A modern web application for browsing and searching Syriac manuscripts in the British Library collection.

This application provides a client-side interface for exploring TEI-encoded manuscript data with advanced search capabilities, faceted browsing, and responsive design.

• Browse Interface - Faceted browsing by material, script/language, and classification
• Advanced Search - Multi-field search supporting keyword, author, title, Syriac text, place, person, decorations, and shelfmark
• Multi-lingual Support - Keyboard widgets for Syriac, Arabic, and Greek text entry
• Responsive Design - Mobile-friendly interface using Bootstrap 3
• Static Site Generation - XSLT-based HTML generation from TEI XML sources
• JSON Data Export - Automated conversion of TEI to JSON for client-side search
• AWS Deployment - GitHub Actions workflow for automated deployment to S3/CloudFront

1. TEI XML Sources (exampleData/xml/) - Original manuscript descriptions in TEI format
2. XSLT Transformation (siteGenerator/xsl/tei2html.xsl) - Converts TEI to HTML pages
3. Python Conversion (tei2json.py) - Extracts metadata to JSON for search functionality
4. Static HTML Output (exampleData/ms/) - Individual manuscript pages
5. JSON Index (manuscripts.json) - Searchable metadata for all manuscripts

• browse.html - Faceted browsing interface with material/script/classification filters
• search.html - Advanced search form with multi-field queries
• resources/js/search.js - Client-side search logic and result display
• resources/js/navbar-search.js - Centralized navbar search functionality
• tei2json.py - TEI to JSON converter with field extraction and language mapping

• Python 3.7+
• Saxon HE (for XSLT transformations)
• Modern web browser
• AWS CLI (for deployment)

1. Clone the repository

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd britishLibrary

2. Install Python dependencies

   pip install lxml pytest

3. Convert TEI to JSON

   python tei2json.py --manuscripts

4. Serve locally

   # Using Python's built-in server
   python -m http.server 5500
   
   # Or use Live Server extension in VS Code
   # Open browse.html or search.html

5. Access the application

   • Browse: http://localhost:5500/browse.html
   • Search: http://localhost:5500/search.html

1. Add TEI XML file to data repo

   • Follow TEI manuscript description schema
   • Include required elements: titleStmt, msDesc, physDesc, history
   • Add TEI XML file** to exampleData/xml/ for testing if you have expected output files in exampleData/xml/html/ and exampleData/xml/json/

2. Generate HTML using Saxon XSLT processor

   java -jar saxon.jar -s:exampleData/xml/manuscript.xml \
        -xsl:siteGenerator/xsl/tei2html.xsl \
        -o:exampleData/ms/manuscript.html

3. Update JSON index

   python tei2json.py --manuscripts

4. Commit changes to trigger automated deployment if data changes in data repo only, trigger deployment manually in GitHub Actions dataToAWS.yml

• titleStmt - Main manuscript title
• msItemTitle - Individual item titles within manuscript
• rubric - Rubric text
• syrTitle - Syriac language titles
• author - Author names
• persName - Person names mentioned
• placeName - Place names
• shelfmark - Library shelfmark
• material - Physical material (parchment, paper, etc.)
• script - Script codes (syr-Syre, ar, grc, etc.)
• scriptLanguage - Human-readable script/language names
• classification - Manuscript classification
• decorations - Decoration descriptions
• decorationsType - Decoration types (border, illustration, etc.)
• origDate - Date of origin

The application maps ISO 639-3 language codes to readable names:

• syr → Syriac
• syr-Syre → Syriac (Estrangela)
• syr-Syrj → Syriac (Western)
• syr-Syrn → Syriac (Eastern)
• ar → Arabic
• grc → Greek
• he → Hebrew
• en → English
• la → Latin

The .github/workflows/dataToAWS.yml workflow automatically:

1. Converts TEI XML to JSON and HTML
2. Combines json files into one manuscripts.json file
3. Commits manuscripts.json to repository
4. Uploads HTML to S3 bucket in AWS for hosting
5. Triggers on push to main branch or manual dispatch

Base URLs are automatically detected:

• Localhost: http://127.0.0.1:5500/exampleData
• Dev/CloudFront: https://d2tcgfyrf82nxz.cloudfront.net
• Production: https://bl.syriac.uk

Run tests to verify TEI to JSON/HTML conversion:

pytest tests/test_tei2json_examples.py

# Test only JSON conversion
pytest tests/test_tei2json_examples.py -k "json"

# Test only HTML conversion (requires Saxon JAR)
export SAXON_JAR=/path/to/saxon.jar
pytest tests/test_tei2json_examples.py -k "html"

Edit search.html and resources/js/search.js to add/remove search fields.

Modify buildFacets() in browse.html to change facet categories.

Customize CSS in:

• resources/css/style.css - Main styles
• resources/css/syriaca.css - Syriaca-specific styles
• Inline <style> blocks in browse.html and search.html

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 license (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Copyright © 2011 Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute.