(This is a copy of a private mail I sent to Ray D. over a couple months ago
and to which he graciously replied, but also suggested that I send to the
list to get a wider perspective. Apologies for not mailing sooner but got
sucked up into some other projects, though ready to refocus on this now.
Appreciate any guidance. And very much hoping the answer is "Yes!" :)

Hi:

Got a question that you may be able to help us out with. We (NPG) are
looking to make available some HTML snippets that folks can cut and paste
onto their own websites which would provide a search textbox on their pages
to run against our own search indexes and return (in first instance) our
standard HTML result pages. I have been thinking that we shouldn¹t really be
using our ASP search syntax (because proprietary, obscure, account in
plaintext, etc.) but rather a Œstandard¹ search syntax.

Naturally SRU springs to mind (as does OpenSearch).  Mapping (either) URI
querystring is trivial. Question I have is more particular. SRU returns XML
to the user (with possibly a stylesheet reference attached). Is it
acceptable (in the SRU scheme of things) to allow for the possibility of an
intermediary (in this case, our own server) to render the XML and deliver
HTML back to the user. Does that break the spirit of SRU? I could imagine
that initially (since we anyway deliver HTML) that one could have a Œfaux¹
stylesheet reference which could be applied to the result set and serve up
HTML to the user. We do also have the ability to acquire raw XML back from
the ASP, and so could also provide alternate Œsnippets¹ which would allow
for querying with SRU and getting native SRU XML docs back, or with (real)
stylesheets to get other renderings, e.g. (X)HTML includes, RSS, etc.

Does this make sense in the SRU context, to allow for the possibility that a
server could intermediate the SRU return on the basis of a stylesheet
reference included in the XML document (whether real or faux). And with a
stylesheet reference we could just return native SRU XML? I don¹t want to
run against the spirit of SRU. (And still need to catch up with latest
version of OpenSearch.)

Thanks for any comments you may have time for.

Cheers,

Tony

********************************************************************************   
DISCLAIMER: This e-mail is confidential and should not be used by anyone who is
not the original intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error
please inform the sender and delete it from your mailbox or any other storage
mechanism. Neither Macmillan Publishers Limited nor any of its agents accept
liability for any statements made which are clearly the sender's own and not
expressly made on behalf of Macmillan Publishers Limited or one of its agents.
Please note that neither Macmillan Publishers Limited nor any of its agents
accept any responsibility for viruses that may be contained in this e-mail or
its attachments and it is your responsibility to scan the e-mail and 
attachments (if any). No contracts may be concluded on behalf of Macmillan 
Publishers Limited or its agents by means of e-mail communication. Macmillan 
Publishers Limited Registered in England and Wales with registered number 785998 
Registered Office Brunel Road, Houndmills, Basingstoke RG21 6XS   
********************************************************************************