Greg,

The Library of Congress website for SRW at
http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/zing/srw is the best starting point.

There are really three components to SRW

The WSDL description of the request and responses - this is probably the
most trivial (there are no major surprises) and easiest to implement
(via WSDL compilers). Essentially the searchRetrieveRequest sends the
query and the searchRetrieveResponse returns the records!

ZeeRex - a reworking of Explain in XML (triggered by the ONE projects
Explain-Lite which was regarded as too "lite", although personally I
have wondered why ZeeRex was invented from the ground up rather than
expanding Explain-Lite but I suspect that's politics!)

CQL - the main meat, the Common Query Language. Loosely based on Z39.50
Type-1/101 queries but with a more traditional "index relation term"
structure instead of attributes and more traditional booleans (i.e. AND,
OR and NOT rather than AND, OR and AND-NOT). CQL has a text expression
version and an XML version (XCQL).

So for GIR, the WSDL would map into a gWSDL for the Query Processor
portType and the ZeeRex into the ServiceDataElements for the Query
Processor PortType.

It is a design criterion of SRW to have a single query language (unlike
Z39.50 supporting different query types). The intent is that CQL after a
few revisions will be expressively rich enough for any IR query.
However, I see GIR more as a framework for GRID based IR than a
protocol, so feel that GIR should support multiple query languages -
locking down to specific query languages being an implementation issue,
i.e. someone inheriting the GIR portTypes to build a GIR system would
restrict that system to one (or more) query languages.

Matthew



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Greg Newby [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 6:16 PM
> To: Matthew J. Dovey
> Cc: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; Kevin Gamiel; Greg Newby
> Subject: Re: Meeting this week
> 
> On Fri, Sep 26, 2003 at 09:35:51AM +0100, Matthew J. Dovey wrote:
> > Since GRIDService are based on SOAP/WSDL one approach (that I'm
> > certainly considering) for GRID-IR is to base the query 
> parts closely on
> > SRW.
> > 
> > (Not quite the right list) GRIDServices actually tend 
> towards an object
> > oriented approach to WebServices, and since ZOOM is an 
> Object Oriented
> > model, there is a nice GRIDService binding for ZOOM, which I have
> > referred to in the past to Mike. This binding does produce 
> a lot of SOAP
> > traffic though.
> > 
> > I'm currently trying to write all this up (plus cover some 
> other related
> > standards) for the GRID-IR group.
> > 
> > Matthew
> 
> This sounds like a good fit to me, also.  Can you tell me
> the best Web sites or papers to look at to get more up to 
> speed with SRW?
> 
> I think that we'll need to think about scalability of GridIR,
> particularly with regards to network traffic and latency.
> But that is not something we need to work on immediately --
> better to get the basics working, so we can see how the
> traffic patterns look.
> 
>   -- Greg
> 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Z39.50 Next-Generation Initiative [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> > > On Behalf Of Nassib Nassar
> > > Sent: Monday, September 22, 2003 8:47 PM
> > > To: [log in to unmask]
> > > Subject: Re: Meeting this week
> > > 
> > > Hello,
> > > 
> > > I'm planning to show up for the second day of this 
> meeting (morning
> > > and hopefully early afternoon).
> > > 
> > > I'm currently involved with co-chairing the GridIR working group
> > > <www.gridir.org>.  GridIR is a proposed "recommendation" 
> going through
> > > the standards process of the Global Grid Forum.  Its purpose is to
> > > define IR standards on the grid, and we think that part of it will
> > > benefit directly from the efforts that have been applied 
> to Z39.50 and
> > > SRW.
> > > 
> > > We would like to work with this group if any of you are 
> interested, or
> > > at least we would like to use significant parts of 
> SRW/CQL assuming we
> > > can figure out how to do that.  I have great respect for 
> the work and
> > > expertise that have gone into Z39.50 over many years (and 
> got to be
> > > involved with it in the early '90s).  We don't wish to 
> reinvent the
> > > wheel, and so I'm hoping to learn more about developments in this
> > > group, etc., and work with others such as Matthew Dovey 
> who are active
> > > and knowledgeable in both SRW and GridIR.  I'm not planning on any
> > > sort of formal discussion for my part (unless that is 
> desirable), but
> > > mainly coming to listen and discuss if appropriate.
> > > 
> > > Nassib
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
>