Community Research and Development Information Service - CORDIS

Change to CORDIS URLs (Web service addresses)

Background

The recent change in the URLs of all CORDIS pages affects all users of the service, both inside the EU institutions and in the world at large, and from the occasional user with a few CORDIS pages bookmarked, through to the web-master with a multiplicity of hyperlinks to specific CORDIS pages. As CORDIS cannot hope to know in advance the specific circumstances of each and every user, the present information sheet provides a general overview of the changes, ranging from the simple to the more complex. It is hoped that most readers will be able to discern which aspects are relevant to their own needs, and will be able to ignore the more complex elements intended for a smaller number of more specialised users. The CORDIS Help Desk is available to advise users on specific questions.

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Change of Web address

In general terms, from 9th May 2006, all CORDIS URLs have been moved to the new ' europa.eu' domain, and now commence with 'http://cordis.europa.eu/.' For a simple example, the old page 'http://www.cordis.europa.eu/en/home.html' will henceforth be ' http://cordis.europa.eu/en/home.html'.

If you type in a given 'old' URL, or follow an 'old' hyperlink, you will be automatically re-routed to the corresponding 'new' URL and will thus obtain the same information as before. 'Old' and 'new' addresses will remain valid for some time (probably at least a year), but the automatic redirection from the old 'cordis.europa.eu' (and 'cordis.europa.eu.int') addresses will eventually be phased out.

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What should you do with your bookmarked CORDIS pages?

You should change, to the new URLs, any CORDIS 'favourites/bookmarks' saved in your PC/browser; if you do not do this now, and forget later, you may lose these 'old' favourites when the automatic redirection is discontinued. [In most cases you can use the existing 'favourites' link to access the document with new URL, save the new 'favourite', and then delete the old one.] You may also wish to alert your regular correspondents/users concerning this change, so that they can also update their 'favourite' CORDIS addresses in their Web browsers.

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If you manage web-pages with links to CORDIS, you should implement the following updates:

If you publish hyperlinks from your web service(s) to CORDIS addresses, these should be updated as soon as possible in order to avoid the breakage of the links when CORDIS removes the automatic redirection facility. Similarly, if you are publishing CORDIS URLs in any other way (e.g. in a paper newsletter or on a leaflet) only the new addresses should be used.

The move from the 'cordis.europa.eu' domain to the 'cordis.europa.eu' domain (transiting via 'cordis.europa.eu.int') has been a complex one; it has involved, inter alia:

  • Changing the URL for some 300 000 static (HTML) pages
  • Modifying over 20 'dynamic' applications that generate web pages on demand by inserting information from databases into pre-defined templates.
  • Modifying all internal hyperlinks, both in all static pages, as well as in a similar number of database records.
  • Ensuring that users can (temporarily) access the same information using 'cordis.europa.eu' or any of four possible 'older' domain names ('www.cordis.europa.eu', 'cordis.europa.eu.int', 'www.cordis.europa.eu.int', and 'www.cordis.europa.eu')
  • Maintaining permanent service availability throughout the process
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The tables below summarises the main elements of the transformation rules.

Specific rules

  1. Simple HTML addresses mostly involve only the change of the domain name.

    For example:

    Old URL
    http://www.cordis.europa.eu/en/home.html

    New URL
    http:// cordis.europa.eu/en/home.html

  2. In some cases, the language version has been added to the URL.

    For example:

    Old URL
    http://www.cordis.europa.eu/ireland/home.html

    New URL
    http://cordis.europa.eu/ireland/home_ en.html

  3. In URLs with the form 'abc.cordis.europa.eu/etc', the ' abc' now follows after the domain name.

    For example:

    Old URL
    http:// wire.cordis.europa.eu/index.cfm?...

    New URL
    http:// cordis.europa.eu/wire/index.cfm?...

  4. In URLs that formerly had the form 'http://ica.cordis.europa.eu/search/index.cfm?...' the ' ica' element disappears.

    For example:

    Old URL
    http:// ica.cordis.europa.eu/search/index.cfm?...

