XIB: eXtensible Information Broker

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Options Menu

    All XIB Wrappers have a service name, DTD path, descrtiption of the service and output name.  To enter these options for a XIB Wrapper, click on edit->options and enter the data into the following panel:

Opening A File

        To open a file for editing, click on file->open and choose one of the load options:

    Information sources usually allow a limited number of query forms to be submitted.  The Input defines the set of queries acceptable to a particular source.  it consists of a set of variables that a user can associate values with, and their corresponding range specification.  This portion of the XIB Wrapper can be edited by clicking on the Input button at the bottom of the window.

    Here is an example of an input for an XIB Wrapper:

<INPUT>
    <elementType id="query"> <string/> </elementType>
    <elementType id="mode">
        <attribute name="searchMode" atttype="ENUMERATION"
            values="books music classical video toys electronics blended" />
    </elementType>
</INPUT>

Adding An Input Element Type

        To add an input elementType, click on the root of the input elements tree and click on the add element or attribute button.  After entering the name of the element, there will be a dialogue box asking if the element contains an element.  If it does, then click yes and specify the name of the element and the amount of times that it occurs.

Adding An Input Attribute

        To add an attribute to input element, click on the input element on the elements tree and then click on the add button.  Enter the name of the attribute and its possible values. 

How To Define The Output

    The Output consists of a set of variables that we can associate query results with, and their corresponding range specification.   This portion of the XIB Wrapper can be edited by clicking on the Output button at the bottom of the window.

Adding An Output Element

    To add an output elementType, click on the root of the output elements tree and click on the add button. 

Adding An Output Element Type

    To add an output element, click on the ID of the output elementType that you want to add the element  to and then click on the add button.

How To Define The Input Binding

    In a XIB website wrapper, an input binding provides necessary information for the dynamic construction of an URL.  In a XIB database wrapper, an input binding provides information for the queries to be performed on the database.  Input bindings have the same format for websites and databases.

    Here is an example of an input binding for a website wrapper:

<INPUTBINDING>
    <BASE method="POST" page="Elem(P, &quot;form&quot;)[0]">
        "http://www.amazon.com" </BASE>
        <BINDING variable="query" mapsTo="keyword-query" />
        <BINDING variable="mode" mapsTo="mode"/>
</INPUTBINDING>

    For website wrapper, the wrapper builder automatically provides the names of the binding variables in the input binding based on the information from the input.  To complete the input binding, enter method, page, base and mappings on the following panel:

    For database description, the user must enter the base, driver, user, password and query into the following panel:

How To Define The Output Binding

    Database wrapper do not have output bindings.  Website wrappers have output bindings which consist of WebL scripts.  These scripts define the location of the data inside a HTML document.  They should be written in the following panel:

    The Test Script button allows you to test the script being written.

Miscellaneous

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