Add LGPN Lookup (for I.Sicily)

[ilovan]

Please record hours put into this work to https://canadianwritingresearchcollaboratory.harvestapp.com/projects/18392886 ([Epigraphy] Implement entity CWRC-Writer lookups for epigraphic authorities)

Steps:

• LGPN Consultations
• Lookup Scoping
• Lookup programming
• Testing

[ilovan]

received LGPN API documentation:
Final report I.Sicily _ LGPN.pdf

[ilovan]

@ajmacdonald , please provide an estimate for a LGPN lookup.

[ajmacdonald]

I'm trying to get a sense of how the API works and it seems like it's not complete at this time.
For example http://clas-lgpn4.classics.ox.ac.uk/exist/restxq/lgpn-api/names?name=Arteas returns a result, however I can't find any people with that name
http://clas-lgpn4.classics.ox.ac.uk/exist/restxq/lgpn-api/persons?name=Arteas

[JonPrag]

Curious, i shall make enquiries, since there are some:
http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/name/%E1%BC%88%CF%81%CF%84%CE%AD%CE%B1%CF%82

[JonPrag]

So, I asked, and the reply, eventually, was:

you're right, you can not get results for Arteas since current version of new LGPN database includes only Volume 6 and previous volumes are not migrated in yet. I could try to set it up for testing and see if performance is not affected too much (we struggled with server load before so I was reluctant to push almost half a million records into the database before it is solved).

! I'm trying to find out when they might do this, so that the API is actually some use... sigh.

[ajmacdonald]

That would explain it. Thanks for the update.

[SusanBrown]

@JonPrag Just wondering if you've heard back about the API. Obviously, they had some things that they needed to take care of first, but we're wondering about likely timing.

[JonPrag]

Silence. Which is the usual story. My tip would be not to work with eXist solutions... will chase again.

[ajmacdonald]

It looks like some work has been done, but I can't comment on whether it's complete.

I can get name results from: http://clas-lgpn2.classics.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/lgpn_search.cgi?name=%CE%91%CE%B2%CE%B1&style=gjson
And place results from: http://clas-lgpn2.classics.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/lgpn_search.cgi?place=Aigeira&style=gjson

If we are to use this API as it stands, we'd need a proxy since it's located at an HTTP endpoint.

[JonPrag]

I've just written to inquire on state of play - thanks for chasing! In ignorance, is needing a proxy an issue / what would that require?

[ilovan]

Hi @JonPrag , we ran into the need for a proxy before. Git-Writer is https, and as such can't make direct calls to http locations like LGPN. In the past, we've created a CWRC https proxy for the external http entity source and directed the lookup to that proxy. We can definitely do that this time around.

A better solution in the long run for LGPN is if they started using https themselves. We've been using Let's Encrypt , which is free and works quite well.