Using the JObjects Search Engine

General Information

The search engine used on this CD-ROM is the QuestAgent Pro version 4.0.9. from JObjects (http://www.jobjects.com/). It uses a Java applet interface to query a pre-generated index of terms derived from the full text of all book pages on the CD-ROM. The applet and index are licensed to O'Reilly and Associates for use with this CD Bookshelf and may not be copied or redistributed for other purposes. See the copyright page for more information about restrictions on the content of this CD.

Requirements

For a complete matrix of browser/platform compatibility, click here.

This search engine works with most Java-enabled browsers supporting version Java 1.1.2 or later. Our testing shows that it works with Internet Explorer on all platforms, Netscape (prior to v.7) on all platforms, and Mozilla on most Windows platforms. It has problems running with Mozilla and Netscape 7 on Linux, Mac, and occasionally Windows (sometimes you need to scroll down the results window to view the search results).

Special Characters

This search engine does not support special characters. To search for special characters, please use the Master Index.

Instructions

Search for a term in one book

Open the search engine's web page on the CD-ROM by clicking on the SEARCH button in the top right-hand corner of any page in the book, or on the search link on the book's home page.
Select the text box at the top of the search interface window and type in a term.
If you want the results to display in a separate browser window (allowing you to keep your original search results intact), check the "show in new window" box, found on the third line in the search engine box.
Click the Search button.
The text box at the bottom of the interface window will show all matching results by filename.
Highlight a link in the text box and click the View button on the top right of the search engine window. You can also just double-click on a link in the text box. (Note for Linux users: if left-clicking on the link doesn't work, either double right-click or use the View button.)

Search for a term in all books

Open the Search All Books link from the CD home page. The CD title appears in the "Search in" window.
Select the text box at the top of the search interface window and type in a term.
Click the Search button.
The text box at the bottom of the interface window will show all matching results by filename, followed by the book title.
Highlight a link in the text box and click the View button on the top right of the search engine window. You can also just double-click on a link in the text box. (Note for Linux users: if left-clicking on the link doesn't work, either double right-click or use the View button.)

Multiple terms and Boolean operators in searches

The QuestAgent Pro search engine understands simple "boolean operations." By default, if you type multiple terms separated by spaces, they will be treated as arguments to an AND. In other words, every matching file will have to contain all the terms.

Alternatively, you can insert the word "OR" between each term if you are interested in files that contain any of the terms.

The word "NOT" can be used before a term to require that it not be present in the files.

Parentheses can be used to group terms and operators.

Other functionality

Select the popup menu to the right of the text field to select a maximum number of results to display.

The field selector does not currently contain any items to narrow searching. Future CD-ROMs may use this feature, however.