Taverna has now moved to the Apache Software Foundation. For updated information, see Apache Taverna (incubating).

13 Sep /10

Prototype REST and new XPath plugins for Taverna 2.2


The Taverna team are pleased to announce of the release of two prototype plugins written by Sergejs Aleksejevs for Taverna Workbench 2.2.

The XPath activity plugin provides enhanced support for creating and executing XPath expressions over XML data in order to extract specific fragments of the data. This plugin offers an intuitive and easy-to-use way of creating XPath expressions and does not require detailed knowledge of the XPath language – expressions are generated by selection of relevant nodes in the tree-like view of the provided example XML data. Ability to modify automatically-generated XPath expressions and control over namespace handling make this a powerful tool.

The REST activity plugin allows users to access remote services via four different types of HTTP requests: GET, POST, PUT and DELETE. Configuration options of the plugin include MIME types of the sent and received data and the URL template that can have configurable parameters (with an individual input port created for each). The plugin integrates with the Credential Manager of the Workbench for added convenience when accessing secure web services.

To install the plugins in Taverna Workbench 2.2, go to “Advanced” -> “Updates and plugins” in the Workbench, and click the “Find new plugins” button. Tick the boxes for “REST Activity Plugin” and the “XPath Activity Plugin” and then click “Install”. You will need to restart Taverna to see the plugins’ functionality.

Any comments on the plugins are very welcome and can be done by e-mail to taverna-users@lists.sourceforge.net or on the Taverna Web site.

The Taverna team,

13th September 2010