- </para>
-
- <para>
- Several of the entries above simply refer to other files, which
- describe the given objects.
- </para>
-
- </sect2>
-
- <sect2>
- <title>The Configuration Files</title>
-
- <para>
- This section describes the syntax and use of the various tables which
- are used by the retrieval module.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- The number of different file types may appear daunting at first, but
- each type corresponds fairly clearly to a single aspect of the Z39.50
- retrieval facilities. Further, the average database administrator,
- who is simply reusing an existing profile for which tables already
- exist, shouldn't have to worry too much about the contents of these tables.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- Generally, the files are simple ASCII files, which can be maintained
- using any text editor. Blank lines, and lines beginning with a (#) are
- ignored. Any characters on a line followed by a (#) are also ignored.
- All other lines contain <emphasis>directives</emphasis>, which provide
- some setting or value to the system.
- Generally, settings are characterized by a single
- keyword, identifying the setting, followed by a number of parameters.
- Some settings are repeatable (r), while others may occur only once in a
- file. Some settings are optional (o), whicle others again are
- mandatory (m).
- </para>
-
- </sect2>
-
- <sect2>
- <title>The Abstract Syntax (.abs) Files</title>
-
- <para>
- The name of this file type is slightly misleading in Z39.50 terms,
- since, apart from the actual abstract syntax of the profile, it also
- includes most of the other definitions that go into a database
- profile.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- When a record in the canonical, SGML-like format is read from a file
- or from the database, the first tag of the file should reference the
- profile that governs the layout of the record. If the first tag of the
- record is, say, <literal><gils></literal>, the system will look
- for the profile definition in the file <literal>gils.abs</literal>.
- Profile definitions are cached, so they only have to be read once
- during the lifespan of the current process.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- When writing your own input filters, the
- <emphasis>record-begin</emphasis> command
- introduces the profile, and should always be called first thing when
- introducing a new record.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- The file may contain the following directives:
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <variablelist>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>name <emphasis>symbolic-name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m) This provides a shorthand name or
- description for the profile. Mostly useful for diagnostic purposes.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>reference <emphasis>OID-name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m) The reference name of the OID for the profile.
- The reference names can be found in the <emphasis>util</emphasis>
- module of <emphasis>YAZ</emphasis>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>attset <emphasis>filename</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m) The attribute set that is used for
- indexing and searching records belonging to this profile.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>tagset <emphasis>filename</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o) The tag set (if any) that describe
- that fields of the records.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>varset <emphasis>filename</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o) The variant set used in the profile.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>maptab <emphasis>filename</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o,r) This points to a
- conversion table that might be used if the client asks for the record
- in a different schema from the native one.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>marc <emphasis>filename</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o) Points to a file containing parameters
- for representing the record contents in the ISO2709 syntax. Read the
- description of the MARC representation facility below.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>esetname <emphasis>name filename</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o,r) Associates the
- given element set name with an element selection file. If an (@) is
- given in place of the filename, this corresponds to a null mapping for
- the given element set name.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>any <emphasis>tags</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o) This directive specifies a list of attributes
- which should be appended to the attribute list given for each
- element. The effect is to make every single element in the abstract
- syntax searchable by way of the given attributes. This directive
- provides an efficient way of supporting free-text searching across all
- elements. However, it does increase the size of the index
- significantly. The attributes can be qualified with a structure, as in
- the <emphasis>elm</emphasis> directive below.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>elm <emphasis>path name attributes</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o,r) Adds an element to the abstract record syntax of the schema.
- The <emphasis>path</emphasis> follows the
- syntax which is suggested by the Z39.50 document - that is, a sequence
- of tags separated by slashes (/). Each tag is given as a
- comma-separated pair of tag type and -value surrounded by parenthesis.
- The <emphasis>name</emphasis> is the name of the element, and
- the <emphasis>attributes</emphasis>
- specifies which attributes to use when indexing the element in a
- comma-separated list.
- A ! in place of the attribute name is equivalent to
- specifying an attribute name identical to the element name.
- A - in place of the attribute name
- specifies that no indexing is to take place for the given element.
