Help on Form Query

DESCRIPTION:
The form query window is used to construct a query using a pre-defined form which is set up by your TOPIC database administrator.  The fields which appear in the form query window represent the information you wish to locate in documents contained in your TOPIC database.  The information you enter as a question is called a query definition.  

The form query window consists of two panes.  The upper pane consists of the form query template, which contains three field types:  filter fields, text fields, and topic fields.  The lower pane contains the Results List, which is used to display a list of retrieved documents associated with the query.  A slider bar is used to separate the two panes of the query window.  The slider bar can be selected using the mouse, then dragged up and down to expose more of the upper or lower pane, as needed.

To scroll this window to see more text, use the scrollbar and scrollboxes.

To close this window, use the same procedure used to close a window in your graphical user interface.

ENTERING A QUERY:
To enter a query definition in the form query window, enter the information following each field to be used in the form query template.  The Require box next to each field is used to indicate that you want TOPIC to retrieve only those documents which have the field value specified; documents that do not have the field value are not selected.  To check the Require box, click on the box with the mouse button.  One or more fields can contain information to be used in a retrieval.  TOPIC performs a more precise retrieval, depending on how many fields contain information, and depending on whether the Require box has been checked for a field.

Database fields are used to specify document information that TOPIC matches against data stored in fields in the database, such as a date or a document by a specific author.  For example, you may wish to locate all documents which have a specific date.  To use a database field named DATE, enter the desired date in the DATE field in the form query template.

Ad hoc text fields are used to enter text, such as words and phrases, that TOPIC matches against documents stored in the database.  For example, you may wish to locate all documents which contain the word "earnings." To use an ad hoc text field named TEXT, enter the word or phrase in the TEXT field.

Topic fields are used to enter topic names, as defined in the TOPIC database.  For example, you may wish to locate all documents which contain the topic oil-companies.  To use a topic field named TOPIC, enter the topic name in the TOPIC field.  If you wish to enter two or more topic names, separate each topic name with a comma.

OPERATORS can be used with your query definition to indicate the relationship between the information you enter in form query fields.  The operators which can be included with your query definition are as follows:

For Ad hoc text and Topic Fields:
Leaf Operators:  WORD, STEM, SOUNDEX, and WILDCARD
Proximity Operators: PHRASE, SENTENCE, and PARAGRAPH
Concept Operators:  AND, OR, and ACCRUE
Boolean Operators:  ANY and ALL

For Database Fields:
Relational Operators:  EQUAL (=), GREATER THAN (>), GREATER THAN OR EQUAL 
TO (>=), LESS THAN (<), LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO (<=), THROUGH, and CONTAINS

When entering the operators AND, OR, and relational operators which use symbols, such as EQUAL (=), enter the symbol to represent the operator. For example, if you wish to locate all documents written by the author named Smith, and the AUTHOR filter field has been defined by your TOPIC database administrator, enter "= smith" in the AUTHOR filter field.  When entering the AND and OR operators, enter the operator name.  For example, if your TOPIC database administrator has defined an ad hoc text field, and you wish to locate documents containing the words "future" or "estimate", enter "future OR estimate" in the ad hoc text field.  Operators can be entered in all uppercase, mixed-case, or all lowercase.

When entering other operators, such as leaf operators, proximity operators, boolean operators, and ACCRUE, enter the operator name surrounded by angle brackets.  For example, to enter the PARAGRAPH operator with the phrase "white house" and the word "bush", enter the following :  "white house <PARAGRAPH> bush".


MODIFIERS can be used with certain operators to alter their behavior when your query definition is used in a retrieval.  The modifiers which can be included in your query definition are MANY, NOT, and CASE.  Modifiers are entered following the operator, as in "computer-companies <AND> <NOT> ibm".  When entering the NOT modifier, you do not need to enter the angle brackets around the modifier name.  When entering the MANY and CASE modifier names, you must enter angle brackets surrounding the modifier name.  Modifiers can be entered in all uppercase, mixed-case, or all lowercase.

For a complete description of how these operators work and how to define them in your query definition, refer to the TOPIC User's Guide for your retrieval client.

STARTING A SEARCH:
Once you have entered your query definition, you can start a search by clicking on the Retrieve button in the middle portion of the form query window with the mouse button.  As documents are retrieved which meet your query definition, they appear in the Results List in the lower portion of the form query window.

MERGING RESULTS:
If you select the Auto-merge Partitioned Retrievals option for the query, TOPIC
automatically merged partitioned retrievals as they become available.  If this
query option is not selected for your query, you can perform a merge on demand to merge newly-available partitioned retrievals.
  
For more information on selecting query options and merging retrieval results, refer to the TOPIC User's Guide for your retrieval client.

VIEWING RESULTS:
To view a retrieved document which appears in the Results List, position the pointer over the desired document, then double-click with the mouse button.  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 double-clicking on each desired document.

SORTING RESULTS:
When your retrieved documents appear in the Results List, usually they are ranked by their score (their relevance to your query definition).  The ranking appears in descending sequence, meaning that the retrieved documents which are most relevant to your query definition 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, click on a listed field to select it, then move it to the Sort By list.  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, click on the OK button in the Sort dialog box.  To re-sort the retrieval results and store the preferred sort order for the active query's future retrievals, click on the Re-sort button.

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, click on the desired document in the Results List to highlight it, then select the "Clear" option from the File 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, click on the desired document in the Results List to highlight it, then select the "Delete" option in 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, unless you are using TOPIC Retrieval Client for the Macintosh.

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.