Re: Help for z39.50 search in proquest dissertations and theses

Anne L. Highsmith wrote:
> I am trying to create a perl program using Net::Z3950 to connect to and search the proquest dissertations and theses database. I can connect and search via YAZ, but am having no luck via perl/Net::Z3950.
> 
> Here's the perl program:
> use Net::Z3950;
> $mgr = new Net::Z3950::Manager(
>         user=>'[user]',
>         pass=>'[password]',
>         );

> $target = 'proquest-z3950.umi.com';
> $port = '210';
> $database = 'PQD';
> $recordSyntax = 'SUTRS';
> $conn = new Net::Z3950::Connection($mgr, $target, $port, databaseName =>$database) or die "$!\n";
> $rs = $conn->search(-prefix => '@and @attr 1=4 steamboat bertrand') or die "$!\n";
> $count = $rs->size();
> print "$count\n" and die;
> 
> When I have the "$!\n"; in the '$rs = ' line, I always get the message "Operation in progress". 
> When I remove the "$!\n"; in the '$rs = ' line, and it falls through to $count = $rs->size(); , I get:
> Can't call method "size" on an undefined value at ./zd line 13.

I've never used Net::Z3950, but my understanding of the Manager
class is that it is that connection is being made
asynchronously -- which means you need to use the wait()
function, as in the example here:

    http://perl.z3950.org/docs/Z3950/Manager.html

You could try adding "async => 0" to the Manager object
construction, ie:

$mgr = new Net::Z3950::Manager(async => 0, user => xxx, pass => yyy);

or perhaps adding it here instead:

   $conn = new Net::Z3950::Connection($mgr, $host, $port, async => 0);

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Ashley.
-- 
Ashley Sanders               [email protected]
Copac http://copac.ac.uk A Mimas service funded by JISC