searching an XML DB

[danfood]

I need to write a programme to search an XML file.

I don't know where to start really.

The fields in my XML file are of the form:

<projectdetails>
<contact>
<field id=&quot;name&quot; taborder=&quot;1&quot;>
<field_value>Dan </field_value>
</field>
<field id=&quot;surname&quot; taborder=&quot;2&quot;>
<field_value>Foord</field_value>
</field>
</contact>
</projectdetails>

I want the search engine to look through certain ids for text in the field_value.

ie search all the field id &quot;name&quot; in all the contacts for the text &quot;Dan&quot;
And hey presto it returns all the matches.

Would JavaScript be good for this?
If so how?
I have very very little experience of JS

Cheers
Dan

 

[rjonesX]

Better idea for a search page, it involves using Javascript, XSL and ASP... It looks like you are working off of the xml101.com organization my favorite so this should work...

Step One: Place the following code anywhere, inserting what you want for link, title, and description in your search.xsl page...

<FORM NAME=&quot;database&quot;>
<input type=&quot;hidden&quot; name=&quot;list&quot;><xsl:attribute name=&quot;value&quot;><xsl:for-each select=&quot;projectdetails/contact&quot;>viewSingle.asp?x=<xsl:value-of select=&quot;field[@id='name']/field_value&quot;/>~<xsl:value-of select=&quot;field[@id='name']/field_value&quot;/>|<xsl:value-of select=&quot;field[@id='keywords-or-name-or-whatever-field_value-you-want-searched']/field_value&quot; />^<xsl:value-of select=&quot;field[@id=''keywords-or-name-or-whatever-field_value-you-want-searched'']/field_value&quot;/>!*</xsl:for-each></xsl:attribute></input>
</FORM>

Step Two: Place this code into the body of your search.xsl page

<script language=&quot;JavaScript&quot;>
<xsl:comment><![CDATA[
function Page(url,title,keywords,description) {
while ((url.length > 0) && (url.charAt(0) == &quot; &quot) {
url = url.substring(1,url.length);
}
this.url = url;
while ((title.length > 0) && (title.charAt(0) == &quot; &quot) {
title = title.substring(1,title.length);
}
this.title = title;
this.keywords = keywords;
this.description = description;
return this;
}
function Database() {
var pos = 0;
while ((pos1 = amorphous.indexOf(&quot;~&quot;,pos)) != -1) {
pos2 = amorphous.indexOf(&quot;|&quot;,pos1+1);
pos3 = amorphous.indexOf(&quot;^&quot;,pos2+1);
pos4 = amorphous.indexOf(&quot;*&quot;,pos3+1);
if ((pos2 != -1)
&& (pos2 < pos3) && (pos3 < pos4)
&& (pos4 <= amorphous.indexOf(&quot;*&quot;,pos))) {
this[database_length++] = new Page(amorphous.substring(pos,pos1),
amorphous.substring(pos1+1,pos2),
amorphous.substring(pos2+1,pos3),
amorphous.substring(pos3+1,pos4));
pos = pos4+1;
} else { // error reading amorphous database
if (pos+30 <= amorphous.length)
alert('Error reading in amorphous database around &quot;'
+ amorphous.substring(pos,pos+30) + '&quot;');
pos = amorphous.indexOf(&quot;*&quot;,pos) + 1;
}
}
return this;
}
function search(str) {
menu_length = 0;
temp = new Object();
temp_length = 0;
words_length = 0;
words = new Object();
pos = 0;
while ((pos = str.indexOf(&quot; &quot) != -1
&& and_search != &quot;exact&quot {
words[words_length] = str.substring(0,pos);
if (words[words_length].length > 0)
words_length++;
if (str.length == 1)
str=&quot;&quot;;
else
str = str.substring(pos+1,str.length);
}
if (str.length > 0)
words[words_length++] = str;
for (q=0;q<words_length;q++) {
temp_length = 0;
str = words[q].toLowerCase();
len = (and_search==&quot;and&quot;&&q>0?menu_length:database_length);
for (n=0; n<len; n++) {
if (and_search==&quot;and&quot;&&q>0) {
combo = (menu[n].title + &quot; &quot; + menu[n].description
+ &quot; &quot; + menu[n].keywords).toLowerCase();
} else {
combo = (database[n].title + &quot; &quot; + database[n].description
+ &quot; &quot; + database[n].keywords).toLowerCase();
}
if (combo.indexOf(str) != -1) // found
temp[temp_length++] = (and_search==&quot;and&quot;&&q>0?menu[n]:database[n]);
}
if (and_search!=&quot;and&quot; && q>0) {
added = 0;
for (i=0;i<temp_length;i++) {
duplicate = false;
for (j=0;j<menu_length&&!duplicate;j++) {
if (menu[j] == temp) {
duplicate = true;
}
}
if (!duplicate)
menu[menu_length+(added++)] = temp;
}
menu_length += added;
} else {
for(h=0;h<temp_length;h++)
menu[h] = temp[h];
menu_length = temp_length;
}
}
}
function entry() {
if ((document.entryform.keyword.value.length == 0)
|| (document.entryform.keyword.value == &quot; &quot) {
alert(&quot;First you must enter a keyword to search for.&quot;
return false;
}
and_search = (document.entryform.and_or.selectedIndex == 0?&quot;and&quot;:&quot;or&quot;
if (document.entryform.and_or.selectedIndex == 2)
and_search = &quot;exact&quot;;
location.href = location.pathname + &quot;?&quot;
+ escape(document.entryform.keyword.value)
+ (and_search != &quot;or&quot;?&quot;&&quot;+and_search:&quot;&quot;
return false;
}
function redWord(str) {
for(r=0; r<words_length; r++) {
pos = -3;
word = words[r].toLowerCase();
while ((pos = str.toLowerCase().indexOf(word,pos+3)) != -1) {
val = pos+word.length;
str = str.substring(0,pos) + &quot;*&quot;
+ str.substring(pos,val) + &quot;|&quot;
+ str.substring(val,str.length);
}
}
pos = -16;
while ((pos = str.toLowerCase().indexOf(&quot;*&quot;,pos+16)) != -1)
str = str.substring(0,pos) + &quot;<font color=red>&quot;
+ str.substring(pos+1,str.length);
pos = -7;
while ((pos = str.toLowerCase().indexOf(&quot;|&quot;,pos+7)) != -1)
str = str.substring(0,pos) + &quot;</font>&quot;
+ str.substring(pos+1,str.length);
return str;
}

