Chapter 2 Searching the Registry

The Search and Explore tabs in the menu area allow you to search the Registry.

• Using the Search Tab

• Selecting a Query

• Searching by Object Type

• Searching by Name and Description

• Searching by Status

• Searching by Classification

• Performing WSDL Queries

• Exporting Repository Content to a Zip File

• Viewing Search Results

• Viewing Object Details

• Using the Explore Tab

Using the Search Tab

Click the Search tab. The Search panel opens. The panel contains the following:

• A Select Predefined Query combo box, followed by a description of the selected query

• A subpanel that contains an Export Repository Content as Zip File checkbox and a Dependency Resolution Depth combo box (see Exporting Repository Content to a Zip File for details on using this subpanel)

• A set of fields specific to the selected query

• Three buttons:

  • Search, which performs the query

  • Clear, which clears the panel and the Registry Objects area

  • Help, which provides help on searching the Registry

• A hint to use the percent sign (%) as a wildcard character in text fields

The next few sections describe how to use these components.

Selecting a Query

The Select Predefined Query combo box contains the items shown in Table 2–1.

The default selection is Basic Query. The search panel for Basic Query and Basic Query — Case Sensitive contains the following components:

• Object Type combo box

• Name text field

• Description text field

• Status combo box

• Select Classification Node button

You can specify any or all of these criteria in a single search. The following sections describe how to perform basic queries:

• Searching by Object Type

• Searching by Name and Description

• Searching by Status

• Searching by Classification

Use the FindAllMyObjects query to search for all the objects that you have published. The query results list all the objects you own except for AuditableEvent objects, which should not be edited or deleted.

Use the GetCallersUser query to view or modify data for the user you created when you registered.

See Performing WSDL Queries for information on using the WSDL queries.

Searching by Object Type

The simplest search is by object type only.

The default choice in the Object Type combo box is RegistryObject, which finds all objects in the Registry. To narrow the search, change the object type.

The ClassificationNode choice lists concepts within classification schemes. ClassificationNode is a synonym for Concept.

Table 2–2 describes the object types available in the Registry.

To Search by Object Type

1. Choose an object type from the Object Type combo box.

2. Click the Search button, or place the cursor in the Name or Description text field and press Return.

   The search returns all objects of the specified type. You can narrow the search by specifying a name, description, status, or classification.

Searching by Name and Description

You can search for objects by name, by description, or by both.

To Search by Name or Description

1. Type a string in the Name or Description field.

   By default, the search looks for a name or description that matches the entire string that you typed. You can use wildcards to find a range of objects.

   The wildcard characters are percent (%) and underscore (_).

   The percent wildcard matches multiple characters:

   • Type %off% to return names or descriptions that contain the string off, such as Coffee.

   • Type nor% to return names or descriptions that start with Nor or nor, such as North and northern.

   • Type %ica to return names or descriptions that end with ica, such as America.

   The underscore wildcard matches a single character. For example, the search string _us_ would match objects named Aus1 and Bus3.

2. Click the Search button or press Return.

Searching by Status

An object in the Registry can have one of four statuses:

• Approved

• Deprecated

• Submitted

• Withdrawn

The default status of an object in the Registry is Submitted. An object can be approved or deprecated by a Registry administrator or by the owner of the object. An ExtrinsicObject has the status Withdrawn if its repository item has been removed.

To Search by Status

1. Choose a status from the Status combo box.

2. Click the Search button, or place the cursor in the Name or Description text field and press Return.

   The search returns all objects that have the specified status. You can narrow the search by specifying an object type, name, description, or classification.

Searching by Classification

Classification objects classify or categorize objects in the registry by using unique concepts (ClassificationNode objects) that define valid values within a classification scheme. The classification scheme is the parent in a tree hierarchy that contains generations of child concepts. Table 2–3 describes the classification schemes provided by the Registry specifications, which are called canonical classification schemes. Many of the terms in this table are defined in the Registry specifications.

The primary purpose of the canonical classification schemes is not to classify objects but to provide enumerated types for object attributes. The Registry also contains a number of non-canonical classification schemes, and you can create your own.

To Search by Classification

1. Click the Select Classification Node button.

   The Classification Node Selector window appears.

