Installation Notes

At this time, due to changes that have been made to the Resources tool, Sakaibrary software can only be run from within a modified version of Sakai. This means that Sakaibrary software cannot neatly be dropped into an existing version of Sakai. We are currently working on this and hope to have this capability soon. If you have a test or pilot server in use and would like to import other experimental tools into our version of Sakai (with a modified Resources tool), you should be able to do so. Please contact Gaurav if you'd like to work together to do this.

Installation Walkthrough

1 Checkout the code

The Sakaibrary Project has its own branch within the 'contrib' section of Sakai's subversion repository. You will need to check out the most current tag to get our latest version.

svn checkout https://source.sakaiproject.org/contrib/sakaibrary/branches/sakaibrary_phase-1-006/

2 Configure

There are a few configuration parameters that you must attend to.

<sakai_root>/xserver-osid/xserver-osid-impl/src/bundle/data/RepositoryManager.properties

<Tomcat_root>/sakai/sakai.properties

3 Build and deploy

You can build and deploy Sakai as you normally would using Java, Maven, Tomcat and perhaps a database such as MySQL or Oracle.

/Users/gbhatnag/build.properties

maven.repo.remote = http://source.sakaiproject.org/maven/,
http://www.ibiblio.org/maven/public/html/maven/
maven.tomcat.home = /opt/apache-tomcat-5.5.17/ (your Tomcat install)
maven.compile.source = 1.4
maven.compile.target = 1.4
maven.test.skip = true

maven bld

maven dpl

4 Start Tomcat

You should now be able to start Tomcat and create Citation Lists using Sakaibrary software.

$CATALINA_HOME/bin/startup.sh

Out-of-Band Agreements

The Sakaibrary Repository OSID Implementation (SROI) is capable of conducting an asynchronous search of multiple databases. A number of out-of-band agreements (OBAs) need to be met by the Consumer to properly specify and manage such a search, as well as to utilize the results of such a search. For definitions of all SROI Types, please see the Repository Types page. Following is a summary of the major Types, Properties formats and criteria format needed to specify and manage a search using the SROI.

getAssetsBySearch()

The Repository method, getAssetsBySearch(), requires the following input parameters:

• java.io.Serializable searchCriteria
• org.osid.shared.Type searchType
• org.osid.shared.Properties searchProperties

searchType

The SROI defines and supports the sakaibrary / search / asynchMetasearch org.osid.shared.Type for searching. This search Type is used to initiate an asynchronous search of a metasearch engine and defines the other two fields (searchCriteria and searchProperties) associated with the getAssetsBySearch() method.

searchCriteria

The searchCriteria must be passed as a java.lang.String in CQL Format limited to the fields: keyword, title, author, subject, year and the relations: { = , and }.

Examples are:

• (keyword = clara+clairvoyant) and (keyword = lyrics)
• (((((keyword = clara+clairvoyant) and (keyword = lyrics)) and (title = open+road)) and (author = donovan)) and (subject = rock+and+roll+music)) and (year = 1970)
• ((((title = why+do+chimpanzees+hunt+and+share+meat) and (author = mitani)) and (author = watts)) and (subject = behavior)) and (subject = mating)

Classes from the org.sakaibrary.common.search.impl package can be used to effectively parse user input and create proper CQL according to the above rules.

searchProperties

The SROI defines and supports the sakaibrary / properties / asynchMetasearch org.osid.shared.Type for properties. It is the responsibility of the Consumer to pass an object of type org.osid.shared.Properties to getAssetsBySearch() with the following properties:

• required properties are in red and starred
• * guid - A globally unique identifier. This is an alpha-numeric java.lang.String that uniquely identifies the specific user's search session.
• * baseUrl - A java.lang.String base URL for the SROI's metasearch engine.
• * username - A java.lang.String username used to login to the SROI's metasearch engine.
• * password - A java.lang.String password used to login to the SROI's metasearch engine.
• sortBy - A java.lang.String with one of the following values:
  • 'rank' - results are returned sorted by the metasearch engine's internal ranking algorithm.
  • 'title' - results are returned sorted by title in ascending order (A-Z).
  • 'author' - results are returned sorted by author's last name in ascending order (A-Z).
  • 'year' - results are returned sorted by year in descending order (newer to older).
  • 'database' - results are returned sorted by database in metasearch engine order.
  • if undefined, sortBy defaults to 'rank'.
• pageSize - A java.lang.Integer indicating how many records to display per page. If undefined, pageSize defaults to 10.
• startRecord - A java.lang.Integer indicating which record to begin displaying results at. Records start at 1 and not 0. If undefined, startRecord defaults to 1 (the first record).
• databaseIds - A java.util.List of identifiers used to identify the databases to be searched by the metasearch engine. In Sakai 2.3, this field is not used.

A convenient way to pass an object of type org.osid.shared.Properties to getAssetsBySearch() with the above properties is to implement the org.osid.shared.Properties interface creating a class that wraps a java.util.HashMap as illustrated below.

getPropertiesByType( org.osid.shared.Type propertiesType )

The SROI defines the sakaibrary / properties / metasearchStatus Type for retrieving status information regarding an initiated asynchronous search. The Repository's getPropertiesByType() method can be used to retrieve search status information from the Repository. The org.osid.shared.Properties object of Type sakaibrary / properties / metasearchStatus returned has a unique key-value structure. Below is a table describing the structure of the Properties object:

AssetIterator methods hasNextAsset() and nextAsset()

Access to individual Assets is encapsulated by the AssetIterator returned by Repository.getAssetsBySearch(). Calling hasNextAsset() returns a boolean indicating whether or not the end of the AssetIterator has been reached: true indicates there are more Assets in the AssetIterator, false indicates that there are no more Assets left. Calling nextAsset() returns an Asset, if it is available.

Due to the nature of an asynchronous search, there are a number of situations in which the hasNextAsset() and nextAsset() methods may not behave as described above. Consequently, the SROI provides special exception behavior for these two methods.

Method Behavior

The only Exception that may be thrown is an org.osid.repository.RepositoryException. This Exception is always thrown with a specific message indicating a specific problem that has occurred. These RepositoryException messages and the problems they indicate are described below.

hasNextAsset()

• returns true if the AssetIterator cursor has not yet reached the total number of records found.
• returns false if the AssetIterator cursor has reached the total number of records found.
• throws a RepositoryException with the SESSION_TIMED_OUT message if the session associated with this user's guid has been timed out by the metasearch engine.
• throws a RepositoryException with the METASEARCH_ERROR message if the search has failed due to a metasearch engine error.
• throws a RepositoryException with the OPERATION_FAILED message if resources the method needs cannot be gathered.

nextAsset()

• returns an Asset if the AssetIterator cursor has not yet reached the total number of records found and an Asset is readily available.
• throws a RepositoryException with the SESSION_TIMED_OUT message if the session associated with this user's guid has been timed out by the metasearch engine.
• throws a RepositoryException with the METASEARCH_ERROR message if the search has failed due to a metasearch engine error.
• throws a RepositoryException with the NO_MORE_ITERATOR_ELEMENTS message if the AssetIterator cursor has reached the total number of records found (equivalent to hasNextAsset() returning false).
• throws a RepositoryException with the ASSET_NOT_FETCHED message if the AssetIterator cursor has not yet reached the total number of records found (equivalent to hasNextAsset() returning true) but the current Asset has not yet been fetched.
• throws a RepositoryException with the OPERATION_FAILED message if resources the method needs cannot be gathered.

