[tdwg-tapir] TaxonAPI

Renato De Giovanni renato at cria.org.br
Wed Nov 30 17:53:59 CET 2005


Hi Roger,

I looked at the API and apparently it seems to be consistent with the 
TapirLite idea, although there are still lots of things that I still 
need to learn about the TCS world.

The only thing is that you frequently define parameter types as 
"Array of Strings", and we don't have that notion in the protocol. 
As far as I know, the only way to do this with the current 
parameterised Tapir filters is to limit the parameter to a single 
string value (and then make several requests), or define a filter 
with several conditions referencing different string parameters (like 
name1, name2, etc) all joined by ORs.

Another possibility would be to change the "in" operator and make it 
accept not only literal values but also a parameter that could be 
expanded according to the number of associated values. It looks more 
elegant but needs a small change in the protocol (and additional 
notes in the specification).

Regards,
--
Renato

On 28 Nov 2005 at 10:54, Roger Hyam wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I have been doing some work on a TaxonAPI. This is a high/low
> definition of the kind of thing I believe people publishing taxonomic
> data need to produce and people consuming it need to eat based on the
> work I have been involved in on TCS.
> 
> It is framed as if it were a web service type of thing but I imagine
> that each of the method calls mentioned could equate to a Tapir
> template of some kind. I imagine a template containing a parameterized
> filter (not sure if those exist anymore).
> 
> This is still work in progress as I need to define the list of 
> parameters more closely and sort the greater than/less than issue for
> dates and a few other bits. Plus no one has seen it to comment on!
> 
> You can read more about it here:
> 
> http://www.tdwg.hyam.net/twiki/bin/view/TIP/TaxonAPI
> 
> I would be most grateful for your comments.
> 
> How does this fit with Tapir?
> 
> Roger





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