TO ALL USERS - Search Function

[alexalonso]

There is a search function on this page that will allow you to search for answers to questions that have already been asked. Before you ask a question, search the database. This will keep the page more organized by not having redundant comments. This keeps the database smaller also.




4.5.1: Search Query

Search for Keywords - You may search for words in the content of topics. Enter the words to search for into the text field.

If you select Search for any terms or use query as entered, then topic containing ANY of the words you entered will be displayed. You may use the AND, OR, and NOT operators to indicate which words you want to search for. Use AND to indicate that multiple words MUST be found. Use OR to indicate that a word is optional/alternate. Use NOT to indicate that a word should not be present in the topics displayed.

If you select Search for all terms, only topics containing all of the words in the query will be displayed. Selecting this option has effects comparable to using Search for any terms or use query as entered, with the AND operator between each term.

You may use the asterisk(*) wildcard character to broaden your search. The asterisk will match any number of characters. So *cheese* will match cheese, cheesewheel, wheelcheese, or wheelcheesewheel. Likewise cheese*fudge will match cheesefudge, cheeseyfudge, or cheese597fudge.

To increase the speed and decrease the overhead of the search utility, only words may be searched for. Phrases (such as "cheese wheel") may not be searched for, except by their component words. The minimum size for words is four characters, and the maximum size is twenty characters. Any non-alphanumeric character (e.g. white space and punctuation) is a word boundary.

Search for Author - You may search for posts by post author. Simply enter the author's username into this text field. You may use the asterisk(*) wildcard in author's names to broaden your search. Again, the asterisk will match any number of characters.
4.5.2: Search Options

Forum - Select the forum you wish to search in, or All available. To search multiple forums, search by Category.

Category - Select the category you wish to search in, or All available.

Display Results as Posts - Search results will be displayed as a list of the posts. Part of the post that matches the query will be displayed, and the search terms highlighted. For each post there is a ling

Display Results as Topics - Search results will be displayed as a list of Topic titles. For each topic there is a link to the forum it is in, the topic itself, and the author of the topic.

Search Previous - This dropdown box will allow you to specify the maximum age of posts to display as results of the search. There are also radio buttons here that will allow you to search only the body of posts, or the subject(title) of the posts as well.

Sort by - This will allow you to specify how search results are organized. You may sort by Post Time, Post Subject, Topic Title, Author, or Forum. The sort may be in ascending or descending order alphabetically (or chronologically where appropriate)

Return first - When Display Results as is set to Posts, this dropdown box will allow you to control how much of the post is displayed in the search result.



thanks