Re: Building a Z39.50 client and server

Hi all,

> >Can I create my Z39.50 compliant library system through web sites and web
> >applications acting as my origins and targets respectively? Is that how a
> >lot of other Z39.50 compliant systems work?
>
> A Z39.50 target is not really a web application. It's a separate protocol,
> and has a separate network port number associated to it (210, where HTTP
> generally uses 80). When your users install your library system, this is
> something you have to be clear about -- otherwise they can run into
trouble
> with their firewall operators (many small libraries don't have internal
> control of their firewall, so you need to tell them exactly what THEY have
> to tell their ISP or IT department).

I need to ask you about this. For my web forms, I just submit them to the
web app. (CGI app.), it processes the request and accesses the database and
chucks back a web page with the results.

How do I go about making this application using the correct port number, and
how does this affect my development of the system?

> >The server in this case would be an NT server. My existing library system
> >has been written in Delphi.
>
> I'll leave it to others to comment if they have tools specifically suited
> to interact with Delphi applications. We have a few tools around, and I
> know at least one of them has been used with a Delphi-based server. You're
> welcome to get in touch off-list if you're interested.

People have mentioned toolkits to me, and you're mentioning tools for
interacting with Delphi, but won't I just have to write my own origin client
and target server? When I write my server, I'll have to take the Z39.50
compliant requests it receives and translate them to apply to the way my
data is structured. I don't understand how these tools could help me.

Thank you.
Stephen

Received on Wednesday, 23 May 2001 10:38:45 UTC