CONVERTING DOWNLOADED SEARCH RESULTS INTO UPLOADED SEARCH STATEMENTS USING DIALOGLINK OR PRO-SEARCH FRONTEND SOFTWARE Peter Brueggeman Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library University of California at San Diego Microcomputer-based frontend software facilitates database searching by offering useful features like autodialing, autologon, sending (uploading) search statements, capturing (downloading) search results, editing of search results, and cost accounting. Pro-Search (1), Dialoglink (2), SearchWorks, and PC-Netlink are examples of microcomputer- based frontend software designed for the search professional. This article presents a novel use of Dialoglink or the native mode of Pro-Search (version 1.03 or later) that saves keyboarding time in the creation of a search that incorporates information gathered from a previous search. Dialoglink and the native mode of Pro-Search are designed for experienced searchers (Pro-Search also has a high-level- interface mode for less experienced searchers.) Dialoglink and the native mode of Pro-Search (version 1.03+) support composing and saving a search strategy (comprised of a series of search statements) while offline, and then uploading it to the database service for execution. The entire online search session downloads automatically to the RAM memory of the searcher's microcomputer while the search is in progress. After logoff from the database service, the searcher decides what to do with the downloaded search session captured in RAM memory. The downloaded search session or portions of it can be edited, printed, saved to disc or erased. Both Dialoglink and the native mode of Pro-Search are of similar design in their most basic features and can share deficiencies. Neither allows the searcher to reuse elements of one search session's downloaded results in the composition of a second search strategy. Information contained in one search session's retrieved records may need to be recycled into a second strategy's search statements. The keyboarding burden for the searcher increases with the number of terms to be recycled. Currently the searcher keyboards those recycled search terms into the second strategy even though they were automatically downloaded as part of the first session. The terms needed for the composition of the second strategy are staring the searcher in the face (because they were captured locally in the microcomputer's RAM memory) but they cannot be used. The stratagem presented below closes that gap. For example, a first search can obtain titles and accession numbers and then selected accession numbers can be used in a followup search to obtain the complete records. Similarly downloaded Chemical Abstracts Registry numbers, authors' names, companies' names, search statements, Standard Industrial Classification codes, or journals' names can be reused depending on the situation. The examples are specific for searching Dialog with Dialoglink but the stratagem also works for searching BRS with Dialoglink, as well for searching Dialog or BRS with the native mode of Pro-Search. It probably works for other database services but the author has not investigated all the possibilities. In the examples, BRS searchers should translate Dialog's "type" command into BRS' equivalent "print" command. ACCESSION NUMBERS Accession numbers of database records present a cost-saving opportunity. The searcher can execute a search for a requestor and then type the titles and accession numbers of the records retrieved. The search requestor scans the titles retrieved and then indicates which titles should be typed in full to compile a bibliography. The searcher inputs those selected titles' accession numbers in a followup search session and then types the corresponding bibliographic or full records. Using this cost-saving stratagem, the search requestor pays citation charges for only what is needed. The per-citation cost for titles and accession numbers is usually much less than the per-citation cost for the bibliographic citation or the full record; oftentimes it is zero. However the searcher has a tough time dealing with this stratagem since the accession numbers have to be keyboarded individually in the followup search. Accession number keyboarding is excruciatingly tedious and open to error. Dialoglink (or the native mode of Pro-Search) can be manipulated to facilitate this second step in conjunction with the DOS rename command. If the search is executed with the requestor present, review the search session with the requestor immediately after logoff. The session was automatically downloaded into the microcomputer's RAM memory (Dialoglink's retrieve buffer) and includes the typed titles and their accession numbers. Review the downloaded titles using the PgUp, PgDn, and the cursor keys. The requestor indicates the interesting titles; use the line-editing feature of Dialoglink to keep (mark) only those lines that hold desired accession numbers (and also to keep the command line to begin the database.) Next capture the marked lines to a disc file and Dialoglink saves them as a "reference" file. Exit Dialoglink to DOS and rename the file extension of the reference file from ".REF" to ".SRC". (For Pro-Search, change the file extension from ".REF" to ".SCH".) Dialoglink names its downloaded-to-disc reference files with the file extension ".REF"; saved-search-strategy files are named with the file extension ".SRC". Renaming the file extension converts the reference file into a mutant saved-search- strategy file and allows the searcher to subsequently edit this file into shape for uploading. Dialoglink has an editing capability used in creating search strategies for subsequent uploading or saving, and also in modifying saved search strategies. Re-enter Dialoglink and load the mutant saved-search-strategy file onto the screen (load Dialoglink's type-ahead buffer.) Use Dialoglink's editing features to edit the mutant search strategy until it looks right. Delete the question mark prompts, insert a "t" in front of each desired accession number, and insert a slash and a print- format number after each accession number. Delete any extraneous information in the accession number field. Pay particular attention to the database documentation regarding the accession number field; sometimes there can be two numbers in the field and only one of them can be searched. After editing is completed, logon to Dialog and upload the mutant saved-search-strategy file. Dialoglink captures the desired references in RAM memory. If the search requestor is not present at the time of the search, invoke the same stratagem. However save all of the titles and their corresponding accession numbers to disc rather than selected accession numbers only. Give the search requestor a printout of the titles to scan and to indicate the titles desired. Convert the reference file to a mutant saved-search-strategy file and then load it onto the screen at a later date for editing into shape. More line-deletions are involved in editing under this scenario but anything is better than keyboarding those damn accession numbers. Both Dialoglink and Pro-Search limit the size of a saved-search- strategy file; see the last paragraph for a discussion of specific limits and how to get around them. SEARCH STRATEGIES Dialoglink and Pro-Search support local storage of search strategies that can be executed subsequently; thus search strategies can be formulated offline to save money on the keyboarding time, and SDI searches and search "hedges" can be stored and managed locally. While executing a stored search strategy and reviewing the results retrieved, the searcher may discover new or modified search statements that are particularly effective and should be incorporated into that saved search strategy for subsequent use. Dialoglink and Pro-Search do not incorporate newly-discovered or -modified search statements into a saved search strategy. Additions or modifications have to be keyboarded during an editing session, and the revised search strategy has to be saved. This is no big deal if only a few search statements are involved but if it gets involved, try another approach. All the search statements used during a search session are automatically downloaded into RAM along with the whole search session. Use Dialoglink's (or Pro-Search's) line editor to keep (mark) only those search statements desired. Save those marked search statements to a disc file. Exit to DOS and rename the file to a saved-search-strategy file. Re-enter Dialoglink, load up the file, and edit it into a respectable- looking search strategy. This is particularly easy because only the question mark prompt has to be deleted. If Dialog's "display sets" command is used to list all of the search statements for subsequent editing, then more editing will be required than with the method suggested above. If BRS' "display all" command is invoked, then the editing effort is about the same compared to the method suggested above. Finally, after editing, save it as a new search strategy file. The general stratagem presented in both examples does have limits. The microcomputer's RAM memory limits the amount of information that can be automatically downloaded into RAM. Both software require at least 256K RAM; this suffices for many situations but more RAM is desirable. Both software also limit the size of a saved-search-strategy file. For example, Dialoglink's manual states that the limit of a saved-search-strategy file is approximately 20,000 characters. This file size corresponds to approximately 126 Dialog format-six references retrieved from the BIOSIS file. Similarly, Pro-Search's manual states that its limit is approximately 12000 characters. If the downloaded-to-disk reference file is over 20K for Dialoglink or over 12K for Pro-Search, then it cannot be immediately renamed as a saved- search-strategy file and edited using Dialoglink's or Pro- Search's editor. Instead copy it to word processing software and edit it into a search strategy. After editing, rename the file extension as a saved-search-strategy file (.SRC or .SCH) and copy it to Dialoglink or Pro-Search. Be sure to save the edited file as an ASCII file (e.g. Wordstar's non- document mode) when using word processing software. 1) Barbara Quint, "Menlo Corporation's Pro-Search: Review of a Software Search Aid", ONLINE, v.10, n.1, Jan. 1986, pp.17- 25. 2) Aggi Raeder, "Dialoglink, Product Evaluation of a New Communication Software from Dialog", DATABASE END-USER, v.2, n.4, April 1986, pp. 17-21.