An XML-based Generic Tool for Information Retrieval in Solar Databases

TitleAn XML-based Generic Tool for Information Retrieval in Solar Databases
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2002
AuthorsScholl, I. F., Legay E., and Linsolas R.
EditorBohlender, D. A., Durand D., and Handley T. H.
Conference NameAstronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XI
Abstract

This paper presents the current architecture of the `Solar Web Project' now in its development phase. This tool will provide scientists interested in solar data with a single web-based interface for browsing distributed and heterogeneous catalogs of solar observations. The main goal is to have a generic application that can be easily extended to new sets of data or to new missions with a low level of maintenance. It is developed with Java and XML is used as a powerful configuration language. The server, independent of any database scheme, can communicate with a client (the user interface) and several local or remote archive access systems (such as existing web pages, ftp sites or SQL databases). Archive access systems are externally described in XML files. The user interface is also dynamically generated from an XML file containing the window building rules and a simplified database description. This project is developed at MEDOC (Multi-Experiment Data and Operations Centre), located at the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (Orsay, France). Successful tests have been conducted with other solar archive access systems.