[ANN]: XML <=> DL mapper tool, call for alpha testers

Dear all,

When we create Semantic Web Service descriptions (e.g. using DAML-S) for
XML Web Services, we sometimes need to tell agents how to transform a
(complex) XML element into a Description Logics (DAML/OWL) construct and
vice versa.

In DAML-S, there exists an attribute "xsltTransformation" which carries
this kind of "mapping information", using XSL  - - the XSL document
specifies how the mapping between XML grammars and Description Logic (DL)
concept descriptions is carried out.

Since the construction of such mapping documents is quite error prone and
tedious, i have written a (rather trivial) tool aimed to support developers
(or people who annotate Web Services or other XML based data) during this
process:

- the tool allows you to create mapping documents rather quickly, via
mouseclicks. (Currently only XSL is supported, but other mapping techniques
can be plugged into the tool's architecture)

- the tool allows you to test/verify the mappings you create "on the fly"

- and of course, you can still tweak the created code if needed (however my
goal is to reduce this to a an absolute minimum)

The mapping tool was deleveoped using Java2 and the Eclipse SWT library.
Therefore, it is not 100% platform independent, but i wanted to provide a
*responsive* (native) user interface and i hoped SWT could be the key
here..

SOFWARE DOWNLOAD:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* For win32 systems: http://sws.mcm.unisg.ch/xmldl/mapper-win32.zip
* For Linux KDE/gnome: http://sws.mcm.unisg.ch/xmldl/mapper-linux-gtk.zip
* If you need support for other platforms, please drop me an e-mail, and
i'll try to send you the requested file

INSTALLATION:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Prerequisite: installed Java 2 engine
2. Extract the file and execute "run.bat" (or "run.sh" if you use Unix).
You'll find examples for you first mapping you create in an "/examples"
directory.

DOCUMENTATION:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* a short manual: http://sws.mcm.unisg.ch/xmldl/manual.html
* some random thoughts regarding XML<->DL
mapping:http://sws.mcm.unisg.ch/xmldl/xml_dl.html

I am sending this announcement to this list because i would love to get
some feedback on the tool, e.g. suggestions what kind of functionality the
tool needs in order to become really useful, bug reports or general
feedback/thoughts.

Please keep in mind that this software is currently alpha quality.  I plan
to fix all issues reported to me - but i need to know if i am on the right
track before i invest more time into this tool


kind regards,

Joachim

---
Joachim Peer
Research Assistant
MCM Institute, University of St. Gallen
Blumenbergplatz 9, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland
Phone: ++41 (0) 71 224 3441, Fax: ++41 (0) 71 224 2771
http://sws.mcm.unisg.ch/jpeer

Received on Wednesday, 28 May 2003 13:50:02 UTC