>>> [log in to unmask] 08/08 8:02 >>>
>The root problem is that Theo wants to send requests to servers that
he is
>absolutly determined not to get Explain records from. (I understand
that
>he's running in an environment where that just isn't practical.) In
fact,
I prefer to use the explain information to provide database specific
search options after first showing shorts records resulting from a
metasearch in different databases, but I will try to use explain for
database specific searches to construct captions with at least something
as title and type.
>he wants to send exactly the same string to all those servers, so
getting
>Explain records from those servers doesn't help, because it would just
let
>him know in advance that he's sending garbage to some of those
servers.
>
It depends on how the list of servers is obtained. I will try to
prevent to access servers from which I cannot get useful information. My
objective in this discussion is to increase the chance of getting useful
information from as many servers as possible.
>
>The slippery slope that Mike proposes won't stop with the embedded
Present
>request. Theo also needs to send alternative forms of the query too.
(Try
>to do my Author search and if that doesn't work, then do my Name
search and
>if that doesn't work then here's an Any search. Oh yeah, and here's a
list
>of sort specifications too.)
>
On problem at a time. But yes, I would have preferred another approach
that would not need all that "try this and try that".
>
>The only way that Theo can send the exact same string to a bunch of
servers
>is if he knows that the string works on all those servers. One way he
might
>know that is if he knows that they've agreed to a common profile.
But,
>there's no way that he's going to get a single string to work on an
>arbitrary list of servers. None. Stop trying.
>
The better we do our job, the less profiling we need. I would see it as
a great achievement or perhaps even an objective when we could send at
least some common queries to servers in a common area. But again, I will
prevent servers that I cannot communicate with to be part of my list of
servers. So yes, I will not try to get a single string to work on an
arbitrary list of servers. however for servers that cover a common area
we should try.
Theo
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