[jmmc-tech-group] SAMP meta-data extensions ?

[Sylvain LAFRASSE]

Hello Mark,

On 26 sept. 2012, at 18:23, Mark Taylor wrote:

> Hi Sylvain,
> 
> here are my comments.
> 
> On Mon, 24 Sep 2012, Sylvain LAFRASSE wrote:
> 
>> Following JMMC AppLauncher release last may, we greatly enhanced x-samp keywords described at http://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/SampXSamp , in order to automatically gather and exploit SAMP applications meta-data:
>> - x-samp.affiliation.name : the name of the organization delivering the software.
>> - x-samp.affiliation.url : the web homepage of the organization delivering the software.
>> - x-samp.affiliation.contact : the contact web page of the organization delivering the software.
>> - x-samp.jnlp.url : in the same way as =samp.icon.url=, for Java-based application startup.
>> - x-samp.jnlp.beta.url : in the same way as =x-samp.jnlp.url=, for beta release application startup.
>> - x-samp.webapp.url : in the same way as =x-samp.jnlp.url=, for web-based application startup.
>> - x-samp.homepage.url : application homepage URL.
>> - x-samp.releasenotes.url : application release notes URL.
>> - x-samp.rss.url : application RSS feed URL.
>> - x-samp.faq.url : application FAQ URL.
>> - x-samp.authors : application authors.
>> - x-samp.release.version : application version identifier.
>> - x-samp.release.date : application release date.
>> 
>> We would really need some of them to become mandatory, such as x-samp.jnlp.url or x-samp.webapp.url when applicable.
> 
> It doesn't seem to make much sense to have something like jnlp.url as
> mandatory, since non-java applications can't supply it.  It could be
> strongly encouraged (where applicable) though.

Of course !
My idea was obviously to make it mandatory when applicable.

> In general: my feeling is that it is worthwhile to have well-known
> keys for those metadata items which are intended to be used by
> software (e.g. jnlp.url), but for those items which are essentially
> directed at humans (e.g. authors) it doesn't serve any
> particular purpose to standardise them, especially in view of the
> fact that it's going to be hard to come up with a one-size-fits-all
> list of metadata items appropriate for all (SAMP or general) applications.

I disagree. Such data are fairly standard across SAMP applications today.
So why not propose a standard in order to let software harvest those data too ?

> For the human-directed metadata, a human-readable list of key-value
> pairs is likely to be a more digestible way to pass on the information.
> 
>> We also envision such meta-data to become the root of an open VO application registry data model, with a first working prototype hosted here at JMMC.
> 
> A (VO) application registry has as you know been discussed off and on
> between the IVOA Registry and Applications WGs for a while.
> So far the conclusion seems to be that hosting this information in
> an IVOA registry would not provide a particularly useful service.
> That's my feeling too, but I think the debate can be re-opened if
> people have more to say about it.

AppLauncher is here to prove this wrong !
I know lots of astronomers simply ignore existing VO tools.
Thus a centralized list of them (with their capabilities) would be of great help to enhance VO tools outreach.

> In particular if you are proposing a working prototype of a repository
> for this information at JMMC, by all means go ahead; it will be
> interesting to see what uses people find for it.
> 
> Mark
> 
> --
> Mark Taylor   Astronomical Programmer   Physics, Bristol University, UK
> m.b.taylor at bris.ac.uk                  http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/

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