Adapting EcoCyc for use on the World Wide Web

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Bioinformatics
• Software Engineering

Background:

• The World Wide Web (WWW) presents opportunities for broad information dissemination.
• Retrofitting existing software for WWW integration maximizes software reuse.
• Common Lisp Interface Manager (CLIM) applications require a method for WWW accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a web server tool for integrating existing Common Lisp Interface Manager (CLIM) applications with the World Wide Web (WWW).
• To enable software reuse by allowing CLIM-based applications to be accessed via the WWW.
• To demonstrate the tool's utility with the EcoCyc electronic encyclopedia.

Main Methods:

• Developed CWEST (CLIM-WEb Server Tool), a web server in Common Lisp.
• Integrated CWEST with the EcoCyc application, which uses CLIM for its graphical user interface.
• Configured CWEST to translate CLIM-generated graphics and text into HTML and GIF formats.
• Implemented dynamic generation of CLIM drawings as responses to web queries.
• Converted sensitive regions in CLIM drawings to hyperlinks (URLs) for further queries.

Main Results:

• CWEST successfully enabled the EcoCyc application to be accessed via the WWW.
• CLIM output was effectively translated into web-compatible formats (HTML/GIF).
• Interactive elements within CLIM drawings were converted into functional hyperlinks.
• Minimal modifications were required for the existing EcoCyc program.
• The tool demonstrated the power of CLIM for web application development.

Conclusions:

• CWEST provides a flexible and efficient method for integrating CLIM applications with the WWW.
• The tool promotes software reuse and extends the reach of existing applications.
• Common Lisp and CLIM facilitate the development of robust web server tools.
• CWEST is available to the CLIM community to encourage further WWW integration of CLIM applications.