From DB to METS

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

1

From DB to METS

Eric StedfeldNew York University

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

2

Goals

Simple database structure for the most common METS needs Simple interface to take user input, generate METS and return resultsXML processing to convert and display selected material in a web environmentFuture extensions for more complicated media types and metadata

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

3

Tools

MySQL database to store structural, descriptive and image technical metadataPerl to take user input, query database, build METS file and return Web “success” pageXT to transform METS XML to HTML using XSLTTomcat to call XT servlet and display HTML to user

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

4

Web Interface – Generate METS

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

5

Web Interface – Success

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

6

Web Interface – Return Results

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

7

Web Interface – Select Page

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

8

Web Interface – View Closeup

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

9

Database Schema – ZeroDB

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

10

Database Schema – Center

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

11

Database Schema – Center

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

12

Database Schema – Object Tree

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

13

Database Schema – Subject

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

14

Database Schema – Name

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

15

Database Schema – Phys. Object

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

16

Database Schema – Media

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

17

use DBI;...

# Set query, path and database variables

&print_head; # Start "Success" HTML page

$dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:$database", $dbuser, $dbpass);

&do_one;$dbh->disconnect;

&return_to_browser;&print_footer; # Finish "Success" HTML page

App Code – Main Routine

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

18

sub &do_one {

$objectTreeID = $fetchme;

# Set up file and path variables using $objectTreeID

&get_children; # create array of objectIDs

open (OUTFILE, ">$path");&print_xml;close (OUTFILE);

}

App Code – Do One

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

19

sub &get_children {

$SQLstmt = "SELECT o.objectTreeID, o.parentIDFROM objectTree AS o WHERE o.parentID = $objectTreeIDORDER BY o.objectTreeID";

$sth = $dbh->prepare($SQLstmt);$sth->execute;

while (@row = $sth->fetchrow_array){$childID = $row[0];@children = $childID;

}

$sth->finish;}

App Code – Get Children

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

20

sub &print_xml {print OUTFILE<<EOF;# XML header hereEOF

# SQL to fetch METS header info&print_METSHeader;

&print_dmdSecDM;&print_amdSec;&print_fileSec;&print_structMap;

print OUTFILE<<EOF;# METS close file stuff hereEOF}

App Code – Print XML

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

21

XML – Descriptive Metadata

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

22

XML – Technical Metadata

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

23

XML – File Section

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

24

XML – Structural Map

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

25

Web Interface – Select Page

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

26

Issues

Database capability vs. METS flexibilityNormalized vs. efficient database schemaGeneral vs. specialized approach for many METS typesHard areas such as rights metadataData synchronization Consistency across institution(s)

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

27

Future

“Meta-programming” – programs to create programs, database schemata and stylesheetsConsistent utilization and implementation of ProfilesDown-streaming more of the work – less specialized skill sets required, less “boutique-y”

METS Opening Day – October 27-28, 2003

28

From DB to METS

Eric StedfeldNew York University