GET protocol
The GET protocol will retrieve data from a web server using the HTTP-GET protocol.
The protocol has two configurable settings: Base URL and Parameters.
The Base URL should point to a CGI-script running on a web server that can
return track data for a given track and genomic sequence segment.
Some CGI-scripts will only serve data for a single fixed type of track (e.g. DNA or RepeatMasker regions)
and a specific genome build.
Other scripts may be configured to serve data for different track types and different genome builds,
and the requested track and genome build are then normally specified as part of the Parameters setting.
When MotifLab contacts the HTTP server, the value of the Parameters setting will be passed on
as a query string (hence, the complete URL used will be: <Base URL>?<Parameters> ).
The Parameters setting will thus have to be set according to the
requirements of the particular CGI-script. However, all CGI-scripts must be able
able to recognize three parameters that specify respectively a chromosome,
a start coordinate and an end coordinate of a genomic segment and the script should then
only return data for this segment (start- and end-coordinates assume
the chromosome starts at position 1 not 0). The three placeholder variables
$CHROMOSOME, $START and $END must be included
as part of the Parameters, and these placeholders
will be replaced by an actual chromosome name, start coordinate and end coordinate when MotifLab
contacts the server to obtain data for a sequence.