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Basic and Timeline Search Page

Purpose

This page implements the two "simpler" or "coarser" search modes, namely the basic search (also called "full-text search") and the timeline search. Both have the ability of looking through (almost) all object and non-object entities in the database. This page will also take care of showing you the result of your search, and since multiple data types can be among the result, there will be less flexibility for the user to select the output format (as compared with the Advanced Search Result Page).

The basic or full-text search allows you to scan all text fields in all supported datatypes for a given character string (a word, part of a word, or even some formatting code you used in your comments). The search is case-insensitive. It also ignores the accented forms (for instance, 'e' will match all forms of E: 'e', 'é' and 'è' to name but a few).

The timeline search is further divided in two sub-modes: "latest updates" and "date range". The "latest updates" query form will let you list the last 'N' entities having been updated (for values of 'N' between 1 and 1000). The "date range" query form will let you list all entities having been updated between two dates of your choice. In both cases, you can further restrict the query by defining a list of applicable entities and / or a list of contributors.

Here are the tables (= data types) that can be included in the search (see Objects and Metadata Types for more information about the exact nature of each of them):

(*) EXIF data is available in Basic Search mode only.

Getting There...

To reach the Search Page in "basic" or "full text search" mode:

To reach the Search Page in "latest updates" or "date range" mode:

Modes

The Basic and Timeline Search Page supports 7 different modes of operation:

The controls available to the user in each of these modes as well as their meaning is covered in detail in the section below.

Calendar View is accessed from the Timeline search modality selection menu, but is implemented in a separate page.

Controls

Basic search

Navigation bar
At the top of the page, just below the header, you'll find links that you can use to switch between the four main search modes: Basic, Timeline, Advanced and Calendar Tools. This control acts like a set of "Tabs", where the currently active one is rendered as plain text, and other available choices are rendered as bold-face font links. On sub-pages (such as the "Timeline modality choice" or the "Search Result" page), the "current" tab will be rendered in regular font and link back to the previous step (the query term entry form, for instance). The last two choices are handled by separate pages and covered in Advanced Search Page and Calendar Tools}.
Search term field
The character string you would like to search the database for. The search will be case-insensitive, and accented forms will be considered equivalent to the non-accented ones.
No mini-quotes checkbox
By default, all "large" text fields (e.g. comments, reading or translation) will be scanned for matches on the query string, and a short quote giving the context of the match will be printed on the result page to make it easier for the user to select relevant entries. Clicking on this checkbox will disable the generation and display of these mini-quotes.
Filter by multi-select
Individually select the object or non-object entities that should be included in your search. By default, all supported entities are included. This gives you the ability to restrict your search only to a specific subset of entities.
Submit button
Submits the HTML form fields contents to be used as parameters for the search.
Reset button
Returns all HTML form fields to their initial value (i.e. the one they had when the page was last loaded in the browser).

Timeline search

Search modality selection

Navigation bar
At the top of the page, just below the header, you'll find links that you can use to switch between the four main search modes: Basic, Timeline, Advanced and Calendar Tools. This control acts like a set of "Tabs", where the currently active one is rendered as plain text, and other available choices are rendered as bold-face font links. On sub-pages (such as the "Timeline modality choice" or the "Search Result" page), the "current" tab will be rendered in regular font and link back to the previous step (the query term entry form, for instance). The last two choices are handled by separate pages and covered in Advanced Search Page and Calendar Tools}.
Search modality drop-down
Select between either of the two Timeline search sub-modes:
Next button
Submits your choice and reaches the next screen (the appropriate query entry form).

