(Workshop B, 2004)

Adding EdNA Servicesto your website

Presenter

Kerrie SmithSchool Education Information OfficerEdNA Onlineksmith@educationau.edu.au

Ph: 08 8334 3213

EdNA Online is a joint initiative of the states, territories and Australian Governments through their education departments and managed by education.au limited.

Workshop Objectives

Provide details about the free EdNA Online Shared Information Services

Provide information about how to add Shared Information Services to your own website

Help you identify the most appropriate technology for your website

Provide hands-on experience in adding some Shared Information Services to a web page.

Getting Started

During this workshop we will be using the following:EdNA Online website

http://www.edna.edu.au/ Notepad or its equivalent

Workshop Documentation

Documentation supporting this workshop and use of the Shared Information Services http://www.edna.edu.au/developers

Shared Information Services

Browse Topics and CategoriesEdNA Online Distributed SearchRecently Added ResourcesNews Headlines

EdNA Online Browse Topics and Categories

The EdNA Online Browse Topics and Categories organises collections of like resources.

Using a category or topic and browsing through them is another way to find information.

EdNA Online has hundreds of categories, some are organised by sector, some by document type, and others by subject.

Browse Structure (cont)

Use the topics and categories on your own website to provide your site users with quality assured information relevant to their needs and their areas of interest.

See http://www.edna.edu.au/browsemap/0 School Education Browsemaphttp://www.edna.edu.au/browsemap/3830 Higher Education Browsemaphttp://www.edna.edu.au/browsemap/14899Vocational Education and Training Browsemaphttp://www.edna.edu.au/browsemap/12650

Technology Options

Different technology options are available:HTMLJavascriptXMLRSS

Your choice will depend on the technical resources you have available.

HTML and Javascript

A HTML or Javascript option is a 'low technology' solution.

Suits website administrators who do not have access to software developer resources or who manage 'static' websites that cannot be programmed.

The services available as HTML or Javascript are also available in XML and RSS

HTML Shared Information Services -The Generators

The Generators [http://www.edna.edu.au/generators] help you by automatically generating the HTML or Javascript for you to copy and paste into your own web pages.

All you need for this option is some basic knowledge of HTML so you know where to copy and paste the code.

The Generators – HTML and Javascript

Available services:Distributed SearchBrowse Topics and categoriesRecently Added ResourcesNews Headlines

http://www.edna.edu.au/generators

Using The Generator for Search

Add an EdNA Online Search to your own website!Add either a Standard or an Advanced SearchUse the Generator to create the HTML code to put

in your own web pageModify the resulting search strings to further

customise the search results if you wish. Parameters for further customisation are available in the Shared Information Services documentation.e.g. &showdesc=false will turn descriptions off&sr=gem will give GEM results

Using The Generator for Browse

Add an EdNA Online Browse topic or category to your own website!

Choose a topic from the list provided or get one from the browsemap.

Generate codeCut and paste into your own web page.Modify the code according to parameters available

in the Shared Information Services documentation.E.g. &items=65 will change the number of items displayed from the default of 10 to 65&showdesc=false will turn descriptions off

Using The Generator for Recently Added Resources

Add EdNA Online's Recently Added Resources to your web page!

Choose a topic from the list provided or get one from the browsemap.

Generate the codeCut and paste into your own web page.Modify the code according to parameters available

in the Shared Information Services documentation.Default for the number of items shown is 10e.g. &items=30 or use other topic codes

Using The Generator for News Headlines

Add EdNA Online's News Headlines to your web page!Choose from the list provided Generate the codeCut and paste into your own web page.Modify the HTML according to parameters available

in the Shared Information Services documentation.Default for the number of items shown is 10e.g. &items=20 (A maximum of 20 is available)&showdesc=false removes descriptions

XML Overview

XML • stands for EXtensible Markup Language, a

markup language very much like HTML • An international standard mainly used in

exchanging data between computers • can be used to describe any data that has a

well known structure

XML Types

• There are 1,000s of defined XML data formats or types or schemas (some are industry standards and some are ad-hoc).

• Common XML data formats used by EdNA Online are:• RSS describes news feed data exchange format• EdNA XML API Search Results describes search

results format

RSS Overview

RSS can stand for 'Rich Site Summary', 'RDF Site Summary' or 'Really Simple Syndication

RSS is an XML-based format that allows the syndication of list-oriented content

A feed contains a list of items, each of which is identified by a hyperlink. The most basic metadata supported by RSS includes a title for the link and a description of it.

XML Shared Information Services

The XML option suits an organisation that has a dynamic website or web portal and has access to software developer resources with XML expertise.

XML Shared Information Services (cont)

The following services are availableXML BrowseXML News HeadlinesXML Recently Added ResourcesXML Distributed SearchXML Event CalendarsXML BrowsemapSee http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/page3035.html

(Developers’ Kit > XML Services) and Shared Information Services documentation

XML Services Examples

EdNA Online VET News Headlines are used in Vet e-News at Training.com.auhttp://www.training.com.au/

EdNA Online Browse categories are displayed in the ACTivatED portalhttp://activated.decs.act.gov.au/

RSS Shared Information Services

Access the EdNA Online RSS Services via any device that can support RSS feeds.

Display EdNA Online RSS feeds if your website supports the display of external RSS feeds.

Include EdNA RSS Services into your desktop products either via a desktop RSS reader, or by using desktop products that support RSS.

RSS Shared Information Services (cont)

BrowseSearchRecently Added ResourcesNews Headlineshttp://www.edna.edu.au/edna/page3041.html

(Developers’ Kit > RSS Services)See also the Shared Information Services documentation

Requesting an RSS Service

All EdNA Online XML services are available as RSS feeds.Searches available through the EdNA Online website

can be delivered as RSS. See the bottom of the search results page

Search strings created through the Search generator can be modified to give an RSS stringe.g. Search is http://api.edna.edu.au/search.xml?q=frogsRSS is http://api.edna.edu.au/search.rss?q=frogs

RSS strings can be added to your RSS reader.

Requesting an RSS Service (cont)

Similarly the documentation shows how to convert BrowseRecently Added ResourcesNews Headlinesto an RSS format.These can then be added to an RSS reader.

Register with us

Register as a user of EdNA services so we can keep in touch and let you know when new services are available or when services change.

join-services_register@edna.edu.au

Please participate in our online survey about the usefulness of this workshop. Please complete the workshop surveyhttp://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB2GK6R4RD

Thank you for attending this EdNA Online workshop

HTML Shared Information Services

Through ‘The Generators’ EdNA Online provides a number of its services as simple HTML code that you can copy and paste into your own web page.

Distributed Search [HTML]Browse Topics and Categories News HeadlinesRecently Added Resources

Available in HTML or Javascript

•Browse•Event Calendars•Recently Added Resources•Distributed Search•News Headlines