var amorphous = document.database.list.value;
temp_str = amorphous.substring(amorphous.length-2,amorphous.length);
if (temp_str.indexOf(&quot;*&quot == -1)
amorphous += &quot;* &quot;;
else
amorphous += &quot; &quot;; // amorphous database must have characters after last asterisk

database_length = 0; // Netscape 2 fix
var database = new Database(); // read in from amorphous database

menu_length = 0; // Netscape 2 fix
var menu = new Object();

string = &quot;&quot;;
and_search = &quot;or&quot;;
if (location.search.length > 1) {
string = unescape(location.search.substring(1,location.search.length));
pos = 0;
while ((pos = string.indexOf('&quot;',pos)) != -1) {
string = string.substring(0,pos) + '\\&quot;' + string.substring(pos+1,string.length);
pos += 2;
}
if (string.substring(string.length-4,string.length) == &quot;&and&quot {
string = string.substring(0,string.length-4);
and_search = &quot;and&quot;;
} else if (string.substring(string.length-6,string.length) == &quot;&exact&quot {
string = string.substring(0,string.length-6);
and_search = &quot;exact&quot;;
} else if (string.substring(string.length-3,string.length) == &quot;&or&quot {
string = string.substring(0,string.length-3);
and_search = &quot;or&quot;;
}
search(string);
}
document.write('<form name=&quot;entryform&quot; onSubmit=&quot;return entry()&quot;>'
+'<b>Search for:</b><br /><input type=&quot;text&quot; size=20 '
+'name=&quot;keyword&quot; value=&quot;'+string+'&quot;> '
+'<input type=&quot;button&quot; value=&quot;Search&quot; onClick=&quot;entry()&quot;><br /><select name=&quot;and_or&quot; '
+'size=1><option'+(and_search==&quot;and&quot;?&quot; selected&quot;:&quot;&quot+'>find all words '
+'(AND)<option'+(and_search==&quot;or&quot;?&quot; selected&quot;:&quot;&quot+'>find any word '
+'(OR)<option'+(and_search==&quot;exact&quot;?&quot; selected&quot;:&quot;&quot+'>exact '
+'match</select></form><br />');
if (location.search.length > 1)
document.write('<b>Results:</b><br /><br />\n');

// eliminate the keywords portion of the statement below to eliminate them from your display

for (n=0; n<menu_length; n++)
document.write('<b><a href=&quot;'+menu[n].url+'&quot;>'+menu[n].title
+'</a></b><br />'+redWord(menu[n].description)+'<br />Keywords: '
+redWord(menu[n].keywords)+'<br /><br />\n');
if ((menu_length == 0) && (location.search.length > 1))
document.write('Keyword &quot;'+string+'&quot; not found!\n');
// -->
]]></xsl:comment>
</script>

Step 3: Make an ASP page w/ the following code, such as search.asp

<%
'Load the XML
set xml = Server.CreateObject(&quot;Microsoft.XMLDOM&quot
xml.async = false
xml.load(Server.MapPath(&quot;whateveryourxmlfileis.xml&quot)

'Load the XSL
set xsl = Server.CreateObject(&quot;Microsoft.XMLDOM&quot
xsl.async = false
xsl.load(Server.MapPath(&quot;search.xsl&quot)

Response.Write(xml.transformNode(xsl))
%>

What will happen: the ASP page will pick up your XML file and the search.xsl file will basically turn that XML file content into a set of search possibilities within the makeshift javascript database where each element, such as the link, title, etc is separated by odd characters such as ~, |, and ! --- for example, if I had the following xml document...



it would look like this in the code when parsed...

<form name=&quot;database&quot; value=&quot;viewSingle.asp?x=Dan~Dan|Dan or whatever xml node you had chosen for the keywords^Dan or whatever xml node you had chosen for the description!&quot;>



So if you fill out the search on the page with say... &quot;russ&quot; and one of your records in your XML document has &quot;russ&quot; in its description node, or whatever node value you put in between the special characters, it would spit out the search result...

<a href=&quot;viewer.asp?select=Russ&quot;>Russ:</a>
Russ is Rad, Russ Is Rad

Step 4: Your viewSingle.asp file...

<%

value = request.querystring(&quot;x&quot

Dim objXML
Dim objNode
Dim objXSL
set objXML = Server.CreateObject(&quot;Microsoft.XMLDOM&quot
objXML.async = false
objXML.load(&quot;whateveryourxmlfileis.xml)
Set objNode = objXML.SelectSingleNode(&quot;projectdetails/contact[field/field_value='&quot; & x & &quot;']&quot
set objXSL = Server.CreateObject(&quot;Microsoft.XMLDOM&quot
objXSL.async = false
objXSL.load(&quot;whateveryoursinglexslfileis.xsl&quot
Response.Write(objNode.transformNode(objXSL))

%>