After installing RIB, the first thing that you'll want to do is go to the RIB management page. The RIB management page is where you can create a new repository, delete a repository, import a repository from another RIB server, or view the catalog for a repository. You can also use this page as a jumpstation for accessing the administration pages for individual repositories. The RIB Management Page is pictured below.

Figure: The RIB Management Page (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

From the RIB management page you can create a new repository. Clicking the "Create a repository" button will bring up the page shown below. One of the most important features of this page is that it allows you to choose the data model that the new repository will use for encoding metadata. New repositories use the Basic Interoperability Data Model (IEEE Standard 1420.1) by default. You have the option of including the Asset Certification Framework (IEEE standard 1420.1a), the Intellectual Property Rights Framework (IEEE standard 1420.1b), and the Standard NHSE or Deployment extensions if desired.

Figure: RIB Repository Creation Page (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

After creating a new repository, you are taken to the Repository Administration Java applet. This is where you manage the contents and properties of the repository. The screen shot below shows RIB's online help documentation. Icons throughout the administration applet will take you directly to this area whenever you need help.

Figure: RIB Online Documentation (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

After creating a new repository, the first thing that you will want to do is make any desired customizations to the repository's data model. A repository is made up of metadata objects, and the data model is the framework used by RIB to encode those objects into XML so that they can be published on the Web. Think of a data model as a template for describing the contents of each object in your repository.

By default, the Basic Interoperability Data Model (BIDM) will be used for your repository's data model. From the data model editor (pictured below) you can edit the structure and properties of your data model to better suit your collection.

RIB's data model editor is quite robust, and allows you to enter practically any type of data model that can be represented in an object oriented fashion. The BIDM (RIB's default data model) is an object oriented data model and RIB was designed to support its subclassing, data type, controlled vocabulary, and entity-relationship mechanisms.

Note that you can also import a data model from an existing RIB repository by providing a URL where the data model can be located on the web.

Figure: The Data Model Editor (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

After customizing your repository's data model, the next step is to start creating metadata objects for your repository. Metadata is information that describes reusable entities, such as software. The Object Editor, pictured below, uses your repository's data model to present a data entry form where you can enter the information that goes into metadata objects.

The Object Editor makes sure that the data that you enter complies with your repository's data model by monitoring each input field and by not allowing you to save the object until all requirements have been met. After an object has been entered, clicking the Submit button will send the object to the RIB server where it is stored in a relational database. The data model editor is highly interactive and offers help by using color coding and inline field descriptions.

Figure: Object Editor (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

Over time, the number of metadata objects in a repository will certainly increase. RIB allows you to manage large collections of metadata objects in the Object Browser (shown below). In the Object browser you can determine when an object was last modified as well as its approval status. RIB allows you to sort your collection based on Name, Last Modified, or Status criteria, and also supports an item selection model similar to that of Windows explorer (shift+click selects a range and ctrl+click toggles selection). Right clicking an object in the list will enable a popup menu that allows you to edit, delete, view, and set the status of your objects. Note that you can also import an object from another RIB repository, provided your data models are similar.

Figure: Object Browser (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

The metadata objects that you create using RIB are linked into an online HTML catalog. This catalog is updated automatically by RIB whenever you create, modify, or delete an object. Shown below is a screenshot of the NHSE Software Catalog, which is a repository created using RIB.

Figure: Example Catalog Generated By RIB (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

The contents of your catalog can be organized based on the structure of your data model. The presentation scheme is adapted from popular online WWW directories, which most end users are familiar with today. The screenshot below shows a page in the NHSE software catalog where several metadata objects are listed.

Figure: Catalog Navigation (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

When the end user has navigated to an object that he or she would like to view, clicking its link in the catalog page will bring up the object's HTML description. The HTML description for an example metadata object is shown below. The field names shown below are from the Basic Interoperability Data Model. You can customize those names using RIB's data model editor (described earlier) if desired.

Figure: Metadata Object in the HTML Catalog (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

The catalog also has a search interface that is automatically updated by RIB whenever you create, delete, or modify a metadata object. An example search page is pictured below.

Figure: Example Search Page (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

The catalog also has a "What's New" page that is automatically updated by RIB. An example What's New page is pictured below. The user can select the number of days to show in the results.

Figure: Example What's New Page (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

RIB allows you to modify the appearance and properties of the catalog via the Catalog Management page (pictured below). Using this page you can specify your repository's Primary Class, which is the class of objects that should appear in the table of contents for your catalog. You can also use this page to specify your repository's Primary Attribute, which is used to categorize the objects in your catalog.

You can enable the Object Approval feature from this page, which causes metadata object to not appear in your catalog unless they have been explicitly approved. The "Joins" feature allows your catalog to offer specialized views of your repository's contents in tabular formats. The "What's New" feature allows RIB to automatically summarize the recent activity in your repository in a page accessible from the catalog.

Figure: Catalog Management Page (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

RIB uses an HTML template system to lay out the appearance of the online catalog. Keywords in your template show RIB where to place its data and allow you to surround that data with whatever HTML that you like. Each different type of page in the catalog (search, browse, what's new, etc) uses a separate template to control its appearance. You can edit your catalog's HTML templates directly in the RIB interface, as shown in the screenshot below.

Figure: HTML Template Editor (This is a non-interactive screenshot)

Interoperation allows repositories that use similar data models to share metadata objects with each other via the Internet. The shared metadata objects are automatically linked into the catalog of the repository that creates the interoperation.

In the figure above, the objects maintained at Repository A are linked into the catalog of Repository B as a result of an interoperation created at Repository B. Note that the catalog links point to the *remote* objects. When someone clicks the catalog link to view the object, he or she retrieves that object from Repository A, not from Repository B. This ensures that the information in your catalog is always current, and also ensures that the repository that maintains the object controls its appearance and access permissions.

Interoperations are created and manipulated in the RIB interface. Creating an interoperation is very simple and monitoring those interoperations via the RIB interface is quite simple as well. The screenshot below shows the interface that RIB supplies for managing repository interoperations.

Figure: (This is a non-interactive screenshot)