Support : DialogLink 5 : Enhanced Features : DIALINDEX

Using DIALINDEX® with DialogLink

DIALINDEX is a central index to all the databases on Dialog. It allows you to compare the number of records retrieved by a certain strategy among various databases, thus allowing you to identify which file(s) contain the information you want.

To use DIALINDEX:

1. Enter BEGIN 411 in the Type-Ahead buffer. DialogLink will open the Begin window.
   
   
2. Enter a DIALINDEX category name or file numbers separated by commas in the Set Files text box.
   
   
3. Enter your search terms in the Select text box.
   Note: Do not enter a SELECT command in the Select text box.
   
   
4. Click Run Search. The results of your DIALINDEX search display in the Begin window and all files are selected.

5. To reorder your search results, click a column heading. For example, to organize by number of hits, click the Hits column heading. The list is reordered by number of hits in ascending order. To change to descending order, click the Hits column heading again.
   
   
6. To try another search, modify your search terms in the Select text box and/or change the files in the Set Files text box. Click Run Search again. The results of your new DIALINDEX search display in the BEGIN window.
   
   If you change the files in the Set Files box, you can use the arrow buttons   to return to a previously tried file group.
   
   
7. All files are defaulted to selected when the DIALINDEX search results display. To initiate a OneSearch of all files using your DIALINDEX search query, click Begin Hits. To search selected files, remove the files you do not want by clicking the checkbox beside a file to deselect it, then click Begin Hits. You can use the Select All or Select None buttons to speed your file selection. When you click Begin Hits, the BEGIN window closes and DialogLink submits the commands to open the selected files and enter the search query. The OneSearch result displays in the Retrieve buffer.

EXPAND in DIALINDEX

You can use the EXPAND function from within DIALINDEX to see how terms are indexed in particular databases.

Note: If you want the Expand display to include file-by-file results, enter the SET DETAIL ON command before entering DIALINDEX.

1. In the BEGIN window, specify one or more files in the Set Files text box.
   
   
2. Click Expand.
   
   
3. Enter your search term(s) in the text box and click Expand. DialogLink displays a list of the 50 terms closest in its index to the term you entered. The Items column indicates the number of unique records containing each term. Your search term is normally the third term in the list and is flagged with an asterisk. It is listed whether or not there are any records containing that term.

You can:

• Use the Page button to display the next 50 indexed terms.

• Use the Back button to return to the DIALINDEX Begin display. If you click Expand again, you return to the EXPAND list of indexed terms.

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