Natural Resource Info Pool General Help

This document provides general help for the Natural Resource Info Pool Search Form. For more specific help on any field, click on the icon next to its field name.

Unlike many other search tools, the Natural Resource Info Pool Search Tool provides access to simple and advanced features in the same form, allowing you the user, to make your searches as simple or as complex as you choose.

This document is broken into two parts: "Simple Search" and "Advanced Search Options" and these describe techniques for both search types.

 


Diagram 1: The fields of the Natural Resource Info Pool Search form.

 

1. Simple Search

To execute a simple search using the Natural Resource Info Pool Search Form, enter a text string into the left-most Search Term Text Box (the one containing the words "** Search Term 1 ** when the page is first loaded and labelled 1(a) on Diagram 1) and click the Search Button (labelled 8 on Diagram 1). A query will be sent to the database requesting distinct records with terms in the Creator field or the Title field or the Subject field or the Identifier field or the Alternative field that match your entry. Once the query has been executed a red line of text appears at the top of the form notifying you of the number of records returned by your search and where these records are displayed.

It should be noted that the a simple search will probably return more records than you require. For example, a search for fish may return an record created by Bill Fishburn, a record with fisheries in the Title or a record with fish habitat in the Subject field. To reduce the number of returned records the search should be refined and this is accomplished with advanced search options.

1.1 View All Records

If you wish to view all records in the database, type "%" in the left-most Search Term Text Box, leave all other settings as their default, and click on the Search Button. A "view all records" search may be modified with any of the techniques described in the Advanced Search Options.

2. Advanced Search Options

2.1 Multiple Search Terms

The Natural Resource Info Pool search form provides the ability to search using one, two or three search terms linked together with logical operators. This generates a "search term expression" which is used to find records in the database. Using a single search term is equivalent to a Simple Search which has been discussed previously.

2.1.1 Two Search Terms

To search using two search terms, enter the terms into the first two Search Term Text Boxes (labelled 1(a) and 1(b) on Diagram 1) and select either "or" or "and" using the Logical Operator Radio Button (labelled 2 on Diagram 1) situated between the Search Term Text Boxes. Your search is executed via a "search term expression" which is dependent on the logical operator you selected, as follows:

2.1.2 Three Search Terms

To search using three search terms, enter the terms into the three Search Term Text Boxes (labelled 1(a), 1(b) and 1(c) on Diagram 1) and select "or or "and" using the Logical Operator Radio Buttons (labelled 2 on Diagram 1) situated between the text boxes. You search is executed via a "search term expression" which is dependent on the logical operators you selected, as follows:

2.2 Refine Search Drop Down Boxes

The Natural Resource Info Pool Search Form provides a series of drop down boxes to select search parameters for the River Basin, Year and Water Body Type fields. By default each drop down box has "any" selected, and so, all records will be returned if they match your "search term expression" regardless of their River Basin, Year or Water Body Type values (even if these values are null). To refine your search, select a value other than "any" from one or more of the drop down boxes. Now a record will only be returned if it first matches your "search term expression" and, its River Basin, Year and Water Body Type fields match those you have selected. Each Refine Search Drop Down Box is explained below.

2.2.1 River Basin Drop Down Box

From this drop down box (labelled 3 on Diagram 1) choose the River Basin associated with the resource, the default is "any". A Record will only be returned if the River Basin field of the record exactly matches the selected river basin.

2.2.2 Year Drop Down Box

From this drop down box (labelled 4 on Diagram 1) choose the Year of relevance for the resource, the default is "any". This field corresponds to the Search Year field on the Meta Data Upload Form. A Record will only be returned if the Search Year field of the record exactly matches the selected Year.

2.2.3 Water Body Type Drop Down Box

From this drop down box (labelled 5 on Diagram 1) choose the Water Body Type associated with the resource, the default is "any". A Record will only be returned if the Water Body Type field of the record exactly matches the selected Water Body Type.

2.3 Selected Search Fields

By default the "search term expression" is compared with the Creator, Title, Subject and Alternative fields to find a match. The Selected Search Field Check Boxes (labelled 9 on Diagram 1) give you the opportunity to restrict the fields that the "search term expression" is compared against, and thus, refine your search. In the example discussed previously, a search for fish returned a record created by Bill Fishburn, a record with fisheries in the Title and a record with fish habitat in the Subject field. If the Selected Search Field is restricted to just Creator (by checking the appropriate Selected Search Field Check Box), the search would no longer return the last two records.

2.4 Selected Display Fields

The default output for every returned record is to display every field of that record. The Selected Display Fields Check Boxes (labelled 10 on diagram 1) allow you to select exactly how much information you want displayed for returned records. Simply check only the boxes next to the fields that you wish to view, and only those fields will be displayed for each record returned. Note that you will be notified that a record contains no information in a particular field only if that field is selected for viewing.

2.5 Sort Results Criteria

As a further option when displaying results, The Natural Resource Info Pool Search Page lets you display your results according to a criteria you can specify. This is selected via the Sort By Field Drop Down Box and the Sort Order Radio Buttons (labelled 6 and 7 on Diagram 1). Their use is explained below.

2.5.1 Sort By Field Drop Down Box

The Sort By Field Drop Down Box gives you the choice of sorting your search results by either Year, Creator or Title. The default setting is sort by Year.

2.5.2 Sort Order Radio Buttons

The Sort Order Radio Buttons allow you to choose in which order (ascending or descending) your results are displayed.

Combining the Sort By Field Drop Down Box and the Sort Order Radio Buttons we have the following sort criteria: