SSSiter Help - Submitting Queries and Viewing Search Results

Submitting Queries and Viewing Search Results

In this document we'll introduce you to more of the basic operations, available options and furthermore, how to tailor SSSiter™ to match your specific requirements.

1.	Creating New Queries	2.	Executing New queries	3.	Viewing reports of completed queries
4.	Deleting Queries	5.	Manipulating Query Folders	6.	Search Phrases
7.	Entering Search Sites	8.	Selecting the Search Language	9.	Selecting an appropriate Search Method
10.	Translation Services	11.	The Query Status	12.	Time Limit (min.)
13.	Number of Web Pages to Visit	14.	Min Relevancy (%)	15.	Number of Quotations to generate
16.	Date of creation or modification	17.	Size of Quotations	18.	Timeout on visiting one location (min.)

See also:	Help Contents

1. Creating new queries

We'll start by learning more about the way you create and queries and execute them. Having read the Introduction section, you should already have some basic understanding how to enter and launch search queries. To create a new query, click the New button on the application toolbar, select the main or pop-up menu items Query, then New, or just press the combination of keys <Ctrl+N>. Once you do it, a new query item will appear at the bottom of the currently open query folder, and all fields in the Query Properties pane (on the left) will be filled in with default values. During your first session with SSSiter™ it is recommended that you change only two fields on the Query Properties pane, namely: Search Phrase and Search Sites. Enter your search phrase, one or several search sites you are going to investigate (separate Web site URL's by semicolon); in case of necessity, adjust the rest of the query options (such as, query language, pages to visit, language to translate pages from, etc.).

That's it: your query is now ready to be executed. You may instruct SSSiter either to execute it immediately or to postpone execution of this query; in the meantime, you may keep on creating other queries. When one or several queries are ready for execution, select desired ones and press the Run button on the application toolbar.

2. Executing new queries

To execute a new query, just double-click its icon in the Query Folder pane using the left mouse button. If you want to execute one more query, double-click the second icon, etc. You may instruct SSSiter to start executing queries at any time even if the product is already executing some other ones. To launch a bunch of queries you have prepared for execution (i.e., two or more), first, select them in the query folder pane and then press the Run button on the application toolbar. To run your selection of queries, you may also click the main or the pop-up menu items Query, then Run or, just press the combination of keys <Ctrl+R>.

SSSiter provides you with an option to run queries off-line, without being actually connected to the Web. Use this mode for sites which have already been investigated by SSSiter. To run a selection of your queries in the off-line mode, click the main or the pop-up menu items Query, and then Run off-line.

Note:

To select consecutive queries, click the first one, press and hold down <Shift>, and then click the last query.

To select non-consecutive queries, press and hold down the <Ctrl> key on your keyboard, and then start clicking each of the queries you want to select.

3. Viewing reports of completed queries

When SSSiter finishes executing a particular query, by default, the product automatically loads a corresponding report into the browser. At the same time SSSiter always places all reports it builds into its Library and Site Maps folders to let you see them at any time you wish. To see the report, which corresponds to a completed query at a later time, do one of the following:

select a desired query, then click the View Report

button on the application toolbar. Note, that this button is available only when you select a completed query; for new and running queries, it is grayed out.

select the application menu items Query, then Report.

select the pop-up menu item View Query Report.

press the combination of keys <Ctrl+E>.

if you use the SSSiter built-in browser (it is so by default), and if this browser is open, just select a completed query.

double-click a completed query using the left mouse button or,

open the library of completed queries by selecting the menu items Tools, then Library or Site Maps, find a report of your interest, and open it from there.

4. Deleting queries

You may delete one or several queries you do not longer need at any time first, by selecting them in the Query Folder pane, then clicking the Delete button on the application toolbar. Alternatively, you may select the application main or pop-up menu items Query, then Delete or, just press the combination of keys <Ctrl+D>. For completed queries, SSSiter also deletes corresponding reports and site maps unless you clear the box Delete reports along with queries in SSSiter Preferences.

