In conjunction with the invitation (see recent related message) to participate in the development of SRU/CQL 2.0, the OASIS Search Web Services Technical Committee also invites participation in the development of the SWS Description Language.

The Description Language will be used to write description files describing an SWS binding: capabilities and general characteristic of a search engine and how it may be accessed.

For example consider the hypothetical description file below, including a general description (<databaseInfo>), a request formulation element (<requestInfo>), and a response interpretation element (<responseInfo>).

<sws>

   <databaseInfo>
      <name>Science Fiction Database</name>
       <shortName>SciFi</shortName>
       <contact>
              <name>Ralph LeVan</name>
              <email>[log in to unmask]</email>
      </contact>
   </databaseInfo>

   <requestInfo>
     <template>
           http://orlabs.oclc.org/SRW/search/scifi
          ?query=cql.any+%3D+%22{query}%22&version=1.1
          &operation=searchRetrieve&maximumRecords={maximumItems}
         &startRecord={startPosition}
     </template>
     <example>
            http://orlabs.oclc.org/SRW/search/scifi
           ?query=cql.any+%3D+%22ninja+turtles%22&version=1.1
           &operation=searchRetrieve&maximumRecords=10&startRecord=1
      </example>
   </requestInfo>

<responseInfo type='xml' xmlns:srw='http://www.loc.gov/zing/srw/'>
     <numberOfItems>
         <tagpath>/srw:searchRetrieveResponse/numberOfRecords</tagpath>
      </numberOfItems>
   <item>
         <tagpath>
        /srw:searchRetrieveResponse/srw:records/srw:record/srw:recordData
       </tagpath>
    </item>
    <diagnostics>
      <tagpath>/srw:searchRetrieveResponse/srw:diagnostics</tagpath>
      </diagnostics>
    </responseInfo>
</sws>

****************

We invite SRU implementors to join the effort to develop this description language.

Ashley Sanders will be the lead Technical Committee member for this activity. Additional TC members who will participate actively in this activity are Ralph LeVan, Larry Dixson, Rob Sanderson, and Janifer Gatenby.

--Ray Denenberg