On second thoughts, I think it's better to use the index name to incorporate
the target database.  So if you ask for index "author authority" it scans
that index, the occurrence count means the number of authority occurrences
and it leads to authority records.  "Author catalogue" scans give the
bibliographic occurrence count and leads to bibliographic records.  By
'loading' the index name it actually removes the ambiguity from the
occurrence count element.

On step size, I've never used it but I think it is designed primarily for
subject browse.  There are better ways to do an expanded and collapsed scan,
e.g. by browsing headings that have no subdivisions then allowing them to be
"opened" (Windows explorer metaphor).  Step size is a rather crude way to do
a "quick flip".  If servers were to support some kind of expansion and
collapse, I'm not certain that many would support any step size proposed by
a client.  If we were to contemplate something equivalent to step size, I
would propose a collapsed element and leave the server to interpret its
meaning.


Janifer

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Sanderson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, 21 January 2003 20:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Scan


> I'm happy with these suggestions.  I'd like to dump stepSize and
> targetDatabase.

Jannifer wanted targetDatabase. No one wants stepSize, as far as I can
tell.

Following on from my 'discovery' that index/term needs to be a
searchClause, everything fell to pieces fairly neatly:
  http://srw.o-r-g.org:8080/l5r/?operation=scan&clause=ninja

Accepts clause, numberOfEntries and responsePosition for SRU, and also
xClause for SRW. Adds in echoedRequest ala searchRetrieveResponse for SRU.
Also has a diagnostics list, but everything is Diagnostic 2 for the
moment. [Temporary error :)]

Why 'numberOfEntries' and 'responsePosition'?  These are the terms used in
ZOOM's scan, so I just copy them from the request onto the ZOOM object.
Also means for less confusion in having to do translations from one
object's attribute name to another.

Still working on the XSL for the display, but it does a simple linked
table so far which is enough to demonstrate that it works.
(Notably it doesn't use echoedRequest to generate the links, so the
searches are always against the default index and it doesn't generate
next/previous listing links)

Things which would be useful which Theo (IIRC) brought up:  Some sort of
marker for where the term would be if it's not present, or that the term
is the one used from the request.  Probably another field in <term> ?

Rob

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