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pergamonmu:general:index_items

Managing Attached Index Items

The Manage Lookup Words dialog is used to manage the lookup phrases attached to a component of an underlying record - usually an Reader or Item indexing type.

The dialog consists of two main lists - the left hand list contains a series of available phrases that could be attached, while the right hand list contains the phrases that are currently attached. Above these lists is a simple text field into which a pattern can be entered by the user. This is very often the first few characters of a phrase which is then used (with an automatic wildcard) to display a series of matching phrases in the left hand list.

Phrases can be moved to and from the attached list (right side) by either double-clicking an entry in either list to move it to the corresponding list, or alternately to single-click one or more items and using the [<] and [>] command buttons to perform the move.

Saving Changes

Once a suitable list is assembled in the right-hand list, the changes can be saved into the underlying record by selecting the [Save] button. Note that the changes are not saved into the database until the underlying record itself (e.g. the %ITEM% or %AGENT%) is saved into the database.

Cancelling Changes

Any changes that have been made to the list can be aborted simply by selecting the [Cancel] command button. No changes will be reflected in the underlying record.

Creating a new phrase

New phrases can be created dynamically through the Manage Index Items dialog rather than separately through the Manage Lookup management dialog.

In order to do so, enter the entire phrase into the pattern matching field and ensure that no matches are displayed in the left-hand list. Once the user is sure that the item does not therefore exit already within the database, select [Create] to write the new item into the database, and present the item for use within the list.

Using qualifiers

For some types of indexing item, it is neccessary to qualify how they are used and what they represent. A good example of a 'qualification' is the attachment of a name to an Item representing someone who contributed to the creation of the item - such as an author, editor or illustrator. It is possible however, to have an individual who served as one type of contributor on one Item, and was a totally different type of contributor on another. Isaac Asimov acted as both author and editor for different books, while Orson Wells was an Actor, Director and Producer. The type of the contributor can not therefore be attached to the contributor name, but must instead be defined at the point of use.

When moving an indexing item into the 'current' list, the default qualifying type is added after the entry (e.g. Isaac Asimov (Author) ). If that qualifier is required, then it can simply be left as it appears. If that qualifier is not the one required, right-click the entry with the [shift] key depressed on the keyboard in order to display the list of other qualifiers available in the form of a context menu. Select the qualifier required from the menu to change it in the list.

Primary Attribution

In some cases, it is possible to select a number of lookup items to attach but where one has particular importance. This is especially true in the case of contributors such as Authors and Illustrators, where several people may have a credit in contributing to a book but only one has a primary attribution.

In this case, we can use the same process as described in selecting a Qualifier, but by selecting the first option in the context-sensitive menu allocate the currently selected Lookup item as the Primary Attribution. As only one Lookup Item can be the primary, all others in the list are automatically removed.



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pergamonmu/general/index_items.txt · Last modified: 2017/08/08 12:41 by admin