The Fabasoft Mindbreeze query language
The Fabasoft Mindbreeze Query Language is a powerful query language by itself. Users can intersect document hits using an AND expression, join hits with an OR expression, restrict queries to metadata, and much more.Read more about our Query Language in the Cheat Sheet
Customizing the query language
Despite our powerful query language, sometimes you need to customize the query language to your own domain specific requirements. Because of this Fabasoft Mindbreeze provides an API extension point, which makes it possible to transform a given query. The possibilities are manifold: transformations can replace, extend or even remove parts of query expressions.
Use Case 1: translating between query languages
One use case of these transformations is to map query expressions or keywords from other query languages to the Fabasoft Mindbreeze Query Language.
For example, some people accustomed to the Google Query Language use the expression "filetype:jpg", which can be easily replaced with the corresponding expression "extension:jpg".
Use Case 2: integration of Synonym / Taxonomy Libraries
Another use case is to support synonyms and taxonomies at query-time. The basic idea is to extend the query by transforming a single user-provided query term into multiple alternatives, thus dramatically increasing the possibility that users find what they are looking for. This allows for instance to find the terms „automobile“ OR „passenger car“ when the search term “car” is entered.
Use Case 3: multi-lingual queries
So why not extend the concept of synonyms to (natural) languages?
Using translation libraries, a query for the English term "car" can be easily extended to the German term "Auto" and the French term "voiture".
Use Case 4: spelling corrections
To cope with misspellings and typos, the query can be extended to corrected terms.
Use Case 5: refining queries using geo location
Use case 2, 3 and 4 are aimed at expanding the query to access more documents. Sometimes we want the opposite: To filter a vast amount of information, and get out only what really matters.
For example a query for "hotel" or "restaurant" could yield a magnitude of document hits. So a query can be restricted to local hotels and restaurants, by mapping the geo location to a city name or even a street name. Such a geo location could be obtained from the browser in mobile devices with GPS support or the IP address of the user.
Read about HTML 5 support for geo locations.
Comments
CustomizationBest Practices for SharePoint Users : Beyond Search
[...] end-users time and energy. One smart feature that we will highlight is the Fabasoft Mindbreeze query language. The Fabasoft Mindbreeze Query Language is a powerful query language by itself. Users can [...]
Submitted: January 19th, 2012 06:15
