Building a search engine into a project

[Ray Bennett]

Oh.  Sorry to be so long winded, then.

The "search engine" is pretty much built into Revolution.  Most of what 
you need is in the "find" command.   Start by reading the Transcript 
Dictionary on "Find".   Then I'd recommend reading "How to search a 
container" and "How to search a stack" and then finally, using the Rev 
2.0 beta, look at the "Recipe for a Find field".

(The easiest way to get to all of these, IMHO, is to open the 
Transcript Dictionary, then type "Find" into the "Find term:" box.  
This gives you the Find command writeup, and the "See Also" pulldown 
menu gets loaded with all of the related stuff - including the ones I 
mention above.)

You'll also want to investigate all of the "found..." functions, such 
as foundLine, foundField, foundText, etc.  These are useful for helping 
you tailor your searches and evaluate search results.  Also, as is the 
case with most of the Rev documentation in its current state, each of 
the items in the dictionary may contain some nugget of information that 
isn't really available anywhere else.  I find that reading and 
re-reading some of the "See Also" entries for any given command is the 
only way to really understand the bigger picture.

Hope this reply is more helpful than the last one.


On Sunday, May 4, 2003, at 23:12 America/New_York, James Lewes wrote:

> 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
>
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