Keyword search

The keyword search is based on matching the input string with keyword list table. The user will enter the keyword(s), the system will exact match this keyword(s) with the previously entered list of keywords which are associated with each entity. As an example if the user enter ``Switching'' the system will display all records that are associated with ``Switching''.

We added extra features to the keyword search mechanism to improve upon this search. some of these features are listed below:

  1. Wild card search

    The system will match the exact work and all keywords that vary in one or multiple character. As an example ``air?line'' would match ``airline'', where ? stand for a single arbitrary character.

  2. Thesaurus

    The system will provide the ability to match the exact keyword and all keywords that have similar meaning. As an example, the system would relate entities such as ``airplane'', ``Boeing 747'', ``aircraft'', etc.

  3. Phrase search

    In this type of search, the user may enter a phrase (two or more words that are separated by space) instead of single keyword. As an example ``expert system'' would be an acceptable search criteria.

  4. Boolean combination

    The user may provide a boolean search specification by entering queries joined by boolean operators.The default logical operator in the system is AND. If the user enters multi keywords separated by a space separator, the system will AND them together by default. Another logical operator is OR.

    The system examines selection criteria one at a time, from left to right, and it will do the logical operation that was called for. As an example, the system will process the following expression (switching OR software) AND hardware.

  5. Automatic stemming

    The system will provide the ability to match the exact keywords and its keyword derivatives. As an example, the user might like to search all records that contain ``switch'' in their keyword list. The system will find all records that contain switch, switching, switcher, etc. Automatic stemming can be invoked by appending one or more characters to a search term.