Re: "Z39.50 Server List" DTD

Rob Bull wrote:

> Now, in the follow up ONE-2 project, we have re-visited explain again, and
> (I guess to your dissapointment) invented "another work round" we call
> explain-lite - its a piece of XML passed on Init.
> 
> However, this has been created for real reasons -
> - it is considered that creating an XML approach is far more in line with
> 21st century technology, rather than the overhead of the explain PDUs,
> - it covers the _real_ things people want to know about a server, and not
> the additional baggage that you can get with explain;
> - such XML can be used in conjunction with other means of disseminating
> information about a server - for instance, the very same XML could be
> published on a web page - this saves administration effort etc.
> - the effort in creating a tool for managing data in an explain database
> is quite significant, you cant assume a Z39.50 expert/programmer to be
> available for maintaining such data;
> - tools in the XML world are available now that can be used to parse the
> validity of such explain data, these tools deal with related
> issues such as character sets etc. that would probably be otherwise hand
> coded.

I agree with every point.  My only concern is the *way* in which you
deliver the xml.  Do you have a description of how you do it?  Does the
client explicitly ask for it?  

I personally would rather see us finish work like Alan Kent has done on
concatenating PDUs and using otherwise standard mechanisms instead of
special-casing things like init.  That means you could implement
explain-lite by sending a standard init request and search request in a
single request.  That would give us other benefits we've wanted for some
time, and still give you the explain information you want in a single
request/response pair.

Kevin

-- 
Kevin Gamiel                     Email: kgamiel@islandedge.com
Island Edge Research, Inc.       http://www.islandedge.com
Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina Phone: +1-252-449-8969

Received on Wednesday, 21 June 2000 14:53:37 UTC