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325 lines
14 KiB
325 lines
14 KiB
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd">
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>
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ht://Dig: htsearch
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</title>
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</head>
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<body bgcolor="#eef7ff">
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<h1>
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htsearch
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</h1>
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<p>
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ht://Dig Copyright © 1995-2004 <a href="THANKS.html">The ht://Dig Group</a><br>
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Please see the file <a href="COPYING">COPYING</a> for
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license information.
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</p>
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<hr size="4" noshade>
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<h2>
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Input parameter select lists
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</h2>
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<p>
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The primary interface to htsearch is through an HTML
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<a href="hts_form.html">form</a>.
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The input fields in this form can be defined as any type that
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HTML allows, but some of these are best handled through HTML
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<em>select</em> lists.
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</p>
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<h3>
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<a name="predefined"></a>
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Pre-defined template select lists
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</h3>
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<p>
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In order to propagate these select lists to the search form
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in the results template, so that the default <em>selected</em>
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value will be the one the user last selected, htsearch defines
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a few of these select lists as
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<a href="hts_templates.html">template variables</a>.
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These variables are:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<strong>FORMAT</strong>, which selects the <b>format</b> input parameter
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for follow-up searches, with the current value being the
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default. The current value is taken from the <strong>format</strong>
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input parameter, if one was provided, or from the
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<a href="attrs.html#template_name">template_name</a>
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attribute otherwise, and this value will also be given in
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the <strong>SELECTED_FORMAT</strong> template variable.
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The various parameter values, and their corresponding
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labels for the select list, are taken from the
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<a href="attrs.html#template_map">template_map</a>
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attribute.
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</li>
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<li>
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<strong>METHOD</strong>, which selects the <b>method</b> input parameter
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for follow-up searches, with the current value being the
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default. The current value is taken from the <strong>method</strong>
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input parameter, if one was provided, or from the
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<a href="attrs.html#match_method">match_method</a>
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attribute otherwise, and this value will also be given in
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the <strong>SELECTED_METHOD</strong> template variable.
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The various parameter values, and their corresponding
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labels for the select list, are taken from the
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<a href="attrs.html#method_names">method_names</a>
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attribute.
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</li>
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<li>
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<strong>SORT</strong>, which selects the <b>sort</b> input parameter
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for follow-up searches, with the current value being the
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default. The current value is taken from the <strong>sort</strong>
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input parameter, if one was provided, or from the
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<a href="attrs.html#sort">sort</a>
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attribute otherwise, and this value will also be given in
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the <strong>SELECTED_SORT</strong> template variable.
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The various parameter values, and their corresponding
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labels for the select list, are taken from the
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<a href="attrs.html#sort_names">sort_names</a>
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attribute.
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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In addition to these template variables, htsearch makes
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use of a number of other input parameters, all of which
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have corresponding template variables and configuration
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attributes. It's also possible, within htsearch, to make an
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input parameter out of any <a href="attrs.html">configuration
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attribute</a> that's not already automatically handled by an
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input parameter. This is accomplished by means of the
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<a href="attrs.html#allow_in_form">allow_in_form</a> attribute.
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The attributes listed in the allow_in_form list will be settable
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in the search form using input parameters of the same name,
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and will be propagated to the follow-up search form in the
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results template using template variables of the same name
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in upper-case.
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</p>
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<h3>
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<a name="custom"></a>
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Custom template select lists
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</h3>
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<p>
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This gives you a great deal of flexibility in configuring
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htsearch, but all of these template variables still contain
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only the parameter value, and not a select list to choose
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the value. In order to use any input parameters as select
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lists, other than the three pre-defined variables above, one
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must either statically define a select list in the results
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template follow-up form, just as in the initial search form
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or instruct htsearch to build one as a template variable.
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Statically defining new select lists is easier, as you have
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to do it for the initial search form anyway, but this has the
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drawback that the user's selection from the initial form does
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not appear as the default selection in the follow-up form,
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because the default is static.