    New URL
    http:// cordis.europa.eu/search/index.cfm?...

  5. In services that are a mixture of static and dynamic content, dynamic pages (i.e. pages generated automatically on user demand by inserting information from databases inside a specific page template) will have an additional 'key'. For example, in the FP6 service, static (simple HTML) pages will have a URL as defined in Rule #1 (e.g.: 'http://cordis.europa.eu/fp6/getsupport.htm') while dynamic content is designated by a 'dc'.

    For example:

    Old URL
    http://fp6.cordis.europa.eu/index.cfm?...

    New URL
    http:// cordis.europa.eu/fp6/dc/index.cfm?...

  6. Downloadable assets just change domain name.

    Old URL
    ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/service/docs/filename.ext

    New URL
    ftp:// ftp.cordis.europa.eu
    p/pub/service/docs/filename.ext

  7. Dynamic content changes 'syntax'; the 'icadc' disappears, and 'fep-cgi/srchidadb' becomes 'fetch'.

    For example:

    Old URL
    http://icadc.cordis.europa.eu/fep-cgi/srchidadb?etc

    New URL
    http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?etc

    A full example is:

    Old URL
    http://icadc.cordis.europa.eu/fep-cgi/srchidadb?CALLER=FP6_PROJ
    &ACTION=D&RCN=72830&DOC=1&CAT=PROJ&QUERY=1

    New URL
    http:// cordis.europa./fetch??CALLER=FP6_PROJ&
    ACTION=D&RCN=72830&DOC=1&CAT=PROJ&QUERY=1

  8. Name conflict; we formerly had two 'ELSA' services resolved by separate servers/domains: The FP4 programme dealing with 'Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects of the Life Science and Technologies' will now be designated 'elsa-fp4', while the DG RTD database of prospective candidates established for the Sixth Framework Programme will be designated 'elsa'.

    For example:

    Old URL
    http://cordis.europa.eu/elsa/ http://elsa.cordis.europa.eu/.

    New URL
    http://cordis.europa.eu/elsa-fp4/. http://cordis.europa.eu/elsa/.

  9. Hosted sites as exceptions to rule #3 above; CORDIS hosts five services for which we do not yet have formal agreement from the information 'owners' to migrate.
    These are: IST Results, Trendchart, Articles on Innovation, SME Techweb, and IRC (home page). Until agreement, these will have the following URLs:

    http://istresults.cordis.europa.eu/
    http://trendchart.cordis.europa.eu/
    http://aoi.cordis.europa.eu/
    http://sme.cordis.europa.eu/ (now agreed and will migrate soon to 'http://cordis.europa.eu/sme/.')
    http://www.innovationrelay.net/


  10. For various reasons, certain 'new' URLs may also contain other minor modifications according to specific circumstances. We therefore recommend that updated hyperlinks to CORDIS pages should be carefully checked to verify that the hyperlink is fully operational.

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DBS addresses

We have noticed that there are still many Web sites offering hyperlinks to old CORDIS URLs with the format 'http://dbs.cordis.europa.eu/etc', for example to the old map-based search at 'http://dbs.cordis.europa.eu/map/en/'. The DBS system was closed down in 2005, so such links have already been broken for many months. These links should either be removed altogether, or replaced by a new link to the same (or similar) asset. In many cases, these links were to specific documents or records, and can be reconstituted by searching in CORDIS using the 'RCN' number embedded in the old DBS link; the RCN number is usually shown in the lower right-hand corner of the document (e.g. Record Control Number (RCN): 35097)

If you have large number of such links, please contact CORDIS management; we will then see exactly what can be done to facilitate the updating of such links into the new CORDIS system.

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Conclusion

  1. CORDIS has changed all URLs in the service.
  2. You should change accordingly all bookmarks, hyperlinks and printed URLs under your responsibility.
  3. As changes are often complex, you should check carefully that these changes are operational.

If you have specific questions or problems, please contact the CORDIS Help Desk:
Tel: +352 2929 42210
Contact: cordis-helpdesk@publications.europa.eu
Web: Help Desk

Last updated on: 2008-03-27