MEDEV

School of Medical Sciences Education Development

Last week I did a little research into using the remote API feeds to power a resource search within the Permissions system.

The basic principle is that we can link each publisher in our database to a resource feed, we can then write a script that can look through these feeds.

The search will take a simple 'search term' provided by the user and then look through each active feed it finds and return the best match. The user can then select the resource they require and then use it as a base for their permission application. 

This flips the current idea of first finding the publisher, then looking at what resources they offer.

An example of the new search can be found at:

http://www.medev.ac.uk/publish_oer/permissions/apply/

We don't currently have any feeds other than a demo feed i setup on an old dev site:

http://edoctoring.ncl.ac.uk/Public/API_Feeds/elsevier_feed.json (note they are different servers)

Typing in a term like 'horse' will find the correct resource in the feed and then on the click of a button will fill in a large chunk of the application form for you. 

This is all research material, but i feel it adds a new dimension to the way we can use the application system

Dan