeline, or there might be a
- possibility for you to help out by sponsoring development time or
- code. Either way, get in touch and we will give you straight answers.
- </para>
- <para>
- Enjoy!
- </para>
- <para>
- Pazpar2 is covered by the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.
- See <xref linkend="license"/> for further information.
- </para>
+
+ <section id="what.pazpar2.is">
+ <title>What Pazpar2 is</title>
+ <para>
+ Pazpar2 is a stand-alone metasearch engine with a web-service API, designed
+ to be used either from a browser-based client (JavaScript, Flash,
+ Java applet,
+ etc.), from server-side code, or any combination of the two.
+ Pazpar2 is a highly optimized client designed to
+ search many resources in parallel. It implements record merging,
+ relevance-ranking and sorting by arbitrary data content, and facet
+ analysis for browsing purposes. It is designed to be data-model
+ independent, and is capable of working with MARC, DublinCore, or any
+ other <ulink url="&url.xml;">XML</ulink>-structured response format
+ -- <ulink url="&url.xslt;">XSLT</ulink> is used to normalize and extract
+ data from retrieval records for display and analysis. It can be used
+ against any server which supports the
+ <ulink url="&url.z39.50;">Z39.50</ulink>,
+ <ulink url="&url.sru;">SRU/SRW</ulink>
+ or <ulink url="&url.solr;">Solr</ulink> protocol. Proprietary
+ backend modules can function as connectors between these standard
+ protocols and any non-standard API, including web-site scraping, to
+ support a large number of other protocols.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Additional functionality such as
+ user management and attractive displays are expected to be implemented by
+ applications that use Pazpar2. Pazpar2 itself is user-interface independent.
+ Its functionality is exposed through a simple XML-based web-service API,
+ designed to be easy to use from an Ajax-enabled browser, Flash
+ animation, Java applet, etc., or from a higher-level server-side language
+ like PHP, Perl or Java. Because session information can be shared between
+ browser-based logic and server-side scripting, there is tremendous
+ flexibility in how you implement application-specific logic on top
+ of Pazpar2.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Once you launch a search in Pazpar2, the operation continues behind the
+ scenes. Pazpar2 connects to servers, carries out searches, and
+ retrieves, deduplicates, and stores results internally. Your application
+ code may periodically inquire about the status of an ongoing operation,
+ and ask to see records or result set facets. Results become
+ available immediately, and it is easy to build end-user interfaces than
+ feel extremely responsive, even when searching more than 100 servers
+ concurrently.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Pazpar2 is designed to be highly configurable. Incoming records are
+ normalized to XML/UTF-8, and then further normalized using XSLT to a
+ simple internal representation that is suitable for analysis. By
+ providing XSLT stylesheets for different kinds of result records, you
+ can configure Pazpar2 to work against different kinds of information
+ retrieval servers. Finally, metadata is extracted in a configurable
+ way from this internal record, to support display, merging, ranking,
+ result set facets, and sorting. Pazpar2 is not bound to a specific model
+ of metadata, such as DublinCore or MARC: by providing the right
+ configuration, it can work with any combination of different kinds of data
+ in support of many different applications.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Pazpar2 is designed to be efficient and scalable. You can set it up to
+ search several hundred targets in parallel, or you can use it to support
+ hundreds of concurrent users. It is implemented with the same attention
+ to performance and economy that we use in our indexing engines, so that
+ you can focus on building your application without worrying about the
+ details of metasearch logic. You can devote all of your attention to
+ usability and let Pazpar2 do what it does best -- metasearch.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Pazpar2 is our attempt to re-think the traditional paradigms for
+ implementing and deploying metasearch logic, with an uncompromising
+ approach to performance, and attempting to make maximum use of the
+ capabilities of modern browsers. The demo user interface that
+ accompanies the distribution is but one example. If you think of new
+ ways of using Pazpar2, we hope you'll share them with us, and if we
+ can provide assistance with regards to training, design, programming,
+ integration with different backends, hosting, or support, please don't
+ hesitate to contact us. If you'd like to see functionality in Pazpar2
+ that is not there today, please don't hesitate to contact us. It may
+ already be in our development pipeline, or there might be a
+ possibility for you to help out by sponsoring development time or
+ code. Either way, get in touch and we will give you straight answers.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Enjoy!
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Pazpar2 is covered by the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.
+ See <xref linkend="license"/> for further information.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+
+ <section id="connectors">
+ <title>Connectors to non-standard databases</title>
+ <para>
+ If you need to access commercial or open access resources that don't support
+ Z39.50 or SRU, one approach would be to use a tool like <ulink
+ url="&url.simpleserver;">SimpleServer</ulink> to build a
+ gateway. An easier option is to use Index Data's <ulink
+ url="&url.mkc;">MasterKey Connect</ulink>
+ service, which will expose virtually <emphasis>any</emphasis> resource
+ through Z39.50/SRU, dead easy to integrate with Pazpar2.
+ The service is hosted, so all you have to do is to let us
+ know which resources you are interested in, and we operate the gateways,
+ or Connectors for you for a low annual charge.
+ Types of resources supported include
+ commercial databases, free online resources, and even local resources;
+ almost anything that can be accessed through a web-facing user
+ interface can be accessed in this way.
+ Contact <email>info@indexdata.com</email> for more information.
+ See <xref linkend="masterkey_connect"/> for an example.
+ </para>
+ </section>