Search for parentage throughout the hierarchy

[srdiamond]

UR should try to emulate part of Idea!'s ability to do Boolean searches based on category membership. Although it probably isn't consistent with UR's less structured design to have a mechanism automatically to enter such searches, it should be possible to accomplish the same with slightly less ease by entering categories from the tree and asking UR to find all the subordinates and various Bolean combinations thereto.

So if you have a hierarchy like

I Animal
A. Mammal
1 Primate

It should be possible to input "Animal," ask for all Children, to find all items falling under Mammal, including "Primate" and its subordinates.

Boolean combinations of these sets can be formed in the usual way.

At present UR doesn't detect words in headings, so it isn't possible to see how this feature is intended to work when it is changed.

[kevina]

If I understand your question, I believe there currently is a way to accomplish what you are asking (in a slightly different way then what you envision).

Let's assume the hierarchy you mention:
I. Animal
A. Mammal
1. Primate ...

I believe you want to define a Search (Quick or Advanced) but only search for Mammals (including child Info Items). This is easily accomplished by first selecting the Mammal Info Item in the Data Explorer Pane, then defining a search, and checking the "Limit search to bold item in the Data Explorer pane". Only the bolded Mammal Info Item and it's child Info Items will be searched.

Note: for searches saved in the Data Explorer Pane (a nice way to retain the Mammal location for the search), the checkbox is relabeled to "Limit search to siblings of current search item checkbox", with the same effect.

[srdiamond]

Then, I think this search with the search terms left blank should produce a flat list off all subordinates, to whatever degree. Instead, it seems to come up with zero. [t's a little hard to get a quick feel of the search because it doesn't search *on* topic headings, which would be the easiest item to search for to get the overall logic. I understand that will be fixed.]

But even if it worked as above, I don't think it would do what I'm asking, because I cannot form the Boolean product or sum of outline-based categories. If I triy to select two headings, they are unselected when I try to define a search.

If you want a concrete model of how selection of outline topics with Boolean operations, you might check out the free version of Idea! (http://www.sycon.de/eng) It lacks many of the word processing niceties of UR, but is focused on manipulating categories. Or I could explain further this feature, if I'm unclear.

I think the most natural way for UR to accomplish this would be to allow defining searches with outline headings as keywords. It would be in the list of _kinds_ of searches.



Originally posted by kevina
If I understand your question, I believe there currently is a way to accomplish what you are asking (in a slightly different way then what you envision).

Let's assume the hierarchy you mention:
I. Animal
A. Mammal
1. Primate ...

I believe you want to define a Search (Quick or Advanced) but only search for Mammals (including child Info Items). This is easily accomplished by first selecting the Mammal Info Item in the Data Explorer Pane, then defining a search, and checking the "Limit search to bold item in the Data Explorer pane". Only the bolded Mammal Info Item and it's child Info Items will be searched.

Note: for searches saved in the Data Explorer Pane (a nice way to retain the Mammal location for the search), the checkbox is relabeled to "Limit search to siblings of current search item checkbox", with the same effect.

[kevina]

The latest 1.0a download on the website has been revised to return all eligible Info Items for a quick search on an empty string (a "flat list of subordinates" as you mentioned you expected).

Please elaborate on your view that Ultra Recall doesn't "search *on* topic headings". I don't understand what you mean, Searches do search the Title (topic??) of Info Items. I am obviously not understanding exactly what you are referring to.

You are correct that Ultra Recall does not execute Limited Searches based on multiple Info Items. We will add this functionality to the list of possible enhancements.

[srdiamond]

Originally posted by kevina [/i]
[B]The latest 1.0a download on the website has been revised to return all eligible Info Items for a search with no criteria (a "flat list of subordinates" as you mentioned you expected).

Please elaborate on your view that Ultra Recall doesn't "search *on* topic headings". I don't understand what you mean, Searches do search the Title (topic??) of Info Items. I am obviously not understanding exactly what you are referring to.

Trying it now, it works. I don't know whether there was a problem with the earlier version, it is in intermittent or systemic glitch, or I was doing something wrong.

You are correct that Ultra Recall does not execute Limited Searches based on multiple Info Items. We will add this functionality to the list of possible enhancements.

It would, in my opinion, qualitatively improve the integration between the data explorer and the searchable database.

[srdiamond]

Regarding limited searches based on multiple infoitems, I think this would amplify the power of logical linking, because linkages would become a lever for searches. It gives the user a _reason_ to use multiple links, even if doing so isn't otherwise necessary. Multiple linkages become an easy way to cross-reference the info-items with very powerful keywords, the ancestor topics in the structure.

Stephen R. Diamond

[kevina]

Can you elaborate on "linkages become a lever for searches"? I don't think I followed your line of reasoning, but am interested in the concept.

[srdiamond]

The Boolean products of sets defined by topics should provide information about the relationship betweenthose topics. With a large outline, this information can be quite unexpected, yielding new insights about the relation. That is, you do a Boolean "and" search on the topics whose inter-relation you want to query, to find the common infoitems.

Boolean sums are time-saving although less dramatically useful. Instead of surveying the topics to look for an item you know falls in one, you could get a single list by an 'or' search on the topics.

[srdiamond]

Can you elaborate on "linkages become a lever for searches"? I don't think I followed your line of reasoning, but am interested in the concept. - Kevina



There's a program called Idea! by a German km firm that is build around this approach, if you have time to take a look at it. (http://www.sycon.de/eng/index.htm)