RE: [search-ws] Scan as a query type

["Matthew J. Dovey" <m.dovey@jisc.ac.uk>]

As well as inelegance there is an implementation issue too.

Basically, as an implementer, typically I'd have to handle a standard
search different to a scan type search (in terms of what I search, what
queries I can handle and which I reject, what record formats I'd return
etc.)

In the current approach, the hint as to which I should do is the
different operations.

In the proposed approach, I now have to pre-scan the parsed query tree
looking for a scan index term before I know how to handle it.

Matthew

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matthew J. Dovey [mailto:m.dovey@jisc.ac.uk]
> Sent: 15 November 2007 00:52
> To: Ray Denenberg, Library of Congress; search-ws@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: RE: [search-ws] Scan as a query type
> 
> > scan.index=dc.creator AND scan.term >= <term>
> 
> Or
> 
> scan.index=dc.creator AND dc.creator >= <term>
> 
> might also work?
> 
> > What do you think of this approach?
> 
> I see two not catastrophic but inelegant issues with this approach:
> 
> i) introducing scan.index into a query suddenly introduces the ability
> to create meaningless queries. In CQL at present it is possible to
> create silly or complicatedly obtuse queries, and it is always
possible
> for a server to reject a query due to it being too resource intensive
> or
> other implementation issues - but any syntactically valid query will
> have an readily understood meaning. It is clear what the intent of the
> query is, even if the server is unable to return a result set.
> Scan.index introduces meaningless queries. The following simply do not
> make sense:
> 
> scan.index = dc.creator AND dc.author = "Smith"
> 
> scan.index = dc.creator OR scan.term >= "Smith"
> 
> NOT scan.index = dc.creator
> 
> ii) in both Z39.50 and SRU, the query and the record format/syntax
> returned are independent. If a server returns MODS, you can ask for
> MODS
> irrespective of what the query is. In this case, there is a
dependency.
> If the query includes a term from the scan set, the record syntax
> returned will be a scan/index related record set.
> 
> Matthew
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from this mail list, you must leave the OASIS TC that
> generates this mail.  You may a link to this group and all your TCs in
> OASIS
> at:
> https://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/portal/my_workgroups.php