5. Manipulating Query Folders

SSSiter makes it possible to group all of your queries into folders; folders are files with the .ssf suffix, i.e. Subject Search Folder. To open an existing query folder, click Folder | Open from the menu bar and select the appropriate name (e.g. Sample.ssf) in the Open dialog. Once the query folder is open, you may start entering new queries.

To create a new query folder, click Folder | New from the menu bar. A query folder named Noname1 will be opened in the main application window. To save it with a name of your choice click Folder | Rename from the menu bar.

Now we'll describe in more detail the fields in the Query Options pane, and provide you with tips to help you perform accurate and reliable searches.

6. The Search Phrase field

As has already been mentioned in Introduction section, SSSiter supplies you with two kinds of reports:

Site Maps (based upon the contents of the Search Site field see a sample report)

Reports with quotes/extracts retrieved from the Web site that are relevant to search phrase (see a sample report).

To perform a search, enter your query under the Search Phrase field. To complete specifying query options, also enter a Web site address under the Search Sites field, then click Run on the application toolbar. SSSiter automatically specifies defaults under the other fields using a set of standard preferences. These preferences are user definable; however, the standard defaults have been tuned to optimize searches for beginners. Quotations are extracted only when a Search Phrase has been specified. Be aware that you do not have to fill in this field.

Be aware that when entering queries, SSSiter accepts natural language inquiries in all European languages. Even though SSSiter technology compensates for many spelling/grammar errors, pay careful attention to use correct spelling and grammar under the Search Phrase field. Just type a phrase which is most likely to be included in documents being searched. It is usually not necessary to include English words like "the", "and", or "a" as SSSiter typically ignores them while searching. The more words you specify in your query (e.g. 5 or more), the more reliable your search will be. Use capital letters where necessary.

Once you have investigated a Web site or a collection of Web sites, you may subsequently enter queries addressed to the same Web site(s), but with different phrases in the Search Phrase field. Reports generated from such searches will proceed quickly because SSSiter stores previously scanned documents in the Temporary Internet Files folder. You may further increase search speed by clicking the Work Offline button in the application toolbar. This instructs SSSiter to scan only those documents archived on your hard drive in the Temporary Internet Files folder.

7. Entering Search Sites

The Search Sites field in the query properties pane provides SSSiter with the Internet address for the Web Site(s) to be investigated. SSSiter starts the query process by scanning that documents associated with the addresses you have entered into the Search Sites field. If a Search Phrase is also specified with a query, SSSiter not only builds Site Maps, but also selects and extracts quotations from the most relevant documents.

Entering the Search Site field

This field must be filled in (you can not leave it empty) as SSSiter starts its investigation based on the address you enter.

See also: How does SSSiter work

8. Selecting the Search Language

SSSiter™ is able to support searches in a large number of languages (see the Multi-Language Support section for details). If you need to find information in a language other than English, select the language of your choice for one or several queries. Furthermore, the SSSiter smart language detecting algorithms perform automatic conversion of the documents being processed into the selected coding table, and if specified so, perform translation of page contents into your native language. Go to SSSiter Preferences to make your language the default one for all new queries.

Note: You are able to perform searches even in those languages that are not listed in the above table; simply select "other" for the corresponding field:

Entering the Search Language field

9. Selecting an appropriate Search Method

To find paragraphs which match your Search Phrase, SSSiter offers a number of different search methods, namely:

