Search Comparisons

Searching - Comparisons

FieldNamecomp=XX

You can compare data during a search in many different ways -- the field may match exactly, greater than, less than, in a range, etc. You tell WebCatalog how to compare fields in a database by typing the field name followed by comp into a URL. As a shortcut, you can also put the two-letter comparison code in front of the fieldname's data specifier.

If your database has a field called "FirstName", and you want to look for records that are alphabetically arranged after "Grant" in the FirstName field, then you would enter a URL something like this:

http://Results.tpl?command=search&FirstNamedata=Grant&FirstNamecomp=gt&db=SomeDatabase.db

shortcut equivalent form for the search above:
http://Results.tpl?command=search&gtFirstNamedata=Grant&db=SomeDatabase.db

The template "Results.tpl" will be displayed after the search, and any [FoundItems] contexts in it will be filled with found records. "gt" stands for "greater than", meaning that the FirstName field must be greater than "Grant", otherwise it won't be considered a match.

Note: Probably the most commonly-used (and simplest) way to search a database is the "Word Or" search. This most closely matches Yahoo and Lycos' style of searching, because it finds all records that match at least one word entered by the visitor, and sorts the "best match" records to the top of the list. If you have a product database with a Description field, the search form might look like this:

<form method="POST" action="Results.tpl">
<input type=hidden name="command" value="Search">
Description: <input name="woDescriptiondata"> <input type="submit">
</form>

Below is a list of all the different ways to compare information in a field. All comparisons are not case-sensitive (unless you force them to be), so "JOE" is the same as "Joe":

Comp Description

ls
less than - lsFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "less than" Grant.

le
less than or equal to - leFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "less than or equal to" Grant.

eq
equal to (default option for numbers) - eqFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "equal to" Grant (upper and lower case don't matter unless you want them to: see Case Sensitivity)

ge
greater than or equal to - geFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "greater than or equal to" Grant.

gr
greater than - grFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "greater than" Grant.

rn
range: field contains two numbers separated by space, or +

rnZipCodedata=92069+93090 finds all records whose ZipCode field is numerically in the range of 92069 - 93090

mr
minimum range value: if no maximum then ge is used instead

xr
maximum range value: if no minimum than le is used instead

ne
not equal - neFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "not equal" Grant.

bw
begins with - bwFirstNamedata=Jo finds all records whose FirstName field "begins with" Jo, as in "Joe", "Joseph", "Josephine".

cl
close to (numeric only). clZipCodedata=92069&clZipCodedata=10 finds all records whose ZipCode field is within 10 of 92069 (92059 - 92079)

ws
Interpret the words as a single string to be matched (including spaces etc.) This lets you find entire phrases, like "Joe enjoys butter" only if those 3 words are next to each other in that order, including spaces (unlike wa and wo, below)

wa
Separate the words and "and" them together (all must match). Searching for 3 words using wa will match only if all 3 are in the field, but not necessarily next to each other.

wo
Separate the words and "or" them together (at least one must match - default option for text). Search for 3 words using wo will match if any one of them matches.

wn
word not equal - none of the words match text in the specified field

Comp	Description
ls	less than - lsFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "less than" Grant.
le	less than or equal to - leFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "less than or equal to" Grant.
eq	equal to (default option for numbers) - eqFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "equal to" Grant (upper and lower case don't matter unless you want them to: see Case Sensitivity)
ge	greater than or equal to - geFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "greater than or equal to" Grant.
gr	greater than - grFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "greater than" Grant.
rn	range: field contains two numbers separated by space, or + rnZipCodedata=92069+93090 finds all records whose ZipCode field is numerically in the range of 92069 - 93090
mr	minimum range value: if no maximum then ge is used instead
xr	maximum range value: if no minimum than le is used instead
ne	not equal - neFirstNamedata=Grant finds all records whose FirstName field is alphabetically "not equal" Grant.
bw	begins with - bwFirstNamedata=Jo finds all records whose FirstName field "begins with" Jo, as in "Joe", "Joseph", "Josephine".
cl	close to (numeric only). clZipCodedata=92069&clZipCodedata=10 finds all records whose ZipCode field is within 10 of 92069 (92059 - 92079)
ws	Interpret the words as a single string to be matched (including spaces etc.) This lets you find entire phrases, like "Joe enjoys butter" only if those 3 words are next to each other in that order, including spaces (unlike wa and wo, below)
wa	Separate the words and "and" them together (all must match). Searching for 3 words using wa will match only if all 3 are in the field, but not necessarily next to each other.
wo	Separate the words and "or" them together (at least one must match - default option for text). Search for 3 words using wo will match if any one of them matches.
wn	word not equal - none of the words match text in the specified field