Building a search engine into a project

[James Lewes]

on 5/4/03 9:41 PM, Ray Bennett at smilingeyes at mac.com wrote:

> Do you have really good reason not to be using a database?  It just
> seems like your application is ideally suited for databases.
> Especially if you get to tens of thousands of records.  And Revolution
> seems to (I have NO experience with databases in Rev) give you adequate
> access to standards-based databases, so it might actually be less work
> than it seems.
> 
> Relative to expandable and searchable without the DB, however, there
> may be a million right answers, but one classic HyperCard approach
> would be to basically create a card catalog that resembles those that
> we old timers had to learn in library class in high school (along with
> the Dewey Decimal System).
> 
> One card per book.
> Each card contains separate fields for:
> Author
> Title
> ISBN Number
> Description
> Publisher
> Dewey Decimal Number (do these matter anymore????)
> (number in stock, last ordered, and all of the other things
> bookstores worry about  that libraries don't)
> etc.
> 
> Adding a book is adding a card.
> 
> Searching can be focused (by Author, by Title, by ISBN Number) or
> free-form (Google-like, you search every field
> on the card).   With the performance in Rev, before a few thousand
> titles, free-form searches are probably okay, but remember that once
> you're users are trained on free form, going to targeted searches may
> feel restrictive.
> 
> Finally, don't neglect the "browse" effect.  You know, when you wander
> through the bookstore and see related titles near each other on the
> shelf.  This is where our old buddy Dewey comes in handy.  You can set
> up virtual book shelves and let people actually look at a shelf full of
> books which are kind of related to what they're looking for.
> 
> I would guess that if you haven't already Googled for a library
> application built in HyperCard, MetaCard, SuperCard, or such, that you
> should.  I'd be surprised if something close to what you're after
> hasn't been done before.
> 
> Fwiw.
> Ray
> 
> On Sunday, May 4, 2003, at 19:01 America/New_York, James Lewes wrote:
> 
>> I was thinking of using Revolution to build a catalog for a bookstore.
>> 
>> Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make it expandable and
>> searchable
>> without having to link it up to a database.
>> 
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>> use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
>> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
>> 
> 
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The oproblem I have is how do you create a search engine for Revolution