Bio::DB::Biblio::eutils(3)

NAME
Bio::DB::Biblio::eutils - Access to PubMed's bibliographic query service

SYNOPSIS
Do not use this object directly, it is recommended to access it and use it through the Bio::Biblio module:

  use Bio::Biblio;
  my $biblio = new Bio::Biblio (-access => 'eutils');
  $biblio->db('PMC'); #optional, default is PubMed.

DESCRIPTION
This object contains the real implementation of a Bibliographic Query Service as defined in Bio::DB::BiblioI.

Bio::DB::BiblioI is not implemented as documented in the interface, particularly the find() method, which is not compatible with PubMed's query language.

FEEDBACK

  Mailing Lists
User feedback is an integral part of the evolution of this and other Bioperl modules. Send your comments and suggestions preferably to the Bioperl mailing list. Your participation is much appreciated.

  bioperl-l@bioperl.org              - General discussion
  http://bioperl.org/MailList.shtml  - About the mailing lists

  Reporting Bugs
Report bugs to the Bioperl bug tracking system to help us keep track of the bugs and their resolution. Bug reports can be submitted via the web:

  http://bugzilla.bioperl.org/

AUTHOR
Allen Day <allenday@ucla.edu>

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2004 Allen Day, University of California, Los Angeles.

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

DISCLAIMER
This software is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

•   More testing and debugging needed to ensure that returned citations are properly transferred even if they contain foreign characters.

•   Maximum record count (MAX_RECORDS) returned currently hard coded to 100K.

•   Biblio retrieval methods should be more tightly integrated with Bio::Biblio::Ref and Bio::DB::MeSH.

SEE ALSO
 Pub Med Help:
 http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/help/pmhelp.html

 Entrez Utilities:
 http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/eutils_help.html

 Example code:
 examples/biblio/biblio-eutils-example.pl

APPENDIX
The main documentation details are to be found in Bio::DB::BiblioI.

Here is the rest of the object methods. Interface methods first, followed by internal methods.

  _initialize
 Usage   : my $obj = new Bio::Biblio (-access => 'eutils' ...);
           (_initialize is internally called from this constructor)
 Returns : 1 on success
 Args    : none

This is an actual new() method (except for the real object creation and its blessing which is done in the parent class Bio::Root::Root in method _create_object).

Note that this method is called always as an object method (never as a class method) - and that the object who calls this method may already be partly initiated (from Bio::Biblio::new method); so if you need to do some tricks with the 'class invocation' you need to change Bio::Biblio::new method, not this one.

  db
 Title   : db
 Usage   : $obj->db($newval)
 Function: specifies the database to search.  valid values are:

           pubmed, pmc, journals

           it is also possible to add the following, and i will do
           so on request:

           genome, nucleotide, protein, popset, snp, sequence, taxonomy

           pubmed is default.

 Returns : value of db (a scalar)
 Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)

Methods implementing Bio::DB::BiblioI interface

  get_collection_id
  Title   : get_collection_id
  Usage   : $id = $biblio->get_collection_id();
  Function: returns WebEnv value from ESearch
  Returns : ESearch WebEnv value as a string
  Args    : none

  reset_retrieval
  Title   : reset_retrieval
  Usage   : $biblio->reset_retrieval();
  Function: reset cursor in id list, see cursor()
  Returns : 1
  Args    : none

  get_next
  Title   : get_next
  Usage   : $xml = $biblio->get_next();
  Function: return next record as xml
  Returns : an xml string
  Args    : none

  get_more
  Title   : get_more
  Usage   : $xml = $biblio->get_more($more);
  Function: returns next $more records concatenated
  Returns : a string containing multiple xml documents
  Args    : an integer representing how many records to retrieve

  has_next
  Title   : has_next
  Usage   : $has_next = $biblio->has_next();
  Function: check to see if there are more items to be retrieved
  Returns : 1 on true, undef on false
  Args    : none

  find
  Title   : find
  Usage   : $biblio = $biblio->find($pubmed_query_phrase);
  Function: perform a PubMed query using Entrez ESearch
  Returns : a reference to the object on which the method was called
  Args    : a PubMed query phrase.  See
            http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/help/pmhelp.html
            for help on how to construct a query.

  get_all_ids
  Title   : get_all_ids
  Usage   : @ids = $biblio->get_all_ids();
  Function: return a list of PubMed ids resulting from call to find()
  Returns : a list of PubMed ids, or an empty list
  Args    : none

  get_all
  Title   : get_all
  Usage   : $xml = $biblio->get_all();
  Function: retrieve all records from query
  Returns : return a large concatenated string of PubMed xml documents
  Args    : none

  exists
  Title   : exists
  Usage   : do not use
  Function: no-op.  this is here only for interface compatibility
  Returns : undef
  Args    : none

  destroy
  Title   : destroy
  Usage   : do not use
  Function: no-op.  this is here only for interface compatibility
  Returns : undef
  Args    : none

  get_vocabulary_names
  Title   : get_vocabulary_names
  Usage   : do not use
  Function: no-op.  this is here only for interface compatibility
  Returns : empty arrayref
  Args    : none

  contains
  Title   : contains
  Usage   : do not use
  Function: no-op.  this is here only for interface compatibility
  Returns : undef
  Args    : none

  get_entry_description
  Title   : get_entry_description
  Usage   : do not use
  Function: no-op.  this is here only for interface compatibility
  Returns : undef
  Args    : none

  get_all_values
  Title   : get_all_values
  Usage   : do not use
  Function: no-op.  this is here only for interface compatibility
  Returns : undef
  Args    : none

  get_all_entries
  Title   : get_all_entries
  Usage   : do not use
  Function: no-op.  this is here only for interface compatibility
  Returns : undef
  Args    : none

Internal methods unrelated to Bio::DB::BiblioI

  cursor
  Title   : cursor
  Usage   : $obj->cursor($newval)
  Function: holds position in reference collection
  Returns : value of cursor (a scalar)
  Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)

  twig
  Title   : twig
  Usage   : $obj->twig($newval)
  Function: holds an XML::Twig instance.
  Returns : value of twig (a scalar)
  Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)

  ids
  Title   : ids
  Usage   : $obj->ids($newval)
  Function: store pubmed ids resulting from find() query
  Returns : value of ids (a scalar)
  Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)

  collection_id
  Title   : collection_id
  Usage   : $obj->collection_id($newval)
  Function:
  Returns : value of collection_id (a scalar)
  Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)

  count
  Title   : count
  Usage   : $obj->count($newval)
  Function:
  Returns : value of count (a scalar)
  Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)

  query_key
  Title   : query_key
  Usage   : $obj->query_key($newval)
  Function: holds query_key from ESearch document
  Returns : value of query_key (a scalar)
  Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)