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</p>
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<p>
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To overcome this drawback, you must use the
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<a href="attrs.html#build_select_lists">build_select_lists</a>
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configuration attribute. Its usage is a bit complicated, but
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it's extremely flexible, allowing you do define any htsearch
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input parameter as a select list for use in templates, provided
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you also define the corresponding name list attribute which
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enumerates all the choices to put in the list. It can be used
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for existing input parameters, as well as any you define using
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the allow_in_form attribute.
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</p>
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<p>
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The entries in this list each consist of an <em>octuple</em>, a
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set of eight strings defining the variables and how they are to
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be used to build a select list. The attribute can contain many
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of these octuples. The strings in the string list are merely
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taken eight at a time. For each octuple of strings specified in
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build_select_lists, the elements have the following meaning:
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</p>
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<ol>
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<li>
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the name of the template variable to be defined as a list,
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optionally followed by a comma and the type of list, and
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optional formatting codes
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</li>
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<li>
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the input parameter name that the select list will set
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</li>
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<li>
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the name of the user-defined attribute containing the
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<em>name list</em>, that is the list of values and labels
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for the select list items, much like the template_map,
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method_name and sort_name attributes
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</li>
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<li>
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the <em>tuple</em> size used in the name list above
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</li>
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<li>
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the index into a name list tuple for the value
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</li>
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<li>
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the index for the corresponding label to be displayed on
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the selector
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</li>
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<li>
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the configuration attribute where the default value for
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this input parameter is defined, which may or may not be
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the same name as the input parameter
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</li>
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<li>
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the default label, if not an empty string, which will be
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used as the label for an additional list item for the
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current input parameter value if it doesn't match any value
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in the given list
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</li>
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</ol>
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<p>
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The first element in an entry is actually a comma separated
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list. The first item within this list is the name of the
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template variable to be created. The next item, if specified,
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is the type of select list or input list to be created in this
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template variable. Choices are <strong>select</strong>,
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<strong>multiple</strong>, <strong>radio</strong>,
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and <strong>checkbox</strong>, with the default being
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<strong>select</strong>. The word <strong>multiple</strong>
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refers to a <select multiple> type of select list,
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where more than one option can be selected. The choices
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<strong>radio</strong> and <strong>checkbox</strong> will build
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lists of <input> tags of these types, rather than a select
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list with <option> tags. The optional third and fourth
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items in this comma separated list are text or formatting tags
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that will be prepended and appended, respectively, to each item
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in the built list, before the <option> or <input>
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tag and after the label for that tag. This first element is
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parsed as a quoted string list within a quoted string list,
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so you can embed quotes and commas within elements of this
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inner list if you use correct quoting. See examples below.
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</p>
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<p>
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The name list that you define will most commonly consist
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of pairs of values, and therefore you'd use a tuple size of
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2. The method_names and sort_names attributes are samples of
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such name lists. You can give any name you'd like to the name
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list attributes you define yourself, but you should try to
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avoid using any of the names of <a href="attrs.html">existing
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attributes</a>. The value and label for the pairs in lists you
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define yourself can appear in either order, depending on the
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index you specify for each. In the case where you'd want the
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labels on the selector to be the same as the actual parameter
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values used, which would make sense for lists of numbers,
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you can use a tuple size of 1, and indexes of 1, to avoid
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having to duplicate all the numbers in the list.
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</p>
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<p>
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Any of the strings in an octuple may be quoted, and should be if
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you want to include spaces or define an empty string. If the
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default label, the eight element in an entry, is an empty
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string, the select list will not have a <em>selected</em> item
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if the current input parameter value doesn't match any value
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in the name list. If a default label is given, an additional
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list item will be added to the list using this label, if the
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current input parameter value doesn't match.
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</p>
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<p>
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If the seventh element, the configuration attribute name, is
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an empty string, the default value will be taken from from
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the input parameter, the second element, instead. This is
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especially useful for input parameters that don't get mapped
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to a configuration attribute, or for checkboxes or multiple
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selects, where the separation between individual choices may
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get lost when the input parameter is mapped to an attribute.
