Combined search in different databases

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joerg.hans.pasch
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2002 9:37 am

Combined search in different databases

Post by joerg.hans.pasch »

Hello

I'm a rather new to webinator, so this is certainly a beginners question:

Is it possible to flexibly combine multiple index databases to modify search scope?

Background is:
A website consists of different areas/subdirectories like 'News', 'Events', 'Important Documents' etc. and I want to offer the user to specifiy if he wants to search ALL areas or just a combination of certain areas.

Another background could be:
I don't want the user to see hits from closed areas if he is not authorized for them. By creating one index per 'closed area' and combine them flexibly for searches, it would be possible to let each user see just what he is entitled to see.
Or are there other ways to achieve this with webinator.

Thanks very much in advance for your help!
Regards
Jörg
doran
Posts: 50
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2000 1:37 pm

Combined search in different databases

Post by doran »

This question really should be in the "new" Webinator board.

Yes, for areas/subdirectories, the "categories" feature under advanced walk settings is intended to accomplish just what you ask for. The categories will appear in a drop down box on the Search page.

Yes, Regarding closed areas, you can designate a separate database for those, and give only authorized users access to that. For a search across both closed and public data, you'll need to modify the search script to give authorized users a page that queries both and returns two sets of results.
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mark
Site Admin
Posts: 5513
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2000 6:56 pm

Combined search in different databases

Post by mark »

You could also index everything into one database with various categories. Then modify the search script to allow access to only the allowed categories.
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