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The HotBot query forms interface is shown below. The HotBot
search engine supports Boolean logical
operators, proximity operators or complex nested search logic. Search paramaters
are set using the search form pull down menus and blinks, including the search
modification forms accessible below the main entry form. Although it does not
support standard Boolean logic and associated features, the HotBot search form
provides sufficient flexibility among its various available options to frame a
search query fairly precisely. The search engine does not permit
term truncation. Terms can be specifically required or excluded
from results. Searches can be done on date ranges, physical geographical and
Net (cyber) locations and a variety of Internet media types as well as file name
extensions as types.
Building a search query using the HotBot search forms interface requires only seven basic steps. |
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Specify where to look for your search terms using the blink  provided in the
form's first entry box. Permitted values are: The Web (default) and Usenet Newsgroups.
The default is "The Web"
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Click on the blink displaying all the words to select
the way in which HotBot will search for the terms and logical operators you enter:
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Note that the default is to return search for all the words entered which
requires that sites or articles returned will contain them all. This is equivalent
to the Boolean AND. The "any of the words" option is equivalent to the Boolean
OR.
You can also opt to have HotBot search the terms entered as a phrase or a proper name.
Additionally, the interface permits the terms to be searched only in site URLs (Internet
addresses). Selecting the Boolean option allows you to make limited use of the Boolean
operators AND, OR and Not.
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Search Input Box:
Enter your search terms, bound phrases, partial URLs, proper names or Boolean expressions in the entry box provided in the form. This is the input that HotBot will use to perform the search on.
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Click on the box labeled "Return" with the blink displaying 10 to select
the number of items HotBot will return in the search output display:
Note that the default is to return only 10 documents or articles in your search
result. You may wish to increase this to accommodate the expected or actual result
elicited by your search strategy.
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Click on the box labeled "results with" with the blink displaying full descriptions to select
the style of the output from your HotBot query:
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The default is to display fully detailed descriptions of the sites found. You can also
opt for brief descriptions, which contain somewhat less information about the sites found
but may still be adequate for screening results, or
for a simple display of the retrieved URLs (Internet addresses).
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Note that there are four buttons below the main search form that open sub forms used to enhance
your search by allowing you to set additional options and parameters. These can be opened
by clicking on each individually or as a group by clicking on the red button
labeled Open All.
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| 1. |
The first of these
is the MODIFY button:
This subform allows you to place additional constraints on the search entered in the main entry form. There are three required parameters to set -
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The additional terms, phrases, names or URLs are entered in the input box labeled C.
Note that there are two blinks
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| 2. |
DATE button:
This complex subform allows you to set date ranging parameters on your search. There are
three radio buttons
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which
control date parameters. The first, the default 
Whenever, seems redundant but it necessary if search parameters
are saved. It simply directs the search
engine not to consider dates at all. The second allows you to precisely enter a range.
and the third allows you to restrict output to dates before or after a specified date -
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 The figure above shows the content of two of the significant input boxes with choices accessed through blinks. Radio button 2 permits you to enter a number and select from options months, days or years for your range restriction. The days option seems ambitious and must apply principally to searches of Usenet newsgroups. Radio button 3 permits you to precisely specify a date before or after which you limit output to. The blink options in the box labeled D are a simple list of the names of the months, January through December. The input box F allows you to specify the year. Note that it keys to the 1900s. A mistake that will need to be corrected before 2000.
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| 3. |
LOCATION button:
This subform allows you to set location parameters on your search. There are
three radio buttons
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| 4. |
MEDIA TYPE button:
This subform allows you to set restrictions on the types of media you wish to
locate. A number of check boxes
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are displayed corresponding to various media types. More than one check box may
be selected. This has the effect of including all the types selected in the search
output. The check box labeled Extensions
allows you to specify which file type you wish to retrieve by its file name extension.
The file name extension is entered with the period {.} in the box shown at the arrow.
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When you've finished declaring all your search options and parameters and
entering the search strategy just click once on the Search button. You can also opt to save your current settings or load previously defined search settings if your browser supports cookies.
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