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> # Search Channel

> The search channel provides a way for you to perform a keyword search for documents on the Internet or a on local network. You can also search for discussions. When performing a search, the search results are displayed in the form of links, which are used to access the documents you wish to view.

> The search channel allows you to perform various types of searches based on settings that you specify on the Search channel edit page.

> - See Editing Search Preferences for information about defining your search parameters.
> - See Performing a Search for instructions on using the Search channel to locate documents.

> ## Editing Search Preferences

> You can edit the following preferences to control how the search channel works:

> - Display documents in a new window specifies that each document you want to view is displayed in a new browser window. When search results are displayed, you can click on the document link and display each document in its own browser window. This feature is helpful if you want to compare documents
> - Display documents in the same window specifies that all documents are to be displayed in the one browser window. When search results are displayed, you can click on a link and the document will be displayed in a new browser window. However, only one new browser window is used for all documents you wish to view.
> - Hits per page limits the number of search results that are returned per page. To view search results that exceed the number you have specified, click Next to view more search results. The default limit is 8 results per page.
> - Include Category search allows you to browse categories. If documents are indexed into categories, you can browse those categories for documents.
> - Default search mode is a drop-down menu that allows you to specify the search mode on the default start page. Available modes are basic search, advanced search, or browse.

> ### To Edit the Search Channel Preferences

> 1. Choose the edit button on the search channel.
> 2. Make a selection or enter the values you want.
> 3. Choose Finished to save your settings and return to the standard Portal Desktop page, or choose Cancel to return to the standard Portal Desktop without making changes.

> Additional search properties can be defined by using the menu below the search field. These properties control the amount of information that is included when your search results are returned.

> - Full description – Contains document title, description, url, document size, and classification.
> - Brief description – Contains title and document description. Brief description is the default setting.
> - Title only – Contains only document title.

> ## Performing a Search

> The search channel allows you:

> - To perform a Basic Search for a Document or Discussion
> - To Perform an Advanced Search for a Document
> - To Browse Categories
> - To Save a Search

> ### To perform a Basic Search for a Document or Discussion

> A basic search is based only on a keyword that you enter into the search field.

> 1. Enter a keyword or keywords in the text box.
> 2. To perform keyword search on existing discussions, check Search Discussions.
> 3. Choose Search.

> Search results or hits are displayed and rated according to how well the document or discussion matches the search criteria. For discussion hits, the search results display both the title of the discussion and the comments for the discussion.

> ### To Perform an Advanced Search for a Document

> The advanced search is indexed much like a card catalog and allows you to create complex search queries using document fields and syntax operators from pull-down menus.

> 1. Choose Advanced Search
> 2. Use the Document Fields, Operator Choices, and Rating (available only for discussion documents) options to enter the search criteria for the document.
> 3. To perform the search on existing discussions, check Search Discussions.
> 4. Choose Search.

> Search results or hits are displayed and rated according to how well the document or discussion matches the search criteria. For discussion hits, the search results display both the title of the discussion and the comments for the discussion.

> Note | The search channel is set up, by default, to perform a basic search. To make advanced searches the default search mode, the search channel settings must specify that Basic search is not to be used as the default. See Editing Search Preferences for information on how to specify an advanced search.

> Document Fields

> Document fields let you type in words on which to base your search. The document fields for Advanced search are:

> - Find – Specifies keywords to search for.
> - Without the words – Limits the search by omitting documents that contain words you do not want to search for.
> - Title – Specifies a word in the title of the document that has been specified with a Title tag. (If a document does not have a Title tag, no title is listed in the index for that document, and searching by title will not find it.)
> - Author – Specifies the person, persons, or organization that originally created the document. (If a document does not contain an <Author> META tag, no author is listed in the index for that document, and searching by author’s name will not find it.)
> - URL – The Uniform Resource Locator (web address) of the document. Keep in mind the following points when specifying URLs:
> - The http:// portion of the address must be entered if you are using the Is or Begins with operators.
> - The slash (/) at the end of an address is significant. For example, searching for http://www.test.com/soft/ will search all documents at that address and all of its subdirectories, but if you omit the slash and specify just http://www.test.com/soft you will not only search the documents at that address, but all other addresses that start with those characters such as: test.com/software, test.com/softest and so on.
> - Rated - A menu that specifies the discussion document rating and allows you to limit your search to documents rated at the level specified or higher.
> - Show – A menu that specifies the amount of information that is included with your search results.

> Operator Choices

> Operator choices let you specify how the keyword search is performed.

> The following operators are available for the Find keyword field:

> - All of the words – Specifies that the search contains all of the keywords. It acts like the Boolean <AND> operator.
> - Any of the words – Specifies that the search contains any of the keywords specified. It acts like the Boolean <OR> operator.
> - The exact phrase – Specifies an exact text string to search for in a document. It acts like a quote.
> - Passage search – Specifies that the search contains a combination of words in the order in which they are entered into the field. It acts like a combination of the Boolean <AND> and <OR> operators.

> The following operators are available for the Title, Author, and URL fields:

> - Does contain
> - Does not contain

> The following operators are available for the Since menu – a menu that specifies the date when the document was last modified and allows you to limit your search to within a certain time frame.

> - forever
> - last week
> - last month
> - last 6 months
> - last year

> ### To Browse Categories

> Browsing a category allows you to search for documents within a category. The Browse feature provides a combination of basic search and category browsing. You can browse within categories to retrieve documents or search within categories. When searching categories, you have the option to search within particular category or search all categories. Browsing is useful if you are not sure what search criteria or keywords to specify for a document.

> Note | The search channel is set up, by default, to include a category search. Verify that this value is set on the Search edit page. See Editing Search Preferences for information on how to set this value.

> To browse a category, do the following:

> 1. Choose Browse.
> 2. Type a keyword in the keyword field.
> 3. When category results are displayed, choose a category to browse.

> Categories can be indexed to include subcategories, which can also be browsed or searched.

> 4. Choose a document to view or a subcategory to browse.

> To search a category, do the following.

> 1. From the Browse page, select the radio button for one of the following:
> - Search in all categories - searches for documents containing a specified keyword in all categories
> - Search in current category - search for documents containing a specified keyword in the category that is currently chosen.
> 2. Enter keyword.
> 3. Choose search.

> ### To Save a Search

> If you perform a search you would like to save so you can monitor it over time, you can save the search to the Subscriptions channel. Saving a search adds the search to the list of Saved Searches available from the Subscriptions Channel.

> Note | You must be an authenticated user to add a saved search to the Subscriptions channel. Users accessing the Sun Java System Portal Server standard Desktop as Anonymous will not see the Save this search hyperlink.

> 1. Perform the search.
> 2. Click the Save this search hyperlink at the top of the results list.

> The Subcriptions setup page displays.

> 3. Specify a name for the saved search in the Name field.
> 4. Specify a query string, similar to the Search text field, in the Query field.

> The number of hits is updated when a new document is found by the search matching the query string.

> 5. Select the time frame to which to limit your search in the Since drop down menu.

> The available time periods are forever, last week, last month, last 6 months, and last year.

> 6. Click Finished.

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