[Biopython] Entrez.read return value is typed as a string??

[Peter]

On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 10:29 AM, Peter <biopython at maubp.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 3:19 AM, Ben O'Loghlin <bassbabyface at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> This all makes sense now, I wasn't aware of the different 'retmode' options.
>> The Bio.Entrez.efetch() documentation points me to
>> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/corehtml/query/static/efetch_help.html, which
>> doesn't mention the 'retmode' or 'rettype' parameters. In fact I couldn't
>> find any explicit reference to it in the Tutorial either, just the use of
>> 'rettype=text' in one of the example code snippets.
>>
>> I subsequently tracked down this page
>> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/corehtml/query/static/efetchlit_help.html which
>> does at least indicate the different rettypes and retmodes available.
>
> I agree the NCBI Entrez documentation is very unhelpful to beginners.
> We do try and make this easier in our tutorial, but perhaps "retmode"
> and "rettype" need to be discussed more on the EFetch section (they
> are mentioned a little later in the chapter in the context of other formats)

I've tried to make the EFetch section of the Biopython tutorial clearer
for the next release - thanks for the feedback.

Peter