November 19, 2010
Tom met with Bill Klinko: we can add Ares server to DNS database: reserves.library.cornell.edu so he is then able to pull in JSON from Voyager into Ares without cross domain security issues.
Tom will arrange this with Bill Klinko.
Tom will ask Todd in meeting about creating BlackBoard building blocks and about changing BlackBoard Building Block settings for DNS change.
We may have to make changes in our sites and services too (probably not on CUL site). May affect John's services, Tom will discuss with John. Vanilla registrar services works well for Tom's current needs.
Do at end of classes, early-mid December, because it is a server wide change, potentially large impact.
Tom can continue developing with local data in the meantime.
On Z 39.50 question, still no response from Ares. Michael with others to email Atlas with ultimatum on support items, or contract will be pulled next year. Will reference Z 39.50 issue.
Action Items:
Tom:
November 9, 2010
Tom said that he got an initial response from Jeannie at Atlas Systems to his inquiry about improving the staff interface by enhancing the Z39.50 search interface. Jeannie initially said she would discuss this with the development team and get back to Tom, but hasn't done so yet.
Jesse thought that Columbia may be trying to solve the same Ares/Voyager issues we are.
Tom showed his reworking of the create course form in Ares, which is nearly complete. Tom is waiting for an update to some Web Services John F. wrote before he can finish the form completely.
Tom presented options we discussed in previous meetings to Access Services. His summary of the feedback he received:
As a side note, and something for everyone to chew one.. I ran some of the ideas past the Ares focus group and they liked them all.. the one thing that was emphasized was that they really need the full functionality of the Voyager catalog. This was demonstrated by Cyannea (sorry if that is spelled wrong) from Music. They like the idea of possibly having a search button on the submission form but where afraid that a system using the XML services would be to limiting.
Based on this, Tom started experimenting with an Ares update, that he demo'd for us at today's meeting. Tom added a link within the Ares interface that opens the Voyager Web interface in a jQuery grey box. The obstacle this uncovered is that interaction between Ares and either the Voyager patron Web interface or Web Services are in HTML and XML respectively and can't be accessed across domains. There is a plain text print/save version of the records, but this may not be easy to manipulate with jQuery. The Voyager Web Services do not produce JSON output that we could access across domains with JSONP.
This suggests two scenarios:
- Use a proxy instead, such as Cornell's EZProxy, which may be the best option. Rick will explore this with Pete Hoyt and Amy Bluementhal. We do have to consider potential impact of the traffic on the proxy server, but Rick thinks this won't be a problem.
- Write XML to JSON conversion service, possibly based paritally on this PHP approach: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-xml2jsonphp/
We have test systems for both Atlas and Voyager, so we can fully evaluate both options.
Action Items:
Tom will email Jennifer to see if anyone else is using a proxy server, or some kind of pass through script for this type of specific purpose, how did they do it, what were issues encountered, etc.
Tom will get URLs to Rick that need to be proxied. (DONE):
The current domain for all the Ares urls is:
https://cornell.ares.atlas-sys.comThe pdfs are transported using the following URL:
https://cornell.ares.atlas-sys.com/ares/ares.dll?SessionID=C102120752F&Action=10&Type=10&Value=23388It does look like all the PDF's are renamed to ares.pdf
As a side note it does appear that you can link directly to an item's PDF using the following URL format:
https://cornell.ares.atlas-sys.com/ares/ares.dll?Action=10&Type=10&Value=23388where the Value = the item's ID number. I am not sure what happens for new users to the system, but for existing users you are passed the PDF.
Rick will send Tom URL to Voyager Web Services documentation.
Adam will set up meeting for late next week to assess progress on these scenarios.
October 27, 2010
(Much of the discussion of the meeting is reflected on the main page for this project, specifically, in the Goals, Scenarios to evaluate->Evolving recommendation, Aspects sections.
Tom demo'd staff/faculty interfaces, native and Web, including 'Tom's tools'.
Tom will be adding Javascript validation to Ares Web interface, to normalize department codes, section codes, to match how it is done at Cornell. There is a registrar ID field in Ares, Tom may be able to constrain courses to departments based on new registrar Web Service.
Jesse offered another possible long-term alternative: Ares as status checker on items for faculty, processing aid for staff, but Voyager is really where reserves are processed.
Action Items:
- All: review Adam's meeting notes for completeness and accuracy, edit as necessary, including the following updates to the main page: Goals, Scenarios to evaluate->Evolving recommendation, Aspects.
- Tom: contact Jeannie after meeting about likelihood of making updates to Z39.50, email the group with any response received.
- Adam: schedule next meeting.