Latest updates

Navigation bar
At the top of the page, just below the header, you'll find links that you can use to switch between the four main search modes: Basic, Timeline, Advanced and Calendar Tools. This control acts like a set of "Tabs", where the currently active one is rendered as plain text, and other available choices are rendered as bold-face font links. On sub-pages (such as the "Timeline modality choice" or the "Search Result" page), the "current" tab will be rendered in regular font and link back to the previous step (the query term entry form, for instance). The last two choices are handled by separate pages and covered in Advanced Search Page and Calendar Tools}.
Max. number of hits field
How many lines (hits) should the query return at most? Default is 20. Valid choices range from 1 to 1000.
Per category checkbox
Whether the max. number of hits (previous field) should apply globally, or individually to each of the categories selected in the Filter by multi-select (see below).
The Per category box is checked by default.
Contributor multi-select
Individually select the user (contributor) that should be included in your search. By default (empty selection), all user contributions will be included. This gives you the ability to restrict your search by focussing on the contributions of a specific list of users.
Filter by multi-select
Individually select the object or non-object entities that should be included in your search. By default, all supported entities are included. This gives you the ability to restrict your search only to a specific subset of entities.
Submit button
Submits the HTML form fields contents to be used as parameters for the search.
Reset button
Returns all HTML form fields to their initial value (i.e. the one they had when the page was last loaded in the browser).

Date range

Navigation bar
At the top of the page, just below the header, you'll find links that you can use to switch between the four main search modes: Basic, Timeline, Advanced and Calendar Tools. This control acts like a set of "Tabs", where the currently active one is rendered as plain text, and other available choices are rendered as bold-face font links. On sub-pages (such as the "Timeline modality choice" or the "Search Result" page), the "current" tab will be rendered in regular font and link back to the previous step (the query term entry form, for instance). The last two choices are handled by separate pages and covered in Advanced Search Page and Calendar Tools}.
From date field
Specify the beginning of the search range. The "from" date is expanded to mean the beginning of that day. The expected date format is the ISO notation with hyphens as field separators (= YYYY-MM-DD). If the from date field is left empty, it is understood as being equal to the value of the to date field. Either of these fields can be left empty, but not both.
To date field
Specify the end of the search range. The "to" date is expanded to mean the end of that day. The expected date format is the ISO notation with hyphens as field separators (= YYYY-MM-DD). If the to date field is left empty, it is understood as meaning "today". Either of these fields can be left empty, but not both.
Contributor multi-select
Individually select the user (contributor) that should be included in your search. By default (empty selection), all user contributions will be included. This gives you the ability to restrict your search by focussing on the contributions of a specific list of users.
Search on radio button
Specify whether the search should match:
Filter by multi-select
Individually select the object or non-object entities that should be included in your search. By default, all supported entities are included. This gives you the ability to restrict your search only to a specific subset of entities.
Submit button
Submits the HTML form fields contents to be used as parameters for the search.
Reset button
Returns all HTML form fields to their initial value (i.e. the one they had when the page was last loaded in the browser).

Search result display

The following controls are present on the search result display page, whatever the selected mode.

Navigation bar
At the top of the page, just below the header, you'll find links that you can use to switch between the four main search modes: Basic, Timeline, Advanced and Calendar Tools. This control acts like a set of "Tabs", where the currently active one is rendered as plain text, and other available choices are rendered as bold-face font links. On sub-pages (such as the "Timeline modality choice" or the "Search Result" page), the "current" tab will be rendered in regular font and link back to the previous step (the query term entry form, for instance). The last two choices are handled by separate pages and covered in Advanced Search Page and Calendar Tools}.
View links
Each entry in the search result list is composed of a view link (where applicable) and a description. The view link will open the object or non-object entity edition page in "view" mode, and the description itself may contain further link(s) to related objects.
Refresh button
Located at the bottom of the list, just above the footer. Re-executes the query with the exact same query parameters. Very useful in the context of the full-text search when you need to perform the same modification through a set of records of different types (e.g. a word that you have always used with the wrong spelling). Just open each of the records in the search result in a separate window, switch to edit mode and correct them if applicable, then click on the refresh button to make sure you didn't miss any of them. In the case of the "date range" search, using the Refresh button only makes sense when the To date parameter is equal to today's date, of course.

See also:

Project Hirtius, © Les Ateliers du Héron, 2012.
Last updated: Monday, Apr. 22, 2024.

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