2. Click the folder icon for the classification scheme you want to use.

   The number in parentheses after each entry indicates how many concepts (ClassificationNode objects) the parent contains.

3. Expand concept nodes beneath the classification scheme until you find the leaf node by which you want to search. A leaf node is a node with no concepts beneath it.

4. Select the leaf node.

5. Click Close in the Classification Node Selector window.

   The ID of the concept you chose appears in a Value text field.

6. Click the Search button, or place the cursor in the Name or Description text field and press Return.

Performing WSDL Queries

The Search panel contains predefined queries that allow you to search for WSDL files using different search criteria:

• WSDL Discovery Query

• WSDL Binding Discovery Query

• WSDL Port Discovery Query

• WSDL PortType Discovery Query

• WSDL Service Discovery Query

This section describes how to perform these searches. For all the searches, you can specify as many or as few of the search criteria as you wish.

To Perform a WSDL Discovery Query

1. Choose WSDL Discovery Query from the Select Predefined Query combo box.

   A search form appears.

2. Type values in the Name and/or Description fields.

3. Select a value from the Status combo box.

4. Type a value in the Target Namespace field.

5. Click Search or press Return.

To Perform A WSDL Binding Discovery Query

1. Choose WSDL Binding Discovery Query from the Select Predefined Query combo box.

   A search form appears.

2. Type values in the Binding Name and/or Binding Description fields.

3. Select a value from the Binding Status combo box.

4. Type a value in the Binding Target Namespace field.

5. Select a value from the Binding Protocol Type combo box.

6. Select a value from the Binding Transport Type combo box.

7. Select a value from the SOAP Binding Style combo box.

8. Optionally, select the Consider PortType checkbox. If you If you select this checkbox:

   1. Type values in the PortType Name and/or PortType Description fields.

   2. Select a value from the PortType Status combo box.

   3. Type a value in the PortType Target Namespace field.

9. Click Search or press Return.

To Perform a WSDL Port Discovery Query

1. Choose WSDL Port Discovery Query from the Select Predefined Query combo box.

   A search form appears.

2. Type values in the Port Name and/or Port Description fields.

3. Select a value from the Port Status combo box.

4. Type a value in the Port Target Namespace field.

5. Type a value in the Port Endpoint field.

6. Optionally, select the Consider Binding checkbox. If you select this checkbox:

   1. Type values in the Binding Name and/or Binding Description fields.

   2. Select a value from the Binding Status combo box.

   3. Type a value in the Binding Target Namespace field.

   4. Select a value from the Binding Protocol Type combo box.

   5. Select a value from the Binding Transport Type combo box.

   6. Select a value from the SOAP Binding Style combo box.

   7. Optionally, select the Consider PortType checkbox. If you select this checkbox:

      1. Type values in the PortType Name and/or PortType Description fields.

      2. Select a value from the PortType Status combo box.

      3. Type a value in the PortType Target Namespace field.

7. Click Search or press Return.

To Perform a WSDL PortType Discovery Query

1. Choose WSDL PortType Discovery Query from the Select Predefined Query combo box.

   A search form appears.

2. Type values in the PortType Name and/or PortType Description fields.

3. Select a value from the PortType Status combo box.

4. Type a value in the PortType Target Namespace field.

5. Click Search or press Return.

To Perform a WSDL Service Discovery Query

1. Choose WSDL Service Discovery Query from the Select Predefined Query combo box.

   A search form appears.

2. Type values in the Service Name and/or Service Description fields.

3. Select a value from the Service Status combo box.

4. Type a value in the Service Target Namespace field.

5. Optionally, select the Consider Port checkbox. If you check this box:

   1. Type values in the Port Name and/or Port Description fields.

   2. Select a value from the Port Status combo box.

   3. Type a value in the Port Target Namespace field.

   4. Type a value in the Port Endpoint field.

   5. Optionally, select the Consider Binding checkbox. If you select this checkbox:

      1. Type values in the Binding Name and/or Binding Description fields.

      2. Select a value from the Binding Status combo box.

      3. Type a value in the Binding Target Namespace field.

      4. Select a value from the Binding Protocol Type combo box.

      5. Select a value from the Binding Transport Type combo box.

      6. Select a value from the SOAP Binding Style combo box.

      7. Optionally, select the Consider PortType checkbox. If you select this checkbox:

         1. Type values in the PortType Name and/or PortType Description fields.

         2. Select a value from the PortType Status combo box.

         3. Type a value in the PortType Target Namespace field.

6. Click Search or press Return.

Next Steps

See To Find the WSDL Document for a Service for information on locating the WSDL file associated with the service you found.

