X-Git-Url: http://git.indexdata.com/?p=yaz-moved-to-github.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fintroduction.xml;h=f531c749cab6f4dbce4a087b8602d4254f52b3fa;hp=785bc82a21c408e8dc53d0f91e77f8dbcc8e9706;hb=bd7e251dac1b07c54884d26295f66b90cfb23131;hpb=ce853cc4919ab346fd629e7727905d3ee6e1129f diff --git a/doc/introduction.xml b/doc/introduction.xml index 785bc82..f531c74 100644 --- a/doc/introduction.xml +++ b/doc/introduction.xml @@ -1,17 +1,34 @@ - - Introduction + + Introduction - The &yaz; toolkit offers several different levels of access to the - Z39.50 and SR protocols. The level that you need to use depends on - your requirements, and the role (server or client) that you - want to implement. - - The basic level, which is independent of the role, consists of three - primary interfaces: + The &yaz; + toolkit offers several different levels of access to the + ISO23950/Z39.50 + and ILL protocols. + The level that you need to use depends on your requirements, and + the role (server or client) that you want to implement. + If you're developing a client application you should consider the + ZOOM API. + It is, by far, the easiest way to develop clients in C. + Server implementers should consider the + generic frontend server. + None of those high-level APIs support the whole protocol, but + they do include most facilities used in existing Z39.50 + applications. + + + If you're using 'exotic' functionality (meaning anything not included in + the high-level APIs), developing non-standard extensions to Z39.50 or you're + going to develop an ILL application you'll have to learn the lower + level APIs of &yaz;. + + + The basic low level modules, which are independent of the role + (client or server), consist of three primary interfaces: - &asn;, which provides a C representation of the Z39.50/SR + &asn;, which provides a C representation of the Z39.50 protocol packages (PDUs). &odr;, which encodes and decodes the packages according @@ -23,7 +40,7 @@ The &asn; module represents the ASN.1 definition of - the SR/Z39.50 protocol. It establishes a set of type and + the Z39.50 protocol. It establishes a set of type and structure definitions, with one structure for each of the top-level PDUs, and one structure or type for each of the contained ASN.1 types. For primitive types, or other types that are defined by the ASN.1 @@ -68,14 +85,14 @@ (passively or actively, depending on the role of your application), and for exchanging BER-encoded PDUs over that connection. When you create a connection endpoint, you need to specify what transport to - use (OSI or TCP/IP), and which protocol you want to use (SR or - Z39.50). For the remainer of the connection's lifetime, you don't have + use (TCP/IP or SSL). + For the remainder of the connection's lifetime, you don't have to worry about the underlying transport protocol at all - the &comstack; will ensure that the correct mechanism is used. We call the combined interfaces to &odr;, &asn;, and &comstack; the service - level API. It's the API that most closely models the Z39.50/SR + level API. It's the API that most closely models the Z39.50 service/protocol definition, and it provides unlimited access to all fields and facilities of the protocol definitions. @@ -86,7 +103,7 @@ if you don't like the protocol API provided by &odr;/&asn;, you can use SNACC or BERUtils instead, and still have the benefits of the transparent transport approach of the &comstack; module. Secondly, - we realise that you may have to fit the toolkit into an existing + we realize that you may have to fit the toolkit into an existing event-processing structure, in a way that is incompatible with the &comstack; interface or some other part of &yaz;. @@ -102,7 +119,7 @@ sgml-indent-step:1 sgml-indent-data:t sgml-parent-document:"yaz.xml" - sgml-local-catalogs: "../../docbook/docbook.cat" + sgml-local-catalogs: nil sgml-namecase-general:t End: -->