Internet-style Queries
When you implement the Verity internet-style query parser, users can use familiar commands from the Web to search for documents. Information Server includes these tools: a sample search form which enables the internet-style query parser and the Search Tips for Internet-style Queries Online Guide which provides end-user documentation about how to writer internet-style queries.
Sample Internet-style Search Form
The Internet-style query parser allows users to write queries in a style used by many popular web search services. To use the Internet-style query parser, you simply need to specify "internet" for the queryMode parameter in a search form.
A sample search form that uses the Internet-style query parser is included in the product distribution. To access the search form using your web browser, use:
- http://host:port/search97/samples/forms/inetqry.htm
The search form is located in the file system here:
- installdir
/s97is/locale/language/samples/forms/inetqry.htm
The SEARCHScript that invokes the Internet-style query parser is shown below:
- <FORM method="POST" action="/search97cgi/s97_cgi.exe">
- <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="Action" VALUE="Search">
- <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="QueryMode" VALUE="Internet">
- <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="ResultTemplate" VALUE="inetstd.hts">
Search Tips for Internet-style Queries Online Guide
The sample Internet-style search form includes a link to the Search Tips for Internet-style Queries Online Guide. This online guide, available in HTML form only, is designed to assist users with writing internet-style queries.
Basic Internet-style Queries
The search engine processes an internet-style search when a query expressed in internet-style syntax and interpreted by the internet-style parser. For an internet-style query, users can enter words, phrases, and plain language.
Words
To search with words, separate the words with spaces. Enter words without capital letters to searches for words with and without capitalization. When you enter a word with capitalization or punctuation, the Verity internet-style Query Parser looks for the word exactly as you typed it. A string of capitalized words is assumed to be a name and is automatically searched for as a phrase.
Phrases
To search for an exact phrase, surround the phrase with double quotation marks. A string of capitalized words is assumed to be a name. Separate a series of names with commas. Commas aren't needed when the phrases are surrounded by quotation marks. The following example searches for a document that contains the phrases "San Francsico" and "sourdough bread".
- San Francisco "sourdough bread"
Plain Language
To search with plain language, you can enter a question or concept and the Verity internet-style Query Parser identifies the important words and searches for them. For example, enter a question such as:
- Where is the sales office in San Francisco?
This query produces the same results as entering:
- sales office San Francisco
Expanded Queries
Searches can be expanded by using wildcards and topics in an internet-style query. Use one asterisk (*) to substitute for one or more characters.
When topics have been defined, they can be used in queries. To prevent a word from being interpreted as a topic, surround the word with single quotation marks. The Verity internet-style Query Parser will retrieve only documents that exactly match the word. The following table shows how the Verity internet-style Query Parser interprets various queries when a topic named "domestic-violence" exists.
Limited Queries
You can limit searches by excluding or requiring search terms or limiting the areas of the document that are searched.
Using Search Terms
Searches can limited by excluding or requiring search terms. A minus sign (-) immediately preceding a word or phrase excludes it from relevant documents.
A plus sign (+) immediately preceding a word or phrase requires it in relevant documents. Documents that contain optional words have higher scores than documents that contain only the required word.
Using Document Areas
You can also limit the searches to specific zones or fields in a document. The zones that are available for searching depends on the type of documents in the collection. Zones are available in Markup Language documents (such as HTML and SGML) and Internet Message format documents (such as standard email and Usenet newsgroup messages). The online search tips identify the zones available in each type of document.
To search a document zone, type the name of the zone, a colon (:), and the search terms.
Fields are external attributes of documents that have been defined and enabled by an administrator. The availability of attribute searching depends on the system configuration.
To search a document field, type the name of the field, a colon (:), and the search terms.
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