To Find the WSDL Document for a Service

After you find a service, you ordinarily want to find the WSDL file associated with the service so that you can use it to create a client proxy to communicate with the service. To do so, follow these steps.

1. Click the Details link for the Service object.

2. Click the Associations tab.

   The Source Object column contains a link named WSDL.

3. Click the WSDL link.

   A Details window appears.

4. Click View Repository Item Content to view the WSDL file.

5. Use your browser's Save As menu item to save the file to your local system.

Exporting Repository Content to a Zip File

You may wish to extract the repository items that belong to one or more ExtrinsicObject objects in the registry. For example, if the objects were originally created by uploading a zip file containing WSDL files (and optionally XSD files), you may want to re-create that zip file. The Web Console allows you to do this in two ways:

• You can use a search operation to export content to a zip file, as described in this section. Use this mechanism if you are confident that your search will return the objects you want.

• After completing a search operation, you can select some of the objects and export their content to a zip file, as described in To Use the Export Button in the Registry Objects Area.

The Export Repository Content as Zip File subpanel of the Search panel allows you to export the repository items associated with any found ExtrinsicObject objects to a zip file. If any of the found objects depend on each other, you can specify the depth of dependency. For example, if one WSDL file imports another WSDL file, which imports a third WSDL file, the dependency is two levels deep.

Both the default dependency depth and the maximum number of depth levels are configurable. See Configuring the Dependency Resolution Depth for the Export Feature in Service Registry 3.1 Update 1 Administration Guide for details.

The Export feature does not remove any items from the repository; it exports a copy of each file.

To Export Content to a Zip File

1. Specify a search that will return one or more ExtrinsicObject objects.

   For example, a search by object type could specify the ExtrinsicObject type or one of its subtypes. A search by name could return some objects of type ExtrinsicObject. A WSDL Discovery Query could return one or more WSDL objects (a subtype of ExtrinsicObject).

2. Select the Export Repository Content to Zip File checkbox and specify a Dependency Resolution Depth.

   You can specify a depth of 0 (the default), 1, 2, 3, or All Levels to specify how imported files should be returned.

   For example, if you did a search by name to specify a particular WSDL file that imports one or more files, and then specify a depth of All Levels, the search will return that file and all the files that it depends on.

3. Click the Search button.

   If the search returns one or more ExtrinsicObject objects, an Export Objects panel appears in the content area with the message Click this link to download compressed content: and a Download link.

   If the search does not return any ExtrinsicObject objects, the following message appears in the content area:

   No ExtrinsicObjects were found to compress. Please refine your query.

4. Click the Download link.

5. In the browser dialog that appears, choose the option to save the file to disk.

6. In the file chooser that appears, choose a location to save the file.

   The default name of the file is exportedContent.zip. Rename the file if you wish.

   In the zip file, each repository item has a name that is based on the Unique Identifier of the ExtrinsicObject to which it belongs. This ensures that there is no duplication of file names. The name is similar to that of the Unique Identifier except that colons are replaced with hyphens.

   If the ExtrinsicObject is part of a RegistryPackage, the name of the repository item includes the directory path.

Example 2–1 File Naming Conventions for Exported Content

For example, if you export an ExtrinsicObject with the name file1.xsd and the Unique Identifier urn:com:acme:files:file1, and the ExtrinsicObject is a member of a RegistryPackage named myFiles, the zip file will contain an entry similar to the following:

  Length     Date   Time    Name
 --------    ----   ----    ----
    42795  05-22-07 06:27   myFiles/urn-com-acme-files-file1

Viewing Search Results

Objects found by a search appear in the Registry Objects area.

The Registry Objects area consists of the following:

• Buttons that are labeled Apply, Approve, Deprecate, Undeprecate, Bookmark, Relate, Export, Delete, and Set or Change Status, which allow you to perform actions on objects. You must be the object’s creator or a registry administrator to perform any of these actions except for Bookmark and Export.

• A found objects display consisting of a search results table. For most objects, the table contains the following columns:

  • Pick checkbox. Select any two objects to activate the Relate button. See Creating Relationships Between Objects for details. Select one or more objects and click another button to perform that action. An error message appears if you do not have permission to perform the action.

  • Details link. Click this link to open the Details area directly below the Registry Objects area (see Viewing Object Details).

  • Object Type field.

  • Name field.

  • Description field.

  • Version field.

  • Version Comment field.

  • Status field.

For ExtrinsicObject objects, the display has two additional columns: Content Version and Content Version Comment. These columns apply to the repository item for the ExtrinsicObject.

For two kinds of objects, the Version and Version Comment columns are replaced by other content:

• ExternalLink objects: External URI

• ServiceBinding objects: Endpoint

The rest of this section describes how to use the Bookmark and Export buttons. For details on using the Approve, Deprecate, Undeprecate, and Set or Change Status buttons, see Changing the Status of Objects. For details on using the Relate button, see Creating Relationships Between Objects. For details on using the Delete button, see Removing Objects.

To Use the Bookmark Button in the Registry Objects Area

The Bookmark feature of the user interface allows you to hold one or more objects in the Registry Objects area while you search for other objects. You can then create a relationship between two objects. See Creating Relationships Between Objects for details on how to perform this task.

1. Click Search and execute a query.

2. In the Registry Objects area, select the Pick checkbox for the object or objects that you want to hold there and click the Bookmark button.

   The objects appear in a Bookmarked Objects area above the search results.

3. Execute another query.

Next Steps

When you have finished using a bookmarked object, select the Pick checkbox for the object and click the Remove Bookmark button. The object is removed from the Bookmarked Objects area. If it was the only object in the Bookmarked Objects area, the Bookmarked Objects area disappears.

To Use the Export Button in the Registry Objects Area

For complete details about using the Export feature of the Web Console, see Exporting Repository Content to a Zip File.

1. Execute a query that returns one or more ExtrinsicObject objects.

2. In the Registry Objects area, select the Pick checkbox for the object or objects that you want to export and click the Export button.

   The selected objects appear in an Export Objects area, along with a Dependency Resolution Depth combo box and two buttons, Save File and Return.

   If the selected objects are not the ones you wanted, click Return to go back to the Registry Objects area.

3. Select the Dependency Resolution Depth you prefer and click Save File.

   If any of the found objects depend on each other, you can specify the dependency resolution depth. For example, if one WSDL file imports another WSDL file, which imports a third WSDL file, the dependency is two levels deep.

4. In the browser dialog that appears, choose the option to save the file to disk.

5. In the file chooser that appears, choose a location to save the file.

Viewing Object Details

In the search results table, click the Details link for an object to open the Details area immediately below the Registry Objects area.

This section has a row of buttons and a row of tabs:

• The buttons are Apply, Save, Cancel, Approve, Deprecate, Undeprecate, Delete, and Set or Change Status. The buttons represent actions that you can perform on the object.

• The tabs represent the object’s attributes. The tabs vary depending on the object type.Table 2–4 describes the tabs and the objects they apply to.

Click a tab to find out if the object has any values for the attribute. If it does, click the Details link for the attribute value to open a browser window with the details for the attribute value.

The Associations tab produces a table with three links for each Association:

• Details

• Source Object (the object type is shown)

• Target Object (the object type is shown)

In the Source Object and Target Object columns, the type of the object whose associations you are viewing is shown in bold.

The Audit Trail tab does not produce a table with a Details link. Instead, this tab produces a table that contains the following information:

• The event type

• The date and time of the event

• The name of the User that caused the event

For most objects, the Details area fields are as follows:

• Unique Identifier. For every object, the Unique Identifier is an active link. Click this link to view the XML for the object in a browser window. All registry objects are stored in XML format.

• Logical Unique Identifier. The Logical Unique Identifier is usually the same as the Unique Identifier. If versioning is turned on, the Logical Unique Identifier remains the same for all versions of the object, while the Unique Identifier for the new version receives a suffix that indicates the version number.

