Fabasoft Mindbreeze Web Client (eng, Summer 2011)

In this article, we describe the Fabasoft Mindbreeze Web Client based on use case scenarios.

Use cases

Basic Search

Once you point the browser to a configured client service, a simple start page appears with a search field at the center.

After submitting your search, the search field moves to the header of the page. Beneath the search field, a result list appears. Each item in the result list represents a document, displaying important attributes of the document, such as

title
relevancy
size
modification date
action menu
preview action
content sample
important metadata

Clicking on the document title triggers exactly the same action as the first element in the action menu. This action menu provides all the actions that can be executed on the document.
Text passages within the content sample are highlighted, if they match the input of the search field.

Depending on the data source, the metadata section of a result list element will also contain actions on the metadata values:

At the right side of the metadata value, a triangle symbolizes the existance of an action menu, providing actions on the metadata value.
As with the document, clicking the metadata value text itself will trigger the first action in the menu.

Sorting of results

You can change the sorting of the result list (by relevancy or by date) by clicking on the relevancy or modification date columns. The current sorting in action is marked with a triangle.

Preview

Next to the action menu in the result list element, there is a button 'Preview'. After clicking the button, an overlay window will pop up. At the top, this window displays the same document title and action menu as in the result list. But in constrast, the full list of document attributes (metadata) and the full document content will be displayed below. Again, text passages matching the user's search terms will be highlighted.

Printing

On the right side of the query field you will find a print button. This action will only print the result list, and not the header section and the navigational section left of the result list, as they irrelevant in the print (while useful for navigation).

'Did you mean' feature

If your search input contains a typo and no results can be found, chances are that Fabasoft Mindbreeze recognizes the typo and suggests an alternative query input. Instead of the result list, a line saying 'Did you mean: ' will appear, followed by a link with an suggested alternative query.

Pagination

If there are more results available than currently displayed, you can click the button "Load more results ..." located below the last search result.

"Search In" settings

Left of the result list, you will find the a section "Search In". In this section you can choose the data sources you want to search in, and furthermore, the corresponding data source integrator can define a tree with restrictions below the data source node.

Tabs

The tabs above the search results allow you to restrict the search results to specific data sources. Your "Search In" settings control which tabs are available.

Tabs have to be activated by your administrator.

Aggregations / Breadcrumbs / Refinements

Left of the result list, there is another section "Refine your search" below the "Search In" section.

This section basically consists of a list of subsections, each subsection representing a metadatum.

The section header contains the metadata name. Below the header there is an input field for direct refinement Below the input field, there is a list of possible values which were aggregated for this metadatum during the search. If you click a value, the search will be restricted to this value. At the right next to the metadata value, there is a count, telling you how much documents there are matching this attribute value.

With each refinement added this way, the breadcrumb above the result list will be extended. To undo a refinements, simply click on the respective 'X' button in within the breadcrumb.

There is a special refinement, the "date refinement". If you click into the input field, a date chooser will pop up, allowing to restrict the date range of the searched documents.

Session state

Using a supported browser, all settings will be saved in the session state. Thus, when reloading the search page, all settings will be restored:

search field input
refinement input
breadcrumbs
search in selection
sorting
federated data sources