Implementation Notes

1. Get a RepositoryManager with org.sakaibrary.osid.repository.xserver or org.sakaibrary.osid.repository.web2 as the implementation package name:

org.osid.repository.RepositoryManager repositoryManager = OsidLoader.getManager(
  "org.osid.repository.RepositoryManager", "org.sakaibrary.osid.repository.xserver", new org.osid.OsidContext(), null );

2. Get the correct Repository Type from the RepositoryManager:

// find Repository Types
org.osid.shared.TypeIterator typeIterator = repositoryManager.getRepositoryTypes();

// we are interested in "sakaibrary / repository / metasearch" type
org.osid.shared.Type tempType;
org.osid.shared.Type repositoryType = null;

while( typeIterator.hasNextType() ) {
  tempType = typeIterator.nextType();

  if( tempType != null && tempType.getAuthority() != null &&
      tempType.getDomain() != null &&
      tempType.getKeyword() != null ) {
    if( tempType.getAuthority().equals( "sakaibrary" ) &&
        tempType.getDomain().equals( "repository" ) &&
        tempType.getKeyword().equals( "metasearch" ) ) {
        repositoryType = tempType;
    }
  }
}

3. Get Repositories of Type sakaibrary / repository / metasearch and find the selected Repository to search on (repository with 'repositoryName' has been selected):

org.osid.repository.RepositoryIterator repositoryIterator = repositoryManager.getRepositoriesByType(
  repositoryType );

while( repositoryIterator.hasNextRepository() ) {
  org.osid.repository.Repository repository = repositoryIterator.nextRepository();

  if( repository.getDisplayName().equals( repositoryName ) ) {
    /* found a matching repository - do search */
    // format search criteria to CQL
    // setup search properties
    // call getAssetsBySearch()
    // poll for results
  }
}

4. Setup search properties and call getAssetsBySearch()

// setup search properties
java.util.HashMap searchPropertiesMap = new java.util.HashMap();
searchPropertiesMap.put( "guid", "i9309we90rn203942309487kh0" );
searchPropertiesMap.put( "sortBy", "rank" );
searchPropertiesMap.put( "pageSize", new Integer( 10 ) );
searchPropertiesMap.put( "startRecord", new Integer( 1 ) );
searchPropertiesMap.put( "maxRecords", new Integer( 500 ) );

// ConsumerSearchProperties implements org.osid.shared.Properties and wraps a HashMap
org.osid.shared.Properties searchProperties = new ConsumerSearchProperties( searchPropertiesMap );

// Conduct search
org.osid.repository.AssetIterator assets = repository.getAssetsBySearch( criteria, searchType, 
  searchProperties );

5. Poll for results.

org.osid.repository.Asset asset = null;

try {
  while( assets.hasNextAsset() ) {
    try {
    asset = assets.nextAsset();
    // Consumer gets the Asset - does something with it...
    } catch( RepositoryException re ) {
      if( re.getMessage().equals( org.sakaibrary.osid.repository.MetasearchException.SESSION_TIMED_OUT ) ||
          re.getMessage().equals( org.sakaibrary.osid.repository.MetasearchException.METASEARCH_ERROR ) ||
          re.getMessage().equals( org.osid.shared.SharedException.NO_MORE_ITERATOR_ELEMENTS ) ||
          re.getMessage().equals( org.osid.OsidException.OPERATION_FAILED ) ) {
        // search is over, all assets that have been retrieved have been
        // optionally check searchStatus Properties for further details or information to present in UI
        break;
      } else if( re.getMessage.equals( org.sakaibrary.osid.repository.MetasearchException.ASSET_NOT_FETCHED ) ) {
        // need to wait some time and then try again
        Thread.sleep( ... );
      }
    } // catch
  } // while
} catch( RepositoryException re ) {
  if( re.getMessage().equals( org.sakaibrary.osid.repository.MetasearchException.SESSION_TIMED_OUT ) ||
      re.getMessage().equals( org.sakaibrary.osid.repository.MetasearchException.METASEARCH_ERROR ) ) {
    // search is over, all assets that have been retrieved have been
    // optionally check searchStatus Properties for further details or information to present in UI
  }
}