Factory

 my $fac = Bio::DB::SoapEUtilities->new();

From the factory, utilities are called, parameters are set, and results or adaptors are retrieved.

If you have your own copy of the wsdl, use

 my $fac = Bio::Db::SoapEUtilities->new( -wsdl_file => $my_wsdl );

otherwise, the correct one will be obtained over the network (by Bio::DB::ESoap and friends).

Utilities and parameters

 # verbose
 my $fetch = $fac->efetch();
 $fetch->set_parameters( -db => 'gene', -id => [828392, 790]);
 my $result = $fetch->run;

 # compact
 my $result = $fac->efetch(-db =>'gene',-id => [828392,790])->run;

 # change ids
 $fac->efetch->set_parameters( -id => 470338 );
 $result = $fac->run;

 # another util
 $result = $fac->esearch(-db => 'protein', -term => 'BRCA and human')->run;
 
 # the utilities are kept separate
 %search_params = $fac->esearch->get_parameters;
 %fetch_params = $fac->efetch->get_parameters;
 $search_param{db}; # is 'protein'
 $fetch_params{db}; # is 'gene'

The factory is Bio::ParameterBaseI compliant: that means you can find out what you can set with

 @available_search = $fac->esearch->available_parameters;
 @available_egquery = $fac->egquery->available_parameters;

For more information on parameters, see <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/eutils_help.html>.

Results

Results can be highly- or lowly-parsed, depending on the parameters passed to the factory "run()" method. To get the raw XML message with no parsing, do

 my $xml = $fac->$util->run(-raw_xml => 1); # $xml is a scalar string

To retrieve a Bio::DB::SoapEUtilities::Result object with limited parsing, but with accessors to the SOAP::SOM message (provided by SOAP::Lite), do

 my $result = $fac->$util->run(-no_parse => 1);
 my $som = $result->som;
 my $method_hash = $som->method; # etc...

To retrieve a "Result" object with message elements parsed into accessors, including "count()" and "ids()", run without arguments:

 my $result = $fac->esearch->run()
 my $count = $result->count;
 my @Count = $result->Count; # counts for each member of 
                             # the translation stack
 my @ids = $result->IdList_Id; # from automatic message parsing
 @ids = $result->ids; # a convenient alias

See Bio::DB::SoapEUtilities::Result for more, even gorier details.

Adaptors

In general, retrieve an adaptor like so:

 $adp = $fac->$util->run( -auto_adapt => 1 );
 # iterate...
 while ( my $obj = $adp->next_obj ) {
    # do stuff with $obj
 }

The adaptor itself occasionally possesses useful methods besides the iterator. The method "next_obj" always works, but a natural alias is also always available:

 $seqio = $fac->esearch->run( -auto_adapt => 1 );
 while ( my $seq = $seqio->next_seq ) {
    # do stuff with $seq
 }

In the above example, "-auto_adapt =" 1> also instructs the factory to perform an "efetch" based on the ids returned by the "esearch" (if any), so that the adaptor returned iterates over Bio::SeqI objects.

Here is a rundown of the different adaptor flavors:

• "efetch", Fetch Adaptors, and BioPerl object iterators

  The "FetchAdaptor" creates bona fide BioPerl objects. Currently, there are FetchAdaptor subclasses for sequence data (both Genbank and FASTA rettypes) and taxonomy data. The choice of FetchAdaptor is based on information in the result message, and should be transparent to the user.

   $seqio = $fac->efetch( -db =>'nucleotide',
                          -id => \@ids,
                          -rettype => 'gb' )->run( -auto_adapt => 1 );
   while (my $seq = $seqio->next_seq) {
      my $taxio = $fac->efetch( 
          -db => 'taxonomy', 
          -id => $seq->species->ncbi_taxid )->run(-auto_adapt => 1);
      my $tax = $taxio->next_species;
      unless ( $tax->TaxId == $seq->species->ncbi_taxid ) {
        print "more work for MAJ"
      }
   }
      

  See the pod for the FetchAdaptor subclasses (e.g., Bio::DB::SoapEUtilities::FetchAdaptor::seq) for more detail.

• "elink", the Link adaptor, and the "linkset" iterator

  The "LinkAdaptor" manages LinkSets. In "SoapEU", an "elink" call always preserves the correspondence between submitted and retrieved ids. The mapping between these can be accessed from the adaptor object directly as "id_map()"

   my $links = $fac->elink( -db => 'protein', 
                            -dbfrom => 'nucleotide',
                            -id => \@nucids )->run( -auto_adapt => 1 );
  
   # maybe more than one associated id...
   my @prot_0 = $links->id_map( $nucids[0] );
      

  Or iterate over the linksets:

   while ( my $ls = $links->next_linkset ) {
      @ids = $ls->ids;
      @submitted_ids = $ls->submitted_ids;
      # etc.
   }
      

• "esummary", the DocSum adaptor, and the "docsum" iterator

  The "DocSumAdaptor" manages docsums, the "esummary" return type. The objects returned by iterating with a "DocSumAdaptor" have accessors that let you obtain field information directly. Docsums contain lots of easy-to-forget fields; use "item_names()" to remind yourself.

   my $docs = $fac->esummary( -db => 'taxonomy',
                              -id => 527031 )->run(-auto_adapt=>1);
   # iterate over docsums
   while (my $d = $docs->next_docsum) {
      @available_items = $docsum->item_names;
      # any available item can be called as an accessor
      # from the docsum object...watch your case...
      $sci_name = $d->ScientificName;
      $taxid = $d->TaxId;
   }
      

• "egquery", the GQuery adaptor, and the "query" iterator

  The "GQueryAdaptor" manages global query items returned by calls to "egquery", which identifies all NCBI databases containing hits for your query term. The databases actually containing hits can be retrieved directly from the adaptor with "found_in_dbs":

   my $queries = $fac->egquery( 
       -term => 'BRCA and human'
      )->run(-auto_adapt=>1);
   my @dbs = $queries->found_in_dbs;
      

  Retrieve the global query info returned for any database with "query_by_db":

   my $prot_q = $queries->query_by_db('protein');
   if ($prot_q->count) {
      #do something
   }
      

  Or iterate as usual:

   while ( my $q = $queries->next_query ) {
      if ($q->status eq 'Ok') {
        # do sth
      }
   }
      

Web environments and query keys

 -usehistory
 -WebEnv
 -QueryKey

for this purpose. These store the details of your queries serverside.

"SoapEU" attempts to make using these relatively straightforward. Use "Result" objects to obtain the correct parameters, and don't forget "-usehistory":

 my $result1 = $fac->esearch( 
     -term => 'BRCA and human', 
     -db => 'nucleotide',
     -usehistory => 1 )->run( -no_parse=>1 );

 my $result = $fac->esearch( 
     -term => 'AND early onset', 
     -QueryKey => $result1->query_key,
     -WebEnv => $result1->webenv )->run( -no_parse => 1 );

 my $result = $fac->esearch(
    -db => 'protein',
    -term => 'sonic', 
    -usehistory => 1 )->run( -no_parse => 1 );

 # later (but not more than 8 hours later) that day...

 $result = $fac->esearch(
    -WebEnv => $result->webenv,
    -QueryKey => $result->query_key,
    -RetMax => 800 # get 'em all
    )->run; # note we're parsing the result...
 @all_ids = $result->ids;

Error checking

 unless ( $result = $fac->$util->run ) {
    die $fac->errstr; # this will catch a SOAP fault
 }
 # a valid result object was returned, but it may carry an error
 if ($result->count == 0) {
    warn "No hits returned";
    if ($result->ERROR) {
      warn "Entrez error : ".$result->ERROR;
    }
 }

Error handling will be improved in the package eventually.

Mailing Lists

  bioperl-l@bioperl.org                  - General discussion
http://bioperl.org/wiki/Mailing_lists  - About the mailing lists

Support

bioperl-l@bioperl.org

rather than to the module maintainer directly. Many experienced and reponsive experts will be able look at the problem and quickly address it. Please include a thorough description of the problem with code and data examples if at all possible.

Reporting Bugs

  http://redmine.open-bio.org/projects/bioperl/

new

 Title   : new
 Usage   : my $eutil = new Bio::DB::SoapEUtilities();
 Function: Builds a new Bio::DB::SoapEUtilities object
 Returns : an instance of Bio::DB::SoapEUtilities
 Args    :

run()

 Title   : run
 Usage   : $fac->$eutility->run(@args)
 Function: Execute the EUtility
 Returns : true on success, false on fault or error
           (reason in errstr(), for more detail check the SOAP message
            in last_result() )
 Args    : named params appropriate to utility
           -auto_adapt => boolean ( return an iterator over results as 
                                    appropriate to util if true)
           -raw_xml => boolean ( return raw xml result; no processing )
           Bio::DB::SoapEUtilities::Result constructor parms

Useful Accessors

response_message()

 Title   : response_message
 Aliases : last_response, last_result
 Usage   : $som = $fac->response_message
 Function: get the last response message
 Returns : a SOAP::SOM object
 Args    : none

webenv()

 Title   : webenv
 Usage   : 
 Function: contains WebEnv key referencing the session
           (set after run() )
 Returns : scalar
 Args    : none

errstr()

 Title   : errstr
 Usage   : $fac->errstr
 Function: get the last error, if any
 Example : 
 Returns : value of errstr (a scalar)
 Args    : none

Bio::ParameterBaseI compliance

available_parameters()

 Title   : available_parameters
 Usage   : 
 Function: get available request parameters for calling
           utility
 Returns : 
 Args    : -util => $desired_utility [optional, default is
           caller utility]

set_parameters()

 Title   : set_parameters
 Usage   : 
 Function: 
 Returns : none
 Args    : -util => $desired_utility [optional, default is 
            caller utility],
           named utility arguments

get_parameters()

 Title   : get_parameters
 Usage   : 
 Function: 
 Returns : array of named parameters
 Args    : utility (scalar string) [optional]
           (default is caller utility)

reset_parameters()

 Title   : reset_parameters
 Usage   : 
 Function: 
 Returns : none
 Args    : -util => $desired_utility [optional, default is 
            caller utility],
           named utility arguments

parameters_changed()

 Title   : parameters_changed
 Usage   : 
 Function: 
 Returns : boolean
 Args    : utility (scalar string) [optional]
           (default is caller utility)

_soap_facs()

 Title   : _soap_facs
 Usage   : $self->_soap_facs($util, $fac)
 Function: caches Bio::DB::ESoap factories for the 
           eutils in use by this instance
 Example : 
 Returns : Bio::DB::ESoap object
 Args    : $eutility, [optional on set] $esoap_factory_object

_caller_util()

 Title   : _caller_util
 Usage   : $self->_caller_util($newval)
 Function: the utility requested off the main SoapEUtilities 
           object
 Example : 
 Returns : value of _caller_util (a scalar string, a valid eutility)
 Args    : on set, new value (a scalar string [optional])