In response to a Nodalpoint post about iSpecies, Pedro Beltrao commented that it would be useful to have a Science 2.0-style modular portal for bioinformatics searches. I've put together a very basic prototype: enter a keyword (later there can be a version that takes a DNA or protein sequence) and choose a service to search ... the results should appear underneath, linked to appropriate web pages for further information.
This tool makes use of the bioinformatics web services listed on the Nodalpoint wiki, in particular the SRS service listed at the DDBJ.
This is modular, so anyone can write a plugin for a service that they'd like to see included. For example, the code for the PDB search looks like this.
If you write a plugin, you can test it by running it within this framework:
#!/usr/bin/env perl
use strict;
use SOAP::Lite; # you can use Bioperl or other CPAN modules if needed
my $query = 'example';
my $output = &test( $query );
print $output;
###########################
sub test{
my $query = shift;
*** YOUR CODE HERE ***
return $result;
}
Once it's working, email it along and I'll include it in the main page.