- The attributes can be qualified with <emphasis>field
- types</emphasis> to specify which
- character set should govern the indexing procedure for that field.
- The same data element may be indexed into several different
- fields, using different character set definitions.
- See the section <xref linkend="field-structure-and-character-sets"/>.
- The default field type is "w" for <emphasis>word</emphasis>.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- </para>
-
- <note>
- <para>
- The mechanism for controlling indexing is not adequate for
- complex databases, and will probably be moved into a separate
- configuration table eventually.
- </para>
- </note>
-
- <para>
- The following is an excerpt from the abstract syntax file for the GILS
- profile.
- </para>
-
- <para>
-
- <screen>
- name gils
- reference GILS-schema
- attset gils.att
- tagset gils.tag
- varset var1.var
-
- maptab gils-usmarc.map
-
- # Element set names
-
- esetname VARIANT gils-variant.est # for WAIS-compliance
- esetname B gils-b.est
- esetname G gils-g.est
- esetname F @
-
- elm (1,10) rank -
- elm (1,12) url -
- elm (1,14) localControlNumber Local-number
- elm (1,16) dateOfLastModification Date/time-last-modified
- elm (2,1) title w:!,p:!
- elm (4,1) controlIdentifier Identifier-standard
- elm (2,6) abstract Abstract
- elm (4,51) purpose !
- elm (4,52) originator -
- elm (4,53) accessConstraints !
- elm (4,54) useConstraints !
- elm (4,70) availability -
- elm (4,70)/(4,90) distributor -
- elm (4,70)/(4,90)/(2,7) distributorName !
- elm (4,70)/(4,90)/(2,10 distributorOrganization !
- elm (4,70)/(4,90)/(4,2) distributorStreetAddress !
- elm (4,70)/(4,90)/(4,3) distributorCity !
- </screen>
-
- </para>
-
- </sect2>
-
- <sect2 id="attset-files">
- <title>The Attribute Set (.att) Files</title>
-
- <para>
- This file type describes the <emphasis>Use</emphasis> elements of
- an attribute set.
- It contains the following directives.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>name <emphasis>symbolic-name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m) This provides a shorthand name or
- description for the attribute set.
- Mostly useful for diagnostic purposes.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>reference <emphasis>OID-name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m) The reference name of the OID for
- the attribute set.
- The reference names can be found in the <emphasis>util</emphasis>
- module of <emphasis>YAZ</emphasis>.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>include <emphasis>filename</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o,r) This directive is used to
- include another attribute set as a part of the current one. This is
- used when a new attribute set is defined as an extension to another
- set. For instance, many new attribute sets are defined as extensions
- to the <emphasis>bib-1</emphasis> set.
- This is an important feature of the retrieval
- system of Z39.50, as it ensures the highest possible level of
- interoperability, as those access points of your database which are
- derived from the external set (say, bib-1) can be used even by clients
- who are unaware of the new set.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>att
- <emphasis>att-value att-name [local-value]</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o,r) This
- repeatable directive introduces a new attribute to the set. The
- attribute value is stored in the index (unless a
- <emphasis>local-value</emphasis> is
- given, in which case this is stored). The name is used to refer to the
- attribute from the <emphasis>abstract syntax</emphasis>.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- </para>
-
- <para>
- This is an excerpt from the GILS attribute set definition.
- Notice how the file describing the <emphasis>bib-1</emphasis>
- attribute set is referenced.
- </para>
-
- <para>
-
- <screen>
- name gils
- reference GILS-attset
- include bib1.att
-
- att 2001 distributorName
- att 2002 indextermsControlled
- att 2003 purpose
- att 2004 accessConstraints
- att 2005 useConstraints
- </screen>
-
- </para>
-
- </sect2>
-
- <sect2>
- <title>The Tag Set (.tag) Files</title>
-
- <para>
- This file type defines the tagset of the profile, possibly by
- referencing other tag sets (most tag sets, for instance, will include
- tagsetG and tagsetM from the Z39.50 specification. The file may
- contain the following directives.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <variablelist>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>name <emphasis>symbolic-name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m) This provides a shorthand name or
- description for the tag set. Mostly useful for diagnostic purposes.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>reference <emphasis>OID-name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o) The reference name of the OID for the tag set.