• Name

• Description

• Status (usually Submitted, meaning that the object has been published to the Registry)

• Version

• Version Comment

For many objects, the fields are largely self-explanatory (the postal addresses for an Organization, for example). For some objects, the fields require some explanation. The following sections describe these fields.

• Viewing Association Details

• Viewing Classification Scheme Details

• Viewing Extrinsic Object Details

• Viewing External Link Details

Viewing Association Details

The Details area for an Association object contains the following additional fields:

• Source Object and Target Object. For the source and target objects of the association, the panel shows both the name and the object type. The Confirmed By Source Owner checkbox indicates whether or not the association was confirmed or approved by the source object owner. The Confirmed By Target Owner checkbox indicates whether or not the association was confirmed or approved by the target object owner. These checkboxes are always selected for intramural associations.

• Association Type. The combo box displays the selected type of the Association.

• Is Extramural. This checkbox is selected if at least one of the two associated objects is owned by a User other than the User who created the Association. Otherwise, the Association is defined as intramural.

Viewing Classification Scheme Details

The Details area for a ClassificationScheme object contains the following additional fields:

• External Classification Scheme checkbox. This checkbox is selected if the classification scheme is defined outside the Registry (that is, if it has no concepts). An internal classification scheme is a classification scheme whose concept hierarchy is defined within the Registry.

• The Value Type combo box, which contains one of the following selections:

  • Unique. This value indicates that each node of the taxonomy has a unique code assigned to it. This value is the default when you create a classification scheme in Service Registry.

  • Embedded Path. This value indicates that the unique code assigned to each node of the taxonomy also encodes its path.

  • Non-Unique. In some cases nodes are not unique, and it is necessary to use the full path (from the ClassificationScheme to the node of interest) to identify the node. For example, in a geography taxonomy, Moscow could be under both Russia and the USA, where five states have cities that are named Moscow.

Viewing Extrinsic Object Details

The Details area for an ExtrinsicObject object contains the following additional fields:

• Content Version and Content Version Comment. The Details area shows the version and optional comment for the repository item associated with the extrinsic object.

• MimeType. This field contains the MIME type of the extrinsic object.

• Is Opaque? checkbox. This checkbox is selected if the repository item content is not readable by the Registry (for example, if it is encrypted).

• Object Type. This field contains the subconcept within the ObjectType/ExtrinsicObject tree.

• View Content. Click the View Repository Item Content link to view the repository item in a browser window.

Viewing External Link Details

The Details area for an ExternalLink object contains the following additional fields:

• Object Type. This field contains either the ExternalLink object type or a subconcept within the ObjectType/ExtrinsicObject tree.

• Select Concept for Object Type button. Click this button to choose a subconcept within the ObjectType/ExtrinsicObject tree that represents the content of the external URI.

• A Display Content link under the External URI field. Click this link to view the contents of the URI in a browser window.

Using the Explore Tab

The Explore tab allows you to navigate through Registry and Repository content by using the metaphor of a hierarchy of file folders. The root folder, which is named registry, contains all Registry content.

To Use the Explore Tab

1. Click the Explore link.

2. Click the folder labeled registry. This folder contains two subfolders: userData, where all user content is placed, and ClassificationSchemes.

3. Click a link to view the registry objects of that type. Click a folder or expand a node to view the object types at the next level.

To Explore the Classification Schemes

1. Click the ClassificationSchemes folder to open the ClassificationSchemes tree hierarchy in the menu area.

2. Click any link to view that classification scheme in the Registry Objects area.

3. Click a classification scheme folder to see the Concepts beneath it.

   If the Concept icons are folders, they have subconcepts, and you can click the icons to expand them. If the Concept icons are files, they have no subconcepts.

   If the classification scheme folder is a file icon, the classification scheme does not have concepts that are viewable in the Explore area.

4. Click a Concept link to view that concept in the Registry Objects area.

To Explore the UserData Folder

1. Expand the userData node.

2. Expand the RegistryObject node. Do not click the link unless you want to view all registry objects.

3. Click a folder to view the registry objects of that type. Expand a node to view the object types at the next level.