WordNet::Similarity Web Interface
=================================
The web interface distribution contains two CGI scripts, which are in the
cgi-bin directory:
cgi-bin/umls_similarity.cgi
cgi-bin/umls_wps.cgi
A set of required html and style files in the docs directory:
docs/faq.html
docs/index.html
docs/instructions.html
docs/similarity_measures.html
docs/relatedness_measures.html
docs/logo_black.gif
docs/sim-style.css
As well as two directories containing the externam information content
and vector files, also in the docs directory:
docs/icpropagation
docs/vectorfiles
The code and documentation borrows heavly from the WordNet::Similarity
web interface written by Jason Michelizzi if you are familiar with it.
Any problems with this package though are due to my inabilities not
Jason's. All good things with this package are due to his very nice
coding and documention skills.
The interface employs a client-server model. The two CGI scripts,
umls_similarity.cgi and umls)wps.cgi, are the clients that request
informationfrom the similarity server (umls_similarity_server.pl).
The similarityserver is distributed as one of the utilities (in the
/utils directory)in this package.
The similarity server is a network interface to the UMLS::Similarity
measures. It is similarity_server.pl that actually interacts with the
UMLS-Interface and UMLS-Similarity packages to compute relatedness
scores. It loads all the similarity modules, and sits on a machine
listening for network requests for relatedness information. A client
can then connect to this similarity server and request information
about semantic relatedness of words and concepts. This information,
if available, will be returned by the similarity server to the client
over the netwrok connection.
In the web interface, umls_similarity.cgi and umls_wps.cgi are the
clients thatconnect to the similarity server to request similarity
or relatedness information. The information retrieved by these two
clients from the server is then presented via web-pages to the end-user.
Thus, umls_wps.cgi and umls_similarity.cgi form part of the web-server
creating web pages to serve up to the end-user, using information
obtained from the backend similarity server (umls_similarity_server.pl).
Here is a block schematic:
[UMLS Similarity Server] <-----> [Web Server] <-----> [End User]
(umls_similarity.cgi) (browser)
(umls_wps.cgi)
The umsl_similarity_server.pl can be run on the same machine on which your
webserver is running or it can be on a different machine. Running the
umls_similarity_server.pl on a different machine than the webserver can
beuseful if you have only limited control over the webserver machine (for
example, you might not be able to install WordNet on the webserver
machine).
Quick Installation Instructions
-------------------------------
This guide assumes that you are using the Apache webserver as installed
on a Fedora/RedHat based Linux distribution. If you are using a
different server or Linux distribution, then the setup process will
probably vary a little.
Step 1
------
Put the umls_similarity.cgi and umls_wps.cgi scripts whereever CGI scripts
go on your webserver (e.g., /usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin). In order to keep
your system somewhat organized, you may want to put them in a subdirectory
in your cgi directory (e.g., /usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin/umls_similarity).
These instructions generally assume the latter.
The various html, style sheets, and images in the 'docs' directory
of the distribution. These should be put wherever html documents go on
your webserver (e.g., /usr/local/apache2/htdocs). In order to keep your
system somewhat organized, you may want to put them in a subdirectory in
your html directory (e.g., /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/umls_similarity).
These instructions generally assume the latter.
The icpropagation and vectorfiles directories in the 'docs' directory
should also be put wherever the html documents go on your server.
Note that if you are using Ubuntu Linux, your cgi-bin directory is
typically found at /usr/lib/cgi-bin and documents are found in /var/www
Step 2
------
The following three files may need to be edited:
umls_similarity.cgi
umls_wps.cgi
umls_similarity_server.pl
- umls_similarity.cgi
* change $remote_host to be the hostname or IP addr of the machine
on which similarty_server.pl is located. If umls_similarity_server.pl
is running on the same machine as your web server, then 'localhost'
or '127.0.0.1' will work. Note: the setting for $remote_host and
$remote_port in similarity.cgi are not related to Apache's LISTEN
setting. In fact, $remote_port needs to be different than the
port on which Apache is listening.
* set $doc_base to be the relative path to the HTML files that are
in the 'doc' directory in the distribution. For example, if you
have the .cgi files in /usr/local/apache2/cgi-bin/umls_similarity
and the HTML files in /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/umls_similarity,
then you would set $doc_base to '../../umls_similarity'. Note:
this variable is not (closely) related to Apache's DOCUMENT_ROOT
setting.
- umls_wps.cgi
* $remote_host should be the same as $remote_host for umls_similarity.cgi.
$doc_base is the location of a style sheet (sim-style.css), which
is often the same as $doc_base in umls_similarity.cgi.
-umls_similarity_server.pl
* $doc_base is the location of a style sheet (sim-style.css), which
is the same as $doc_base in umls_similarity.cgi. The reason is
because the directories containing required files for the icpropagation
and vector measure files are in the same directory.
Step 3
------
Start umls_similarity_server.pl, by running:
$ umls_similarity_server.pl
A number of options are available for running the server. Please see the
documentation of umls_similarity_server.pl for more information on this.
This utility should be installed along with all the other utilities as
part of the installation of the UMLS::Similarity package.
COPYRIGHT
---------
Copyright (c) 2010-2011, Ted Pedersen and Bridget T. McInnes and
Jason Michelizzi
This distribution is free software; you may redistribute and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 or, at your
option, any later version.
SEE ALSO
--------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/umls-similarity/