NetStores^(TM) Shopping Cart Systems:

The Search Engine

The NetStores Search Engine is a web server compatible, record oriented ASCII file search FORM generator/engine that:

• Dynamically produces a user friendly, webmaster configurable, search form using the Hyper Text Markup Language that is suitable for viewing and entering information from/into a web browser.
• Dynamically parses the user supplied search criteria, entered into the web browser above and applies the search criteria against a flat ASCII database file (like a product or customer file), storing the results in a flat ASCII database file, that is identical in form to the original but containing only records that survived the search.
  

Since this new core technology essentially allows unskilled Internet users, with a FORMS enabled web browser, to easily search through a flat ASCII database file, which all non-Internet (i.e. traditional off-line systems like AS/400, Novell Netware, IBM 30XX, DEC VAX, etc.) computers are capable of producing it's applications are limitless: ranging from product wholesale and retail ordering and quoting, inventory availability, directories of people and/or organizations, account status, hotel/motel room or golf tee times availability and reservation, to name a few. Specifically, we exploit NetStores' functionality in our NetStores Ordering System(TM) and our NetStores Quoting System(TM), where NWSE presents a nice, easy to fill out form for untrained people to enter search parameters via keyboard or drag-and-drop mouse clicks, which we use as search criteria to sift through a product master (DWOS) or a quote master (DWQS) before feeding our order/quote form generators.

Preparing Your Catalog Data for use with NetStores

Preparing Your ASCII Catalog File (itmfil.asc)

• itmfil.asc is a variable length "flat" ASCII file, field separated by '|' and record separated by NL (x0a).
• All records must conform to the same field layout.
• The catalog file should (for performance reasons) consist only of fields that will appear in the search form or order form.
• Each record needs a key (can be combination of fields) to uniquely identify it.
• Key fields cannot contain any double quotes '"'.
• All search fields defined in the search form must appear as fields in the itmfil.asc.
• All fields to appear in the order form must appear as fields in the itmfil.asc and must be mapped to the generators allowable 5 fields (and lengths) to be defined as:

          Generator's generic field name        Example field map to itmfil.asc
          ------------------------------        -------------------------------
  	1) keyfield-1 (required)              field-1 in itmfil.asc
  	2) keyfield-2 (required)              field-5
  	3) description-1 (required)           field-2
  	4) description-2 (optional)           field-3
  	5) price (required)                   field-4
   

• Fields may be combined in the itmfil.asc to "extend" the limits of the generator (ie. artist and title my be combined as a single field in the itmfil.asc then mapped to description 1).
• Fields may appear twice to allow for singular searching and combination printing.
• Logical booleans can be included in the itmfil.asc as a fixed series of 0's and 1's comprising a single field(ie field #9=00010) and mapping to a series of checkboxes in the search form (in this example 5).

Preparing Your Catalog File (itmfil.asc) Spreadsheet or Database

Preparing your OBJECTS for hyperlinking

• All objects should be placed in a common "objects" directory.
• All objects are associated to records in itmfil.asc through a file naming convention (keyfield-1.ext where .ext is .jpg, .html, .url, etc). The order form generator hyperlinks directly to the discovered object (except .url objects which are expected to contain the full url to link to: http://www.shopping2000.com/barnes/xyzf.html)

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