REFERENCE LIBRARY
Build your own Search Engine
In this course you will learn how to build a search engine using the DataFlex web app framework.
Why create a search engine? In modern applications it is important that users can find data by just typing in keywords. The entered keywords should then search through one table, multiple tables or maybe even multiple tables that are not even related to each other.
The result at the end of the course will be a screen where the user will be able to do just that: enter text into a search field, and the application will search through all necessary lists. First, an example will be shown of how to create a search that will only look through one base table. Following that will be the creation of a search that looks through multiple, unrelated tables.
At the end of the course, the result should be a search tile on the dashboard that will pull up the search example. Clicking it will bring up a list of data that is coming from multiple tables that are related in some way, but not necessarily related to each other. The list will shows tracks, albums and artists.
To show the functionality, ‘queen hits’ is typed in, and the search button is clicked. The result is all the Queen hits that come from albums, playlists or tracks on the albums. From here, if an artist is clicked, it should bring up more information about the artist. If an album is clicked, it should bring up the album information, and so on.
Data can also be found from a specific source. Typing in “queen artist” will show a single result of the artist Queen. Selecting that result will drill down into the information about that data source. Therefore, it is best to make context sensitive searches.
