Getting started with DirectInfo

What is DirectInfo? It is a web-based tool for searching text in documents. Having DirectInfo, ORACLE and an internet connection, you can easily index and search all the textual resources in your local network or the internet. To learn more about the DirectInfo features just click the topics and find out how to use them. You will find