YAZ is a programmers’ toolkit supporting the development of Z39.50/SRW/SRU clients and servers. Z39.50-2003 (version 3) as well as SRU version 1.1 thru 2.0 are supported in both the client and server roles. The Solr webservice is supported in the client role through the ZOOM API.
New! You can use Index Data’s hosted MasterKey Connect service to easily integrate remote resources that are not directly accessible by Z39.50. Simply let us know which resources are of interest to you, and we will set up hosted connectors for you with a SRU/Z39.50 interface. We support most possible access methods, including native APIs, OAI–PMH harvesting, and screenscraping. Now you no longer have to rely on your data providers to support sensible interfaces: MasterKey Connect is the ultimate glue layer for your application.
The current version of YAZ includes support for the industry standard ZOOM API for Z39.50. This API vastly simplifies the process of writing new clients using YAZ, and it reduces your dependency on any single toolkit. YAZ can be used by itself to build Z39.50 applications in C.For programmers preferring another language, YAZ has three language bindings to commonly used application development languages. We provide the YAZ++ toolkit for applications in C++, PHP/YAZ for application building in PHP, SimpleServer for server applications in Perl, NET::Z3950 for client applications in Perl and yaz4j for Java applications (client only at the moment). In addition to these wrappers, a number of the language bindings of the ZOOM API are based on YAZ.
Libraries and vendors can freely download YAZ and its associated toolkits to build their own Z39.50 applications. Alternatively, they can use the consultancy and support services of Index Data to take advantage of our decade of experience building and supporting Z39.50 toolkits and applications.
YAZ has been considered the leading toolkit for building Z39.50 clients and servers since its first release in 1995. During two decades of active service, the YAZ toolkit has been battle-hardened in every conceivable type of employment, and grown in its support for even the more esoteric aspects of the Z39.50, SRU/SRW, and lately Solr protocols. The majority of library software vendors use the YAZ toolkit to implement the protocol support in their products, and many others routinely use the toolkit for interoperability testing, data conversion, etc.