NAME

Bio::OntologyIO - Parser factory for Ontology formats

SYNOPSIS

use Bio::OntologyIO;

my $parser = Bio::OntologyIO->new(-format => "go", ...);

while(my $ont = $parser->next_ontology()) {
     print "read ontology ",$ont->name()," with ",
           scalar($ont->get_root_terms)," root terms, and ",
           scalar($ont->get_leaf_terms)," leaf terms\n";
}

DESCRIPTION

This is the parser factory for different ontology sources and formats. Conceptually, it is very similar to Bio::SeqIO, but the difference is that the chunk of data returned as an object is an entire ontology.

FEEDBACK

Mailing Lists

User feedback is an integral part of the evolution of this and other Bioperl modules. Send your comments and suggestions preferably to the Bioperl mailing list. Your participation is much appreciated.

bioperl-l@bioperl.org              - General discussion
http://bioperl.org/MailList.shtml  - About the mailing lists

Reporting Bugs

Report bugs to the Bioperl bug tracking system to help us keep track of the bugs and their resolution. Bug reports can be submitted via the web:

http://bugzilla.bioperl.org/

AUTHOR - Hilmar Lapp

Email hlapp at gmx.net

Describe contact details here

CONTRIBUTORS

Additional contributors names and emails here

APPENDIX

The rest of the documentation details each of the object methods. Internal methods are usually preceded with a _

new

Title   : new
Usage   : my $parser = Bio::OntologyIO->new(-format => 'go', @args);
Function: Returns a stream of ontologies opened on the specified input
          for the specified format.
Returns : An ontology parser (an instance of Bio::OntologyIO) initialized
          for the specified format.
Args    : Named parameters. Common parameters are

             -format    - the format of the input; supported right now are
                         'go' (synonymous with goflat), 'so' (synonymous
                         with soflat), and 'interpro'
             -file      - the file holding the data
             -fh        - the stream providing the data (-file and -fh are
                         mutually exclusive)
             -ontology_name - the name of the ontology
             -engine    - the L<Bio::Ontology::OntologyEngineI> object
                         to be reused (will be created otherwise); note
                         that every L<Bio::Ontology::OntologyI> will
                         qualify as well since that one inherits from the
                         former.
             -term_factory - the ontology term factory to use. Provide a
                         value only if you know what you are doing.

          DAG-Edit flat file parsers will usually also accept the
          following parameters.

             -defs_file - the name of the file holding the term
                         definitions
             -files     - an array ref holding the file names (for GO,
                         there will usually be 3 files: component.ontology,
                         function.ontology, process.ontology)

          Other parameters are specific to the parsers.

next_ontology

Title   : next_ontology
Usage   : $ont = $stream->next_ontology()
Function: Reads the next ontology object from the stream and returns it.
Returns : a L<Bio::Ontology::OntologyI> compliant object, or undef at the
          end of the stream
Args    : none

term_factory

Title   : term_factory
Usage   : $obj->term_factory($newval)
Function: Get/set the ontology term factory to use.

          As a user of this module it is not necessary to call this
          method as there will be default. In order to change the
          default, the easiest way is to instantiate
          L<Bio::Ontology::TermFactory> with the proper -type
          argument. Most if not all parsers will actually use this
          very implementation, so even easier than the aforementioned
          way is to simply call
          $ontio->term_factory->type("Bio::Ontology::MyTerm").

Example : 
Returns : value of term_factory (a Bio::Factory::ObjectFactoryI object)
Args    : on set, new value (a Bio::Factory::ObjectFactoryI object, optional)

Private Methods

Some of these are actually 'protected' in OO speak, which means you
may or will want to utilize them in a derived ontology parser, but
you should not call them from outside.

_load_format_module

Title   : _load_format_module
Usage   : *INTERNAL OntologyIO stuff*
Function: Loads up (like use) a module at run time on demand
Example :
Returns :
Args    :