Help on Simple Query

DESCRIPTION:
The simple query window is used to enter words, topics, and phrases which 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 simple query window consists of two panes.  The upper pane is used to display the query definition, and 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.

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 simple query window, enter the words or phrases in the upper pane.  Words separated by spaces are considered a phrase; words separated by a comma are considered individual elements.  The combination of words and phrases you enter comprise the query definition.  For example, if you enter "economic reform, gorbachev" as a query definition, "economic reform" is considered a phrase, and "gorbachev" is considered as an individual word.

OPERATORS can be used with your query definition to indicate the relationship between separate words.  The operators which can be included with your query definition 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

When entering operator names other than AND and OR, enter the operator name surrounded by angle brackets, as in "future <PARAGRAPH> estimate".  When entering the operators AND and OR, you do not need to surround the operator name with angle brackets.  Operators can be entered in all uppercase, mixed-case, or all lowercase.

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 you enter the MANY and CASE modifier names, you must surround the modifier names with angle brackets.  When you enter the modifier name NOT you do not need to surround the modifier name with angle brackets.  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 simple 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 simple query window.

MERGING RESULTS:
If you select the Auto-merge Partitioned Retrievals option for your query, TOPICautomatically merges partitioned retrievals as they become available.  If this query option is not selected for your query, you must merge partitioned retrievals on demand as they become available.  To merge partitioned retrievals on demand, you can click on the Merge button, or you can select the "Merge Results" option from the Query menu.

For more information on using query options and merging partitioned retrievals, 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 a 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 a 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.

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.