The "Subject search" method is capable of selecting paragraphs, in which your search phrase might be altered, modified, or even misspelled. This method is especially useful when searching for information you are just getting familiar with. This method accepts natural queries (entering something like "how can I rent a car in Italy" is OK), so it is the most powerful and the convenient one.
Despite this fact, in a number of cases selecting one of the following Literal Search methods SSSiter also provides you with may be more preferable. For example, when you are looking for occurrences of a particular person's name, geographical location, or/and number or numbers.
The literal search method "All words in same order any case" selects documents containing all of the words in your phrase following each other and separated by one or several spaces or/and line breaks. For example, "Kryloff Technologies" is matched to:
a) " Kryloff Technologies ",
b) "KRYLOFF (end of line)
TECHNOLOGIES", etc., but
c) not to "Kryloff Technology".
To match the words "Technology" and "Technologies", use the Subject Search method described above.
The literal search method "Entire pattern ignore case" selects documents containing your search phrase as you type it in (including leading and trailing spaces, special characters, etc.). For example, "Kryloff Technologies" gets matched to just "Kryloff Technologies", "KRYLOFF technologies", but not to "KRYLOFF (two or more spaces or line breaks) Technologies".
The literal search method "All words ignore case" allows finding documents that contain just all words in your Search Phrase. You may enter only some part of the words. As an example, the search phrase "Kryl Tech" will be matched to "Kryloff Technologies"; also selected will be any other documents containing, for example, the words "Kryloff" and "Technical", "Kryloff" and "Technology", (anywhere in the text or document title), etc.
The literal search method "At least one word ignore case" selects documents containing at least one (any) word you have entered into your search phrase. For example, issuing the query "Kryl Tech" will cause SSSiter to select documents which contain either "Kryloff" or "Technologies", or both as well as "Technology", "Technical", etc.

All methods described above (including the "Subject Search" one) are case insensitive: the patterns "Kryloff", "KRYLOFF" and "kryloff" are considered to be the same. The following four methods make distinction between uppercase and lowercase characters when searching for occurrences of your search terms; the rest of functionality of these methods has been just described above in this section:
The literal search method "All words in the same order and case" makes distinction between capital (uppercase) and small (lowercase) characters. See also: "All words in same order ignore case".
The literal search method "Entire pattern as is" selects documents which contain your phrase bodily (as you type it in) without any changes. See also, "Entire pattern ignore case" described above.
The literal search method "All words match case" is identical to the method "All words from the phrase ignore case" described above except for the fact that it makes distinction between capital and small characters.
The literal search method "At least one word match case" is also similar to "At least one word ignore case", but it treats capital and small letters as absolutely different ones and does not match them to each other (even if they represent the same sound in the language of your choice).

10. Translation Services

Beginning from version 5.0, SSSiter is capable of translating document contents between a number of languages. The product is shipped with on-line translation components, which allow translating from Chinese into English, English into German, etc. The product translates pages on the fly allowing you to search in and investigate Web sites even if you do not speak the language in which the sites are written. Furthermore, the product checks if new translation components become available on the regular basis (i.e., once a month or when you press the button "Update") thus keeping your copy of the product automatically updated with the latest changes.

11. The Query status

The Query Status column indicates the current status of a particular query in the query folder (right) pane. Status of the query may be either New or Completed. Completed queries are not editable, and query options of such queries are grayed out; you may press the Report button to view corresponding reports that have already been built and placed in the Library. SSSiter also displays the date when the query was executed.

11.1. Resetting queries

If you want to re-run a completed query, you may reset the Query Status field to New by first, clicking the query using the right mouse button and then selecting Reset Query from the local menu that is displayed. You may also perform the same operation by clicking the Reset Query button on the application toolbar or pressing the combination of keys <Ctrl+T>. For completed queries, SSSiter also deletes corresponding reports and site maps unless you clear the box Delete reports along with queries in SSSiter Preferences.

12. Time Limit (min.)

The Time Limit field allows you to control how long you would like SSSiter to spend running a particular query. If you do not wish to set up a time limit and would like SSSiter to continue working until all related documents have been received, enter zero into or clear this field.

The time limit for queries can be adjusted to reflect certain conditions (e.g. the speed of your Internet connection). Setting this value too low will not give SSSiter sufficient time to download the requested number of documents and the resulting report may not contain useful information. If your searches are stopped due to a time limit being exceeded, and are therefore not returning useful information, increase the value of this field until you find a duration that is suitable.

13. Web pages to visit

SSSiter gives you an option of specifying how many locations or different Web pages you would like the program to visit. Enter this value in the Pages to Visit field. This field is automatically filled in with a default value.

Both Time Limit and Pages to Visit are very important fields. These fields affect both the search quality as well as the time required for SSSiter to obtain Site Maps and search a given site. The more locations (Web pages) SSSiter visits while searching, the better results you are likely to obtain. The trade-off for better searches is the more time that is required to complete them. An empty value in this field indicates no restriction on the number of pages to be visited during the search.