loncom/html/adm/help/searchcat.html - view

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Tue Aug 28 12:13:52 2001 UTC (22 years, 10 months ago) by harris41
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help page accessible from search catalog interface

<html> <head> </head> <body bgcolor='#ffffff'> <a name='helptop' /> <img align='right' src='/adm/lonIcons/lonhelplogos.gif' /> <h1>Search Catalog</h1> <hr /> <form> <input type='button' onClick='self.close()' value='Close this help window' /> </form> <ol> <li><a href='#queryconstruct'>Constructing a query</a></li> <li><a href='#scanningstatus'>Understanding the Search Progress screen</a></li> <li><a href='#outputview'>Viewing the Output of Search Results</a> <li><a href='#controlwho'>Controlling who can search through resources</a></li> <li><a href='#engineperformance'>Search engine performance measurements</a> </li> <li><a href='#softwarearchitecture'>Notes on software architecture</a></li> <li><a href='#limitations'>Limitations</a></li> </ol> <a name='queryconstruct' /> <a href='#helptop'> <img border='0' align='left' src='/adm/lonIcons/lonhelptop.gif' /></a> <h3>1. Constructing a query</h3> <br clear='all' /> <p> Queries are constructed with the three logical operators: AND, OR, and NOT. These logical operators combined with search terms creates a logical expression (Boolean query). Search terms can either be alphanumeric words, or phrases delimited by quotation marks. Logical operations can be grouped together with parentheses. </p> <p> Examples include: </p> <ul> <li><tt>(Harrison and not Albertelli) or (Kortemeyer and "Alexander Sakharuk")</tt></li> <li><tt>not "invariant set" and topology</tt></li> <li><tt>prokaryot or bacteria</tt></li> <li><tt>not einstein and not bohr</tt></li> </ul> <p> The search is case insensitive. (Logical operators are also evaluated in a case insensitive manner, e.g. and=AND.) </p> <br /> <br /> <a name='scanningstatus' /> <a href='#helptop'> <img border='0' align='left' src='/adm/lonIcons/lonhelptop.gif' /></a> <h3>2. Understanding the Search Progress screen</h3> <br clear='all' /> <p> The Search Progress screen provides five pieces of information. This information is dynamically updated every second as the search progresses across the LON-CAPA network. </p> <ol> <li>The number of library servers being scanned.</li> <li>The number of database hits found.</li> <li>The time elapsed (in seconds).</li> <li>A grid showing the response status of every LON-CAPA library server.</li> <li>A window for displaying response details of individual LON-CAPA library servers.</li> </ol> <p> The response status grid consists of the following symbols: </p> <ul> <li><img src='/adm/lonIcons/srvnull.gif' />: unknown; the server has yet to be contacted</li> <li><img src='/adm/lonIcons/srvbad.gif' />: a network connection cannot be established with the server </li> <li><img src='/adm/lonIcons/srvhalf.gif' />: a network connection was established to the database, but search results have yet to be completely transmitted from the database </li> <li><img src='/adm/lonIcons/srvempty.gif' />: a network connection was established and all search results are transmitted; however, there are no matching records for this server for this search </li> <li><img src='/adm/lonIcons/srvgood.gif' />: a network connection was established and all search results are transmitted; there is at least one matching record on this server for this search </li> </ul> <br /> <br /> <a name='outputview' /> <a href='#helptop'> <img border='0' align='left' src='/adm/lonIcons/lonhelptop.gif' /></a> <h3>3. Viewing the Output of Search Results</h3> <br clear='all' /> <p> The interface provides four different ways to format the output of metadata information. <ul> <li><strong>Detailed Citation View</strong></li> <ul> <li><u>Description</u>: Per database record, this view shows the following fields: Owner, Last Revision Date, Title, Author, Subject, Keyword(s), Notes, MIME Type, Language, Copyright/Distribution, Extra custom metadata fields, and Short Abstract. This view is meant to show a nicely formatted, detailed listing of data describing a LON-CAPA resource. </li> <li><u>Example</u>:</li> </ul> <li><strong>Summary View</strong></li> <ul> <li><u>Description</u>:</li> Per database record, this view shows the following fields: Title, Owner, Last Revision Date, Copyright/Distribution, and Extra custom metadata fields. This view is meant to show a nicely formatted, condensed amount of data describing a LON-CAPA resource. <li><u>Example</u>:</li> </ul> <li><strong>Fielded Format</strong></li> <ul> <li><u>Description</u>:</li> This view shows all standard metadata fields (as well as requested custom metadata fields) in the format of <tt><b>field_name</b>: <b>field_value</b></tt>. <li><u>Example</u>:</li> </ul> <li><strong>XML/SGML</strong></li> <ul> <li><u>Description</u>:</li> This view shows all standard metadata fields (as well as requested custom metadata fields) in the format of <tt><b><field_name></b><b>field_value</b><b></field_name></b></tt>. <li><u>Example</u>:</li> </ul> </ul> </p> <br /> <br /> <a name='controlwho' /> <a href='#helptop'> <img border='0' align='left' src='/adm/lonIcons/lonhelptop.gif' /></a> <h3>4. Controlling who can search through resources</h3> <br clear='all' /> <p> Currently, any user can see metadata for any published resource. We are working to change this and are considering two possibilities: </p> <ol> <li> <pre> Browsing and searching should only be * either user specific (georgio can only browse and search /res/DOMAIN/georgio) * or has advanced status as indicated by $ENV{'user.adv'} </pre> </li> <li> <pre> If user can access resource through current role (student in a class, etc) then it should show up on searching and browsing. Even if resource conditionals prevent actually viewing the specific resource. Advanced users can search and browse "everywhere". </pre> </li> </ol> <br /> <br /> <a name='engineperformance' /> <a href='#helptop'> <img border='0' align='left' src='/adm/lonIcons/lonhelptop.gif' /></a> <h3>5. Search engine performance measurements</h3> <br clear='all' /> <p> </p> <br /> <br /> <a name='softwarearchitecture' /> <a href='#helptop'> <img border='0' align='left' src='/adm/lonIcons/lonhelptop.gif' /></a> <h3>6. Notes on software architecture</h3> <br clear='all' /> <p> </p> <br /> <br /> <a name='limitations' /> <a href='#helptop'> <img border='0' align='left' src='/adm/lonIcons/lonhelptop.gif' /></a> <h3>7. Limitations</h3> <br clear='all' /> <p> The metadata search can only consist of spaces and alphanumeric characters. Other characters are illegal and are filtered out when sending the search request to the search engine. </p> <p> LON-CAPA library servers are given 9 seconds to inform another server that they are in the process of generating a reply to a search request. Note that this is DIFFERENT than actually conducting the search. Upon initial communication, the individual library servers just send a response key to indicate the name of the results file that is going to be generated. </p> <p> LON-CAPA library servers will only send up to 100 records in response to a search. </p> <p> The output of matching records is limited to 200 records. </p> <p> The capping of results to values of 100 and 200 should eventually be user modifiable. These limitations exist to avoid processing overly expansive search requests. </p> <br /> <br /> </body> </html>