March 28, 1991 d t S e a r c h DESCRIPTION AND AUTHOR INFORMATION This file includes sample descriptions which you may use to describe the dtSearch package. For consistency and to help users locate the files, please use the name DTSRCH.EXE for the archive (or DTSRCH.ZIP, DTSRCH.PAK, etc. if you re-archive). Keywords: --------- TEXT DATABASE, DOCUMENT SEARCH, Category: --------- Database (Text Database) Short Description: ------------------ dtSearch is a document search and retrieval program. Search features: boolean, proximity, phrase, and field/segment searches; search macros; wildcards in any position in a search term; search with an index, without an index, or both ways. Indexing: up to 15,000 documents per index; unlimited number of indexes. Other features: View retrieved documents in multiple overlapping windows; prepare and print search reports listing hits in context; cut, paste, edit, and print retrieved text. Works on ascii text files, WordPerfect 5.0 and 5.1, and Multimate Advantage II files. Registration Information: ------------------------- Registration costs $59.00. Registered users will receive: a printed copy of the manual, the latest version of dtSearch, technical support (by mail or CompuServe) for a year, and notices of updates or upgrades. Register through the Public (software) Library at: 1-800-242-4775. See ORDER.DTS for details. dtSearch Program Description Page 1 Author/Publisher Information: ----------------------------- David Thede DT Software, Inc., 2102 Crystal Plaza Arcade, Suite 231 Arlington, VA 22202 CompuServe: 72607,3323 ASP Notice DT Software, Inc. is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not supply technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. Long Description: ----------------- dtSearch is document search and retrieval program. It will perform both indexed and unindexed searches on collections of documents. A single search request can scan multiple directories, disk drives and document indexes. Search features supported include: * Boolean logic (AND, OR, NOT) * Proximity searches (e.g., "apple" within 5 words of "pear") and phrase searches * Wildcards in any position in a search word (e.g., "*c?pl*"). * Segment searches (e.g., "@ADDRESS contains oak drive") Using dtSearch, you can browse retrieved documents in overlapping windows that allow up to four documents to be viewed simultaneously. A notepad feature allows you to cut and paste text from retrieved documents into a notepad and to edit the notepad using a built-in text editor. dtSearch reads DOS text files and documents created with WordPerfect versions 5.0 and 5.1 and Multimate Advantage II. dtSearch Program Description Page 2 Background on Search Programs Programs designed to perform searches on large collections of documents usually adopt one of three strategies: * The "brute force" search, which reads every document in a collection in turn. This method requires little advance preparation, but is very slow. * The "indexed" search. A document index is a file that contains information about where words occur in a collection of documents. Once you have created an index for a collection of documents, the index allows you to perform searches on those documents very quickly. * A structured-database search. Instead of searching the full text of documents in the collection, this approach typically searches a small database that describes the documents. For example, a letters database might contain fields for the addressee, author, date, and subject of each letter. A structured database allows you to perform very specific searches, such as a search for a letter written by a certain person (as opposed to a letter that merely contains the person's name). However, you must prepare the database by entering the information about each document. dtSearch can combine all three types of search, and can do so in a single search request. You can specify that a search request will * search all or selected documents in one or many directories, * search one or many indexes, and * search all of a document or only a defined segment of a document. Another way search programs differ is in the level of precision they allow in search requests. * "String" searches. The simplest -- and least precise -- type of search is the search for a string of text. In this type of search, you enter a string such as "apple", and the program scans files looking for occurrences of the string. Because these programs do not break the text into words, a search for "apple" will also retrieve "applesauce" and "crabapple". Most DOS shell programs and many small utilities will perform this type of search. dtSearch Program Description Page 3 * Simple word searches. Other programs, will search for specific words or combinations of words, such as "smith and jones" or "smith or (apple and pear)". Most of these programs also allow "wildcard" characters in search words. Following the convention used in DOS, the "*" usually matches any number of letters, and the "?" usually matches any single character. Thus, "apple*" would match "apple" or "applesauce", and "appl?" would match "apply" or "apple" but not "application". The major limitation of these programs is that they cannot perform searches based on the context of a word in a document. This means that phrase searches (searches for two or more words in exact sequence) and proximity searches (searches for a word within a certain number of words of anther word) are impossible. Thus, you can search for "North" and "America", but not for "North America". * Context searches. The most specific type of search specifies not only the words but their context. This allows you to search for phrases and for words that occur near other words. For example, you could search for documents containing "North America" within 10 words of "climate". dtSearch performs both simple and context searches on indexed documents, unindexed documents, or a combination of indexed and unindexed documents. Search results will be the same regardless of whether the documents are indexed. Limits and Requirements 1. Program limits: Indexes * A single index may contain up to 15,000 documents * A single document may contain up to 60,000 words (about 300 double-spaced pages) * You can have up to 25 indexes in each index library, and you can have an unlimited number of index libraries. * You can have up to 25 macros or field definitions. * A noise word list can hold up to 200 words. Words after the 200th word in a list will be disregarded. * There is no limit on the number of words in an index or on the number of words starting with a particular letter. 2. Program limits: Searches * A single search request may involve up to 100 words, including wildcard matches. For example, if an index contained 75 words beginning with 's' and 75 words beginning with 't', then you could not search for "s* or t*" dtSearch Program Description Page 4 * A search word can be up to 16 letters long. * A search request can be up to 180 characters long. * A search will automatically terminate after 500 documents have been retrieved. 3. Program requirements: * dtSearch will run on an IBM-compatible computer with at least 384k of memory available, a hard disk, and DOS version 3.2 or higher. 4. Document Types dtSearch will read DOS Text files and documents created with WordPerfect versions 5.0 and 5.1 and Multimate Advantage II. Documents created by other word processors may contain formatting codes that dtSearch will not recognize. In WordPerfect documents, dtSearch will recognize and display, footnotes, endnotes and outline numbering. As much as possible, dtSearch attempts to duplicate the formatting in the original document. dtSearch Program Description Page 5