The SEARCH.xml file
The category.xml File
The category.xml file replaces the functionality of the SEARCH.xml file for Research Pro 2.0 and later. If the category.xml file is present on your system, all copies of the old SEARCH.xml file are ignored by Research Pro.
Before making changes to your SEARCH.xml file, make a safe copy of this file.
The SEARCH.xml file is a list of resources and categories used by Research Pro to pass searches to the selected resources.
The contents of the SEARCH.xml file are XML entries. This file is organized into two sections:
You can edit the SEARCH.xml file using the Web Master function. Edit the Category Grouping section of this file when:
- You create new categories
- You have new resources added to your Research Pro
- You move existing resources in your Research Pro display
- You remove categories or resources
For example, if the site wants the "All Full Text Databases" to include "Academic Search Elite," "Academic Search Premiere (Z39.50)," "Master File Premier," and "Proquest ABI," then these four resources must be listed in the "All Full Text Databases" category as specified as <LINK> entries in the <GROUP> in the category grouping section.
If the user selects the entire "All Full Text Databases" category, then Research Pro will search all resources assigned to that category.
NOTES
- Category <LINK> and resource <TARGET> values in the SEARCH.xml file are assigned by the Research Pro Profiling team. Do not change these values or your Research Pro may cease to function properly.
- Note that the < and & characters are illegal in an XML file and must be represented as character entities (< and & respectively). To include a name like Arts & Sciences, you enter it in the XML file as Arts & Sciences.
Category Grouping
The Category Grouping section of the SEARCH.xml file contains the following XML elements:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| <MAP> | This element marks the beginning of one category mapping entry. |
| <GROUP> | This element defines the category for resources. The category group values are assigned by the Research Pro Profiling Team during profiling. Research Pro uses <LINK> elements under the <GROUP> entry to define each resource to search as part of that category or <GROUP>.
Do not name <GROUP> entries "Default" in this file. |
| <LINK> | This element defines the individual resources assigned to categories. Each <LINK> value corresponds to a <TARGET> value in the resource path section. When Research Pro searches a value assigned to a <GROUP> it uses each <LINK> value to look up a subsequent <TARGET> value to search that resource. |
For example:
<MAP>
<GROUP>Images</GROUP>
<LINK>AltaVistaImages</LINK>
<LINK>Artcyclopedia</LINK>
<LINK>GoogleImages</LINK>
</MAP>
In this example, the Images category ("type of resource") contains the following individual resources:
- AltaVistaImages
- Artcyclopedia
- GoogleImages
A user searching the Images category will search all of these individual resources.
Resource Path
Do not edit the contents of this section, save to delete resources no longer offered by your library.
The Resource Path section contains information necessary to connect to your Research Pro resources. The contents of this section are created by Innovative staff.
If you need to identify a <LINK> value for a category group, use the value of the <TARGET> element for your <LINK> value.
For example, if your Research Pro installation has the following:
<TARGET>GoogleImages</TARGET>
Your <LINK> value in the category group should be:
<LINK>GoogleImages</LINK>