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Soaplab2 for developers
[email protected]
An unusual definition
• Soaplab2 is a Java library for accessing
– third-party command-line tools
– data that were extracted (screen-scraped) from the
web pages
– [after adding a plug-in] data from other Web Services
• The library has, not surprisingly, an API
• The library uses metadata to learn about
resources being accessed
…becomes more familiar
• Soaplab2 is a generator of Web Services,
wrapping/using the “library” just mentioned
– these Web Services do not require any programming,
they operates just with the provided metadata
• metadata are in XML that come, both historically and
practically, from the EMBOSS ACD format
– these Web Services may need additional
programming if you develop a plug-in to them
• e.g. Soaplab2’s plug-in to access EBI’s Web Services
(interproscan, blast, fasta)
Why to use Soaplab2
• Its API is general enough to accommodate many
•
situations, not only starting the command-line
tools
Without, or with small amount of [if you are developing
a plug-in], programming you get, at least:
– a library that can be uses as part of your own code,
or (usually) as a set of ready-to-call Web Services
– asynchronous and synchronous access to the remote
resources
– access to metadata of resources (that can be used
further for discovery semantics, or whatever)
– a simple web interface to access the resources
– event manager reporting on the access, etc.
• Taverna understands Soaplab2 services
Not to be forgotten
• Acknowledgment
– EBI and Mahmut Uludag
– Generation Challenge Programme and its
funding
• License: Apache
– http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
• Where to find it:
– http://soaplab.sourceforge.net/soaplab2/