Program is now executable and also attempts to diagnose the issues a user can...

Program is now executable and also attempts to diagnose the issues a user can face when setting up the API.

misc-scripts/ping_ensembl.pl

+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+
+#######################################################
+# This script is used to detect if you can contact the Ensembl database 
+# server with your current setup. The program will attempt to print out
+# helpful hints about how to resolve your problems. If they still persist
+# then please contact helpdesk@ensembl.org.
+#######################################################
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+my $host = 'ensembldb.ensembl.org';
+my $user = 'anonymous';
+my $port = 5306;
+my $db_version = '-';
+
+eval {
+  require Bio::EnsEMBL::Registry;
+  require Bio::EnsEMBL::ApiVersion;
+  require Bio::Perl;
+  Bio::EnsEMBL::Registry->load_registry_from_db(
+    -host    => $host,
+    -user    => $user, -db_version => 65
+  );
+  $db_version = Bio::EnsEMBL::ApiVersion::software_version();
+  my $human = Bio::EnsEMBL::Registry->get_DBAdaptor('homo_sapiens', 'core');
+  my $name = $human->get_MetaContainer()->get_scientific_name();
+  if('Homo sapiens' eq $name) {
+    print "Installation is good. Connection to Ensembl works and you can query the human core database\n";
+  }
+  else {
+    print "Installation is good. Connection to Ensembl works but the species name '$name' was not as expected. Please contact the developers at dev\@ensembl.org to update this assertion\n";
+  }
+};
+
+if($@) {
+  print "ERROR: Cannot connect to Ensembl!\n";
+  if($@ =~ /Can't locate Bio\/E/) {
+    print "\tLooks like you need to setup your PERL5LIB with the Ensembl API. Please consult http://www.ensembl.org/info/docs/api/api_installation.html\n";
+  }
+  if($@ =~ /Can't locate Bio\/Perl/) {
+    print "\tLooks like you need to setup your PERL5LIB with BioPerl. Please consult http://www.ensembl.org/info/docs/api/api_installation.html\n";
+  }
+  if($@ =~ /Cannot connect to/) {
+    print "\tCannot seem to contact EnsemblDB at '$host' with the username '$user'. Try running 'ping $host' or asking your systems about firewalls against port $port\n";
+  }
+  if($@ =~ /internal name/) {
+    print "\tSpecies was not found. You may have accidentally download the HEAD API version (found API release $db_version). Please consult http://www.ensembl.org/info/docs/api/api_installation.html\n";
+  }
+  if($@ =~ /Species not defined/) {
+    print "\tSpecies was not found. You may have accidentally download the HEAD API version (found API release $db_version). Please consult http://www.ensembl.org/info/docs/api/api_installation.html\n";
+  }
+  print '='x80, "\n";
+  print "If the problem persists please send the following error message to helpdesk\@ensembl.org\n";
+  print $@;
+  print '='x80, "\n";
+  exit 1;
+}
\ No newline at end of file