The EMu Portal

The EMu Portal provides searching and collation of data from multiple sources simultaneously. Data sources can be both internal and external to an institution, and include EMu, DiGIR, TAPIR, OAI or any other suitable Web Service data provider.

Through implementation of XSL styling, the Portal is a fully-fledged browser-based Search and Display utility for accessing multiple data sources. This is the default configuration of the Portal (and is described here). The interface is easily modified and there is much potential to incorporate interesting and powerful features, such as record selection, linking and web mapping.

The Portal comprises two pages:

The Search page

From the Search page it is possible to:

Select any of the specified data sources.
Set the order of importance of each selected data source.
Use a mixture of AND and OR query terms.
Limit the number of records found.
Specify how results will be sorted.

Portal

The following table describes each component of the Search page:

Control

Description

Status

Indicates the status of the EMuWeb services on the EMu database server. If EMuWeb is not running, the system will not accept queries.

Data Sources

Each searchable data source is listed here. Users select which source(s) to search. The sequence in which sources are selected determines the order in which results are displayed; this may be important depending on the number of records returned by the search (see Records and Record Distribution below).

Records

Specifies the maximum number of records to be returned by the search.

Record Distribution

These options work in conjunction with Records and Data Sources:

Get Records From As Many Sources As Possible
The search will run against each data source selected by the user and will return records equally (as far as possible) from each source up to the Max Records To Display.
Get Records From Sources In Priority Order
The search will run against the first data source that the user selected and will return as many records as possible; if this is less than the Max Records To Display, the second data source will be searched, and so on, up to the Max Records To Display.

Timeout Per Source

Specify how long (in seconds) to wait for a response from each data source. Searches of each source are run simultaneously. Results will be displayed when all sources have responded or when the timeout value has been reached.

Query Terms

Specify the terms for which to search:

Entering values in a single row specifies a Boolean AND search (all values in that row must be found).
Each row is a Boolean OR search.
For example:

In the first row, values are entered in Family and Genus.
In the second row a value is entered in Species.
When the search is run, records that contain both values in the first row, or records that contain the value in the second row will be returned.

Sort

Specify a field on which to sort results, and whether to sort in ascending or descending order.

The field and order specified here can be changed on the Results List page.

Buttons

Search	Commence the search.
Fill With Example Values	Enter some typical search values appropriate to the data sources selected.
Clear	Clear any search terms specified.
Help	Display user help.

Example Search

In this example we search for records with:

A Family value of Solanaceae AND a Genus of Solanum
OR with a Genus of Cestrum

Select the data sources that you wish to search.
Note: The order in which the data sources are selected determines the priority in which they are searched. In other words, if there are four data sources listed and you want the last one in the list to have priority in the search, select it first.
In this example we select the FMNH Botany EMu checkbox (and just to demonstrate the priority ordering of data sources, we then select FMNH Insects EMu, FMNH Invertebrates EMu and FMNH Fish EMu).
Specify the maximum number of records to display.
The default is 80 in this configuration. In this case we enter 5000.
At Record Distribution, select (or accept if it is the default setting) Get records from sources in priority order.
Specify a Timeout Per Source.
The default in this configuration is 45 seconds and in this case we won't change that.
In the first row of the Query Terms table, enter Solanaceae in the Family cell AND Solanum in the Genus cell.
In the second row, enter Cestrum in the Genus cell.
Select Genus in the Sort By drop list.
The results will be sorted in alphabetical order by Genus.
Click the Search button.
The Results List page displays.
Each of the selected data sources will be searched simultaneously up to the maximum timeout (45 seconds). The display of records is determined by:
- The priority order of the data sources (FMNH Botany EMu has priority over FMNH Insects EMu for instance)
- The Record Distribution option and maximum records to display setting.
In this case the Search results will be listed first from FMNH Botany EMu up to 5000 records. If less than 5000 matching records are found in the FMNH Botany EMu data source, matching records from the next data source will be listed, and so on until all matches are returned up to a maximum of 5000.
In this search, records that contain both Solanaceae AND Solanum (the record must contain both words, not just one of them) OR which contain Cestrum will be located.

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