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</p>
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<p>
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Here is an example of its usage, which illustrates different
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tuple sizes and orders:
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</p>
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<pre>
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build_select_lists: MATCH_LIST,radio matchesperpage matches_per_page_list \
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1 1 1 matches_per_page "Previous Amount" \
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RESTRICT_LIST,multiple restrict restrict_names 2 1 2 restrict "" \
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FORMAT_LIST format template_map 3 2 1 template_name ""
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matches_per_page_list: 1 5 10 20 100 500
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restrict_names: "http://www.myschool.edu/Admin/" "Admin Web Pages" \
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"http://www.myschool.edu/Faculty/" "Faculty Web Pages" \
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"http://www.myschool.edu/Student/" "Student Web Pages" \
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"" "Whole Web Site"
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</pre>
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<p>
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The FORMAT_LIST example should give something equivalent to the FORMAT
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template variable, which is already set by htsearch. It is included as
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an additional example of how to specify the tuple size and indices of
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values and labels in a tuple.
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</p>
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<p>
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Here is an example which illustrates additional formatting tags,
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and the quoting that may be required:
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</p>
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<pre>
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build_select_lists: "RESTRICT_LIST,checkbox,'<font face=\\"Arial,Helvetica\\" size=\\"+2\\">',</font><br>" \
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restrict restrict_names 2 1 2 restrict ""
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</pre>
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<p>
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In this example, the font tag will be inserted before each
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checkbox input tag, and the closing font tag and line break will
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be appended after each label that follows the input tag. Because
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the font tag has an embeded comma, which is also the separator
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for the list in the first element, the whole tag (i.e. the whole
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third item in the comma separated list) is quoted, and it's
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quoted with single quotes so as not to conflict with the double
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quotes enclosing the whole element. Finally, to embed a double
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quote in the font tag, it must be escaped with two backslashes -
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the first of these is absorbed by the variable expansion phase
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that all attribute values go through, and the second is used
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to embed the double quote within a double quoted string.
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</p>
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<h3>
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<a name="template_patterns"></a>
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Combining the format select list with template_patterns
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</h3>
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<p>
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The addition of the <a href="attrs.html#template_patterns">
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template_patterns</a> attribute has added a new wrinkle to
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the pre-defined select list for the <strong>format</strong> parameter.
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If a document URL matches an entry in template_patterns, its
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corresponding result template will override any template the
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user selected with the format parameter. The problem stems
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from the fact that the two were not originally intended to
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be used together in the same htsearch configuration. When
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configuring htsearch, you'd normally set it up to use one
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mechanism or the other, but not a combination of the two.
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</p>
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<p>
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However, the following example would allow user-selected
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templates to work together with template_patterns:
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</p>
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<pre>
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template_map: Long long ${common_dir}/long.html \
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Short short ${common_dir}/short.html
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template_name: long
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template_patterns: .pdf ${common_dir}/${template_name}-pdffile.html \
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.ps ${common_dir}/${template_name}-psfile.html \
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.doc ${common_dir}/${template_name}-docfile.html
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</pre>
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<p>
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This works because the template_name attribute gets set
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internally in htsearch, to the user-selected value of the
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<strong>format</strong> input parameter, before the variable expansion
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in template_patterns takes place. As long as you stick to
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a template file naming convention that uses the internal
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name element of template_map (second element in a triple) as
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part of the file name, this should work like a charm. Your
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common directory would have to contain the template files
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long-pdffile.html, long-psfile.html, long-docfile.html,
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short-pdffile.html, short-psfile.html, and short-docfile.html,
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for the example above to work, in addition to the long.html
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and short.html files, which will be used for URLs that don't
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match any of the patterns. Of course, these patterns can be
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any URL parts, and not just suffixes. Be sure to also change
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the values for format in your initial search form, search.html,
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to use your chosen internal names.
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</p>
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<hr size="4" noshade>
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Last modified: $Date: 2004/05/28 13:15:18 $
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</body>
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</html>
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