- The reference names can be found in the <emphasis>util</emphasis>
- module of <emphasis>YAZ</emphasis>.
- The directive is optional, since not all tag sets
- are registered outside of their schema.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>type <emphasis>integer</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m) The type number of the tagset within the schema
- profile (note: this specification really should belong to the .abs
- file. This will be fixed in a future release).
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>include <emphasis>filename</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o,r) This directive is used
- to include the definitions of other tag sets into the current one.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>tag <emphasis>number names type</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o,r) Introduces a new tag to the set.
- The <emphasis>number</emphasis> is the tag number as used
- in the protocol (there is currently no mechanism for
- specifying string tags at this point, but this would be quick
- work to add).
- The <emphasis>names</emphasis> parameter is a list of names
- by which the tag should be recognized in the input file format.
- The names should be separated by slashes (/).
- The <emphasis>type</emphasis> is th recommended datatype of
- the tag.
- It should be one of the following:
-
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- structured
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- string
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- numeric
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- bool
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- oid
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- generalizedtime
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- intunit
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- int
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- octetstring
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- null
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- </itemizedlist>
-
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- </para>
-
- <para>
- The following is an excerpt from the TagsetG definition file.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <screen>
- name tagsetg
- reference TagsetG
- type 2
-
- tag 1 title string
- tag 2 author string
- tag 3 publicationPlace string
- tag 4 publicationDate string
- tag 5 documentId string
- tag 6 abstract string
- tag 7 name string
- tag 8 date generalizedtime
- tag 9 bodyOfDisplay string
- tag 10 organization string
- </screen>
- </para>
-
- </sect2>
-
- <sect2 id="variant-set">
- <title>The Variant Set (.var) Files</title>
-
- <para>
- The variant set file is a straightforward representation of the
- variant set definitions associated with the protocol. At present, only
- the <emphasis>Variant-1</emphasis> set is known.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- These are the directives allowed in the file.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <variablelist>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>name <emphasis>symbolic-name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m) This provides a shorthand name or
- description for the variant set. Mostly useful for diagnostic purposes.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>reference <emphasis>OID-name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o) The reference name of the OID for
- the variant set, if one is required. The reference names can be found
- in the <emphasis>util</emphasis> module of <emphasis>YAZ</emphasis>.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>class <emphasis>integer class-name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m,r) Introduces a new
- class to the variant set.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>type <emphasis>integer type-name datatype</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m,r) Addes a
- new type to the current class (the one introduced by the most recent
- <emphasis>class</emphasis> directive).
- The type names belong to the same name space as the one used
- in the tag set definition file.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- </para>
-
- <para>
- The following is an excerpt from the file describing the variant set
- <emphasis>Variant-1</emphasis>.
- </para>
-
- <para>
-
- <screen>
- name variant-1
- reference Variant-1
-
- class 1 variantId
-
- type 1 variantId octetstring
-
- class 2 body
-
- type 1 iana string
- type 2 z39.50 string
- type 3 other string
- </screen>
-
- </para>
-
- </sect2>
-
- <sect2>
- <title>The Element Set (.est) Files</title>
-
- <para>
- The element set specification files describe a selection of a subset
- of the elements of a database record. The element selection mechanism
- is equivalent to the one supplied by the <emphasis>Espec-1</emphasis>
- syntax of the Z39.50 specification.
- In fact, the internal representation of an element set
- specification is identical to the <emphasis>Espec-1</emphasis> structure,
- and we'll refer you to the description of that structure for most of
- the detailed semantics of the directives below.
- </para>
-
- <note>
- <para>
- Not all of the Espec-1 functionality has been implemented yet.
- The fields that are mentioned below all work as expected, unless
- otherwise is noted.
- </para>
- </note>
-
- <para>
- The directives available in the element set file are as follows:
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>defaultVariantSetId <emphasis>OID-name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o) If variants are used in
- the following, this should provide the name of the variantset used
- (it's not currently possible to specify a different set in the
- individual variant request). In almost all cases (certainly all
- profiles known to us), the name
- <literal>Variant-1</literal> should be given here.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>defaultVariantRequest <emphasis>variant-request</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o) This directive
- provides a default variant request for
- use when the individual element requests (see below) do not contain a
- variant request. Variant requests consist of a blank-separated list of
- variant components. A variant compont is a comma-separated,
- parenthesized triple of variant class, type, and value (the two former
- values being represented as integers). The value can currently only be
- entered as a string (this will change to depend on the definition of
- the variant in question). The special value (@) is interpreted as a
- null value, however.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>simpleElement
- <emphasis>path ['variant' variant-request]</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o,r) This corresponds to a simple element request
- in <emphasis>Espec-1</emphasis>.
- The path consists of a sequence of tag-selectors, where each of
- these can consist of either:
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- A simple tag, consisting of a comma-separated type-value pair in
- parenthesis, possibly followed by a colon (:) followed by an
- occurrences-specification (see below). The tag-value can be a number
- or a string. If the first character is an apostrophe ('), this
- forces the value to be interpreted as a string, even if it
- appears to be numerical.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- A WildThing, represented as a question mark (?), possibly
- followed by a colon (:) followed by an occurrences
- specification (see below).
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- A WildPath, represented as an asterisk (*). Note that the last
- element of the path should not be a wildPath (wildpaths don't
- work in this version).
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- </itemizedlist>
-
- </para>
-
- <para>
- The occurrences-specification can be either the string
- <literal>all</literal>, the string <literal>last</literal>, or
- an explicit value-range. The value-range is represented as
- an integer (the starting point), possibly followed by a
- plus (+) and a second integer (the number of elements, default
- being one).
- </para>
-
- <para>
- The variant-request has the same syntax as the defaultVariantRequest
- above. Note that it may sometimes be useful to give an empty variant
- request, simply to disable the default for a specific set of fields
- (we aren't certain if this is proper <emphasis>Espec-1</emphasis>,
- but it works in this implementation).
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- </para>
-
- <para>
- The following is an example of an element specification belonging to
- the GILS profile.
- </para>
-
- <para>
-
- <screen>
- simpleelement (1,10)
- simpleelement (1,12)
- simpleelement (2,1)
- simpleelement (1,14)
- simpleelement (4,1)
- simpleelement (4,52)
- </screen>
-
- </para>
-
- </sect2>
-
- <sect2 id="schema-mapping">
- <title>The Schema Mapping (.map) Files</title>
-
- <para>
- Sometimes, the client might want to receive a database record in
- a schema that differs from the native schema of the record. For
- instance, a client might only know how to process WAIS records, while
- the database record is represented in a more specific schema, such as
- GILS. In this module, a mapping of data to one of the MARC formats is
- also thought of as a schema mapping (mapping the elements of the
- record into fields consistent with the given MARC specification, prior
- to actually converting the data to the ISO2709). This use of the
- object identifier for USMARC as a schema identifier represents an
- overloading of the OID which might not be entirely proper. However,
- it represents the dual role of schema and record syntax which
- is assumed by the MARC family in Z39.50.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <emphasis>NOTE: The schema-mapping functions are so far limited to a
- straightforward mapping of elements. This should be extended with
- mechanisms for conversions of the element contents, and conditional
- mappings of elements based on the record contents.</emphasis>
- </para>
-
- <para>
- These are the directives of the schema mapping file format:
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <variablelist>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>targetName <emphasis>name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m) A symbolic name for the target schema
- of the table. Useful mostly for diagnostic purposes.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>targetRef <emphasis>OID-name</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (m) An OID name for the target schema.
- This is used, for instance, by a server receiving a request to present
- a record in a different schema from the native one.
- The name, again, is found in the <emphasis>oid</emphasis>
- module of <emphasis>YAZ</emphasis>.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>map <emphasis>element-name target-path</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- (o,r) Adds
- an element mapping rule to the table.
- </para>
- </listitem></varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- </para>
-
- </sect2>
-
- <sect2>
- <title>The MARC (ISO2709) Representation (.mar) Files</title>