The BLAST URLAPI provides a versatile way for users to perform BLAST searches on the NCBI BLAST server. It can be used with a browser or with a command line script. The latter will not contain the graphic summary, but it offers the power of batch searches and customized parameter settings. Due to the public service nature, users are strongly advised to observe the usage guidelines as laid out in the User Requirements sections (8.1).
The BLAST URLAPI parameters are based on those of standalone BLAST. For better understanding of the parameters, please refer to the help documents on the standalone blast programs for more information. A set of documents maintained by blast-help group is at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/staff/tao/URLAPI/
Documents included in the standard binary distribution package are also available online at:
ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/documents/
For technical assistance on selecting the appropriate BLAST Web page to use, users can refer to the 'Program Selection Guide' web document:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/staff/tao/URLAPI/producttable.html
Parameters found in standard BLAST web pages are hot linked to the corresponding sections of a central online help document located at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST/blastcgihelp.shtml
BLAST FAQ addressing some common questions on BLAST is located at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST/blast_FAQs.html
NCBI blast-help group provides technical assistance on BLAST through the blast-help email alias. This group can be reached at:
[blast-help@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
Questions and comments on this documents should also be addressed to this group. For other questions on NCBI resources not related to BLAST or its databases, please contact:
[info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]