One step closer to the open library system dream

I am extremely pleased that the open ils project has found a way to expose an XML interface for search and circulation functions. This creates unending potential for extensibility and integration with other applications - at least for large sophisticated library systems that are capable of taking advantage of these opportunities.

"So, after our discussion of XML and JSON in the previous post, Mike sat down and developed a REST style XML handler to the system. You pass in the same URL parameters and receive data/objects as XML instead of JSON. Now anyone who wishes to use an XML based client interface will have access to the same data and will retrieve it in the same way, except for the location they request in the URL. Allowing Apache plugins to do all of the conversion work for us (the XML plugin was about 120 lines Perl code) we can transform our system data into just about anything that Apache can serve."

You can review the open ils XML/AJAX/JSON debate here. Maybe you can change the world through blogging.