Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 13:09:46 -0500 From: bbourdea@ciesin.org (Bob Bourdeau) To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: kwaqs tutorial and zclient Chris, The KWAQS tutorial included with Isite is a pretty good start at understanding Z39.50 attributes, but it's meant to help you understand the Z39.50 standard, and not provide all the details of the standard. I've been consulting the standard for quite a while now, and I still don't understand all of it, it's extremely complex. Nevertheless, I think I can get you further down the road here. First, most Z39.50 attributes are meaningful only in the context of the SEARCH Facility. USE and STRUCTURE attributes are important in several contexts, but the rest of the attributes are related to SEARCH. USE attributes are analogous to "field names" and STRUCTURE attributes are analogous to "data types". Second, the actual allowed USE, RELATION, POSITION, STRUCTURE, TRUNCATION, and COMPLETENESS attributes, are specific to a particular "attribute set" (which is actually a set-of-sets). The example you refer to below is specific to the BIB-1 attribute set. If you refer to the ANSI/NISO Z39.50-1995 document, you'll find the answers to the rest of your questions relative to the BIB-1 attribute set. (See page 81 of the standard) Examples from BIB-1: --------------------- USE attributes: 4 = title 21 = subject 62 = abstract 31 = date of publication 1035 = anywhere in record (for full text search) RELATION attributes: 1 = less than 2 = less than or equal to 3 = equal 100 = phonetic POSITION attributes: 1 = first in field 2 = first in subfield STRUCTURE attributes: 1 = phrase 2 = word 4 = year 5 = date (normalized) 6 = word list 109 = numeric string TRUNCATION attributes: 1 = right truncation 100 = do not truncate COMPLETENESS attributes: 1 = incomplete field 3 = complete field Now, the manner in which these attributes can be combined is also restricted. For example, you can't (shouldn't ?) use the STRUCTURE attribute 109 (numeric) with USE attribute 4 (title). Ok, let me attempt to give an example where these attributes make a difference in how the search is executed: "water resources[1,62,2,3,3,3,4,1]" matches records for which the phrase "water resources" exactly matches some substring in the content of the abstract field. "water resources[1,62,2,1,3,3,4,1,6,1]" matches records for which the phrase "water resources" is lexically less-than some substring in the content of the abstract field. (maybe this one is a bad example) "water resources[1,62,2,1,3,3,4,1,6,3]" matches records for which the phrase "water resources" is lexically less-than the exact content of the abstract field. (if I'm interpreting the COMPLETENESS correctly) "water resources[1,62,2,3,3,3,4,6,6,3]" matches records for which the words "water" and "resources" are equal to some substring of the content of the abstract field. (if I'm interpreting the COMPLETENESS correctly) Ok, I might have some of the above interpretations wrong, and I'd appreciate being corrected. But I'm sure that I have the general idea on how to interpret these attributes correct. Finally, these "attribute sets" don't live on their own. They live in the context of a "profile" which has an attribute set,but also specifies numerous details associated with Z39.50 services. So, I hope I haven't made things worse. No doubt one of the real Z39.50 gurus on this list will straighten me out on some of these things. Regards, --- Bob ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ || Robert H. Bourdeau | bourdeau@ciesin.org || || Head, Software Engineering and Systems Development | phone (517) 797-2794 || || Information Resources and Technologies Division | fax (517) 797-2622 || ||---------------------------------------------------------------------------|| || Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) || || 2250 Pierce Road, University Center, Michigan, 48710 USA || ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 09:37:54 -0500 > From: cgokey > To: Multiple recipients of list > Subject: kwaqs tutorial and zclient > > Hi folks, > > Is there any more detailed information on how to form > a query using the zclient? > > I see in Isite's documentation there is a document called > KWAQS.tutorial. After reading this, it still leaves a lot > of questions unanswered. > > According to the documentation, there are 6 Z39.50 attributes which > can be defined, and they go into the brackets as pairs - the > attribute number and the attribute value. > 1 = use attribute > 2 = relation attribute > 3 = position attribute > 4 = structure attribute > 5 = truncation attribute > 6 = completeness attribute > > The example they give is this: > "water resources[1,62,2,3,3,3,4,1,5,100]" > > and is interpreted as follows: > Search in the abstract (use=62 - "1,62") for text equals > (relation=3 - "2,3") the phrase (structure=1 - "4,1") > "water resources". Search anywhere in the field > (position=3 - "3,3"), do no truncation (truncation=100, "5,100"). > Completeness attribute is unspecified. > > (1,62) I understand > > (2,3) 2 -- use the relation attribute, what is 3? text? What are the > other possible numbers? > > (4,1) 4 -- structure attribute, what is 1? phrase? what are the > other possible numbers? > > (5,100) 5 -- truncate attribute, what is 100? do not truncantion? > what are the other possible numbers? > > Thanks in advance for any help you can provide, > Chris Gokey