Help on Topic Query

DESCRIPTION:
The topic query window is used to construct a topic to be used in a query, or to be saved to your private topic set for future use.

The topic query window consists of two panes.  The upper pane contains the Topic Editor, which is used to create a topic tree and assign operators, modifiers, and weights which express the relationship and importance of lower levels of the topic tree to higher levels.  A topic tree is displayed with the higher topic levels, or parents, towards the left portion of the Topic Editor, and branches to the lower topic levels, or children, towards the right portion of the Topic Editor.  The lower pane contains the Results List, which is used to display a list of retrieved documents associated with the topic displayed in the Topic Editor.  A control panel separates the two panes in the topic query window, and contains the Retrieved indicator, the Merge indicator, and the Processed bar.

To scroll this window to see more text, use the Arrow keys.

To close this window, use the Esc key.

USING THE TOPIC EDITOR:
When you create a new topic using the Topic Editor, the ACCRUE operator appears in the upper left portion of the pane.  An expand/collapse icon appears to the right of the operator, which is used to expand or collapse that branch of the topic tree.  When a branch of the topic tree is expanded, this icon appears as a hyphen (-); when a branch is collapsed, this icon appears as a plus sign (+).

When creating a new topic, you perform the following steps:
1.  Choose the operator to be used with the topic to be defined.
2.  Enter the topic name.
3.  Create branch topic and leaf topic children, assigning operators and weights to be used with each.

To select an operator, use the Tab key to select the existing operator, then use the "Add Operator" option of the Query menu to display the Add operator menu.  From this menu, use the Arrow keys to highlight the desired operator, then press the Enter/Return key. 

The operators that can be assigned are as follows:

Leaf Operators:  WORD, STEM, SOUNDEX, and WILDCARD
Proximity Operators: PHRASE, SENTENCE, and PARAGRAPH
Concept Operators:  AND, OR, and ACCRUE
Boolean Operators:  ANY and ALL
Relational Operators:  EQUAL (=), GREATER THAN (>), GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO (>=), LESS THAN (<), LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO (<=), THROUGH, and CONTAINS

Once you have selected the operator for the topic being defined, you can assign a topic name.  To assign a topic name, use the Tab key to position the cursor on the brackets [ ] which appear to the left of the operator, then enter the topic name.  The topic name appears with its operator and weight (if appropriate) when you press the Enter/Return key.

Modifiers can be used with certain operators to alter their behavior when your topic is used in a retrieval.  The modifiers which can be included in in your topic are MANY, NOT, and CASE.  The MANY and CASE modifiers are available from the Add Operator menu, which appears when you select the "Add Operator" option from the Query menu.  The NOT modifier is entered with the weight, as described below.

Weights can be assigned to lower topic levels to indicate their importance to their parent topic, if the parent topic uses the AND, OR, or ACCRUE operators.  Weights range from 0.01 to 1.00.  The higher the weight, the more important that topic is considered to be with respect to its parent topic.  To assign a weight to a topic, use the Tab key to position the cursor on the existing weight, then enter the desired weight.  If you wish to assign the NOT modifier to the topic, use the Tab key to position the cursor on the existing weight, then enter NOT.  The new weight (and NOT modifier, if used) appear with the topic name and operator when you press the Enter/Return key.

For a complete description of how operators, modifiers, and weights function and how to define them in your topic tree, refer to the TOPIC User's Guide for PCs and Terminals.

STARTING A SEARCH:
Once you have created your topic tree, you can start a search by selecting the "Start Retrieval" option from the Query menu.  As documents are retrieved which meet your topic tree, they appear in the Results List in the lower portion of the topic query window.

MERGING RESULTS:
If you have selected the Auto-merge Partitioned Retrievals option for your query, TOPIC automatically merges partitioned retrievals as they become available.  If you have not selected this query option for your query, you need to merge partitioned retrievals on demand as they become available.  To merge partitioned retrievals, select the "Merge Results" option from the Query menu. 

For more information on query options and partitioned retrievals, refer to the TOPIC User's Guide for PCs and Terminals.

VIEWING RESULTS:

To view a retrieved document which appears in the Results List, use the Arrow keys to position the pointer over the desired document then use the Space bar to select it.  To open the selected document, press the Enter/Return key. The document is then displayed within a document window, which can be scrolled up or down.  You can display several documents at a time in separate document windows by using the Window menu to return to the original simple query, then selecting another document to be opened.

SORTING RESULTS:
When your retrieved documents appear in the Results List, they are ranked by their score (their relevance to your topic tree).  The ranking appears in descending sequence, meaning that the retrieved documents which are most relevant to your topic tree appear at the top of the list, and those which are less relevant appear farther down the list.  The score appears as a numeric field, and is included with each retrieved document.

You can specify that your retrieved documents are sorted against a field other than the score field.  To specify another sorting order, select the "Sort" option from the View menu to display the Sort dialog box.  The Sort dialog box lists the current sort order by field in the Available Fields list.  To change the sort order in effect, use the Tab key and Arrow keys to position the cursor on a listed field, then use the Space bar to select it.  To move the selected field to the Sort By list, use the Tab key to position the cursor on the Move >> indicator, then use the Space bar.  You can also change the sort order from descending sequence to ascending sequence.

To store your preferred sort order for the active query's future retrievals, press the Enter/Return key.  To re-sort the retrieval results and store the preferred sort order for the active query's future retrievals, use the Tab key to position the cursor on the Re-sort option, then press the Enter/Return key.

DELETING A DOCUMENT:
As you review documents in the Results List after performing a retrieval, you may want to selectively remove some from the Results List to make it more manageable.  TOPIC provides two options for deleting documents:  Clear and Delete.  These options perform two different functions, as described below.

Clear: The "Clear" option is used to clear one or more documents from the Results List.  When documents are cleared, they will not appear again for the query you are currently using, but they remain in the TOPIC database so they can be searched over using another query definition.   To clear a document, use the Arrow keys and Space bar to highlight the desired document in the Results List to be cleared, then select the "Clear" option from the Edit menu.
 
Delete:  The "Delete" option is used to delete one or more documents from the Results List as well as from your TOPIC database.  When documents are deleted, they will not be included in retrieval results for any other query definition.  Note that when you delete a document, it cannot be viewed by any other TOPIC user.
 To delete a document, use the Arrow keys and Space bar to highlight the desired document in the Results List to be cleared, then select the "Delete" option from the Edit menu.

SAVING A QUERY:
To save a query for future use, select the "Save Query" option of the File menu.  The query is saved using the name that appears in the upper portion of the query window, and is automatically appended with a .qry suffix.

If you use the "Save Query" option to save a query that you have already named, TOPIC assumes that you want to save the revised query under the same name, and will overwrite the existing query.  To save a revised query under another name, use the "Save As ..." option of the File menu, then complete the information specified within the dialog box.     

SAVING A TOPIC:
When you create a topic using the Topic Editor, you can save it using the "Save Topics" option of the File menu.  If you create topics during a TOPIC session and do not save them using this option, you will be asked whether or not you wish to save your topics when you exit TOPIC.  If you choose to save your topics, you will be able to use the new topics when you start another TOPIC session.  If you choose not to save your topics, you will not see the topics you create when you start another TOPIC session.