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How to Hyperlink to a Project

• Making a hyperlink to Tranche data
• Making a hyperlink that launches the download tool (best for large files or sets of files)
• Making a direct hyperlink (best for small, single files)
• Making a hyperlink to a project

Making a hyperlink to Tranche data

Most commonly people are used to clicking on a hyperlink to make a web browser download data. This type of download uses the HTTP protocol to send data from a web server to your web browser. Normally the data transfer isn't anything overly complex and it works really well for small files; however, should a download get interrupted the user must restart the download from scratch, which can make downloading large files a challenge. Additionally, since a single web server is supplying all of the data it is not uncommon to get download speeds that are relatively slow. Tranche supports two forms of HTTP download: direct HTTP download via a web browser and HTTP download of the Tranche client that will automatically run a Java program that does optimal Tranche downloads.

Yes, the links are long; however, they are still less than the 255 character limit that older web browsers impose on hyperlink lengths. Note that Base 16 encoding is used because Base 64 encoding (the one Tranche more commonly uses) is not compatible with hyperlinks unless you escape the plus sign characters "+" with "%2B". Tranche can handle hashes encoded in either Base 64 or Base 16. Here is a webpage that'll convert Tranche hashes between Base16 and Base64 for you.

Making links that use the Tranche downloader

The Tranche Downloader uses Java WebStart and can always be run using a a simple hyperlink, i.e. http://www.proteomecommons.org/data-downloader.jsp. The exact file or project to download can be specified by using the 'filename' parameter. For example, here is what a complete link to the same file used above would look like.

Replace {Tranche Hash} with the Tranche hash of the file to download and replace {click me} with the name that should appear on the website as a link. For example, here is a link that uses the Tranche hash (Base 16 encoded) with the link's name being the same as the files name T10467_Well_A06_1800.89_16786.mgf:

When embedded in the HTML code, it would appear like this:

T10467_Well_A06_1800.89_16786.mgf

Linking to the Tranche downloader is almost always preferred over linking through the ProteomeCommons.org HTTP proxy servers, especially in the case of large files or sets of files. It is recommended that you always make links to the Tranche downloader tool unless you have a specific reason not to.

Advanced options when using the Tranche Downloader

Several parameters can be passed via the URL to the Tranche downloader program here is a compete list of the parameters. Each parameters has the standard name=value syntax. An example is provided at the end of this section.

• server: The string to be used for loading specific servers. e.g. "tranche://dfs1.proteomecommons.org"
• fileName: The Tranche hash string to be downloaded.
• passphrase: The passphrase to use for decryption. NOTE this passphrase will be visible in plain-text to the user. Only use this for passphrases that have been publicly published!

Here is an example URL that includes some of these

Making links directly to individual files

Making a basic hyperlink to Tranche data is relatively easy. ProteomeCommons.org provides several HTTP proxy servers that will pipe data from Tranche directly over the web. All that you need to do is customize the following link:

Replace {Tranche Hash} with the Tranche hash of the file to download and replace {click me} with the name that should appear on the website as a link. For example, here is a link that uses the Tranche hash (Base 16 encoded) with the link's name being the same as the files name T10467_Well_A06_1800.89_16786.mgf: