• Article Type: General
• Product: MetaLib
• Product Version: 4

Description:
The following is the text of a message posted to the X-Server listserv focusing on developments in version 4 to support X-Services in MetaLib.

Resolution:
This posting will provide more information about our MetaLib 4.00 X-Server developments.
We have completed a great deal of development related to the MetaLib X-Server in the past year. All of these developments are part of MetaLib 4.00, but we have released them early as part of MetaLib 3.13 Service Packs to enable our customers to use these enhancements sooner rather than later. MetaLib 4.00 X-Services that are currently available in MetaLib 3.13 include:

1. Retrieve MetaLib Information X-Service – retrieves MetaLib status and configuration information – released in MetaLib 3.13 SP69 (Oct 2005)

2. Retrieve Resource Types X-Service – retrieves a list of Resource Types – released in MetaLib 3.13 SP90 (Nov 2005)

3. Retrieve ‘My Space’ Information X-Services – for a specific user:
a. Retrieve e-Shelf folders, records within folders – released in MetaLib 3.13 SP69 (Oct 2005)
b. Retrieve ‘My Databases’ folders, databases within folders – released in MetaLib 3.13 SP69 (Oct 2005)

4. ‘Merge’ X-Service Enhancements – ‘Re-merge’, ‘Merge more’, Sort result set by specific criteria – released in MetaLib 3.13 SP69 (Oct 2005)

5. Search a ‘My Databases’ Set X-Service – search ‘My Databases’ set for a specific user – released in MetaLib 3.13 SP69 (Oct 2005)

The remaining X-Server developments that will be released with MetaLib 4.00 are:

1. Integration of end-user authentication/authorization X-Services with Ex Libris’ updated PDS (Patron Directory Services) module, v1.3.
This development enables user authentication via ‘remote’ authentication methods supported by PDS/MetaLib from calling applications using the appropriate X-Services.

2. A new X-Service to retrieve cluster/facet information – the addition of topic clustering and Author/Year/Journal Title faceting to merged search result sets is a key enhancement in MetaLib 4.00.
The new ‘Retrieve_cluster_facet’ X-Service will enable calling applications to request topic clusters and Author/Year/Journal Title facets for a merged search result set. This information can be used by the calling application to construct a hierarchical cluster/facet ‘tree’ for display in the user interface.
The existing ‘Present’ X-Service enables calling applications to request specific document(s) from a search result set, and can be used in conjunction with the new ‘Retrieve_cluster_facet’ X-Service to selectively retrieve specific document(s) associated with a specific cluster or facet.

3. Support for MetaLib 4.00 search syntax changes in related X-Services.
At the request of our MetaLib user community, we are changing our standard search syntax in version 4.00 from a default phrase search to a default keyword – or ‘Google-like’ – search.

• Article last edited: 10/8/2013