[OAI-implementers] Beginners question

[Heinrich Stamerjohanns]

On Thu, 17 Oct 2002, John W. Horlock wrote:

If you already have a SQL table with your data and metadata in your
personal format, you might as well just create a function that maps the
data in your personal format to Dublin Core (at least).

You can then create the necessary XML out of your metadata on-the-fly
(as you create your HTML out of your SQL).
For the Data Provider there is no need to store the data in XML format.

You can find a sample implementation in PHP (which also runs under
Windows) at http://physnet.uni-oldenburg.de/oai/ which does exactly that
(fetch SQL, map it, create XML).

All you need to do is to adjust the mappings from your personal data
to DC. If you prefer ASP, it should be quite easy to make ASP code
out of this.

Heinrich


> I have just started to look in making my databases OAI compliant.
> I am currently running an image search engine which users use to search for
> images and return results via a web page. All the pages are ASP with VBScript
> and JavaScript.
> The data is contained within a table in SQL server. What I am confused about
> is, the table I am going to create for the metadata is going to contain
> duplicate data e.g. contributor, date added etc... as these are all required
> to be displayed to user upon a search request.
>
> My basic understanding (which I think is wrong at the moment) is I'll have my
> main table which houses all the data, then a smaller table which contains
> metadata about each record, which is in a valid XML format.
> Are there any other factors which I need to be aware of for my databases?
>
> I'm trying to comprehend the workings but it's not very clear.
>
> Thank you for you help.
> John
>
>
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--
  Dr. Heinrich Stamerjohanns        Tel. +49-441-798-4276
  Institute for Science Networking  stamer@uni-oldenburg.de
  University of Oldenburg           http://isn.uni-oldenburg.de/~stamer