TapirLink:TapirLink:Enabling the transition to TAPIREnabling the transition to TAPIR

Renato De Giovanni

TDWG 2007

What is TAPIR?What is TAPIR?

• “Computer protocol designed for discovery, search and retrieval of distributed data over the Internet” (TAPIR Exec. Summary).

• “TAPIR consists of a specification that determines how client applications seeking information should communicate with server applications hosting data” (TAPIR Exec. Summary).

• Based on DiGIR and BioCASe.

What is TapirLink?What is TapirLink?

• Free, open source and generic TAPIR provider software.

• Based on the well-known DiGIR PHP provider (but not compatible with DiGIR).

• Current version (0.5) is considered stable and ready to be used in production environment.

Why TapirLink was developed?Why TapirLink was developed?

• We needed a second reference implementation, this time from the “DiGIR side”.

• More than a 100 million records (specimen / observation) are being provided through the DiGIR PHP provider, so we wanted to offer an easy way for them to migrate to TAPIR.

What is a TAPIR provider software?What is a TAPIR provider software?

• Program that understands TAPIR requests, extracts data from an underlying data source, and sends back a TAPIR response.

TAPIR request TAPIR responseTAPIRprovider

translates request to local query language

retrieves data and puts theresult into a TAPIR message

Who might want to use a TAPIR provider software?Who might want to use a TAPIR provider software?

• Any data provider that wants to participate in TAPIR networks, or simply wants to provide his/her data through a Web Service.

• TAPIR is not only about specimen/observation data – you define the type of data that you want to exchange.

TapirLink - Software requirementsTapirLink - Software requirements

• Web Server (e.g. Apache, IIS).

• PHP (version >= 4.2.3).

• Relational database (accessible through PHP ADOdb).

• Corresponding PHP extension to access the database.

Note: if you are running an instance of the PHP DiGIR provider, you already have everything you need to run TapirLink.

TapirLink – Main TAPIR featuresTapirLink – Main TAPIR features

• All TAPIR operations (metadata, capabilities, search, inventory, ping).

• XML or KVP requests.

• Any output models (search operation).

• Any concepts (inventory operation).

• Query templates with aliases.

• Complex filters.

• Log only requests.

• Maximum number of element repetitions and nesting levels.

TapirLink – Additional featuresTapirLink – Additional features

• Multiple resources (different endpoints connected to different databases) can be exposed from a single instance.

• Each resource can map one or more conceptual schemas based on the new DarwinCore pattern or CNS configuration file format.

• Web configuration interface.

• LSID resolver.

• Skins (stylesheets).

• UDDI registration form.

• Simple client for testing.

• Import PHP DiGIR provider configuration.

TapirLink – Known limitationsTapirLink – Known limitations• Providers must have tabular data (single table, single view, or multiple

tables/views that produce the desired set of records after being joined).

• There is support to many XML Schema constructs beyond the TAPIR “basicSchemaLanguage”, but this is still unofficial.

• Concept aliases are still not supported.

Installation instructionsInstallation instructions

• Download software from:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/digir

(alternative: use Subversion)• Uncompress• Read INSTALL.txt• Set correct permissions in specific directories• Configure your Web Server to expose two specific

directories: one for the service and the other for the configuration interface.

Short demo...Short demo...

Special ThanksSpecial Thanks

TDWG & GBIF

Craig WieczorekDave Vieglais

Giorgos KsourisJohn WieczorekKevin Richards

Kohsuke KawaguchiMarkus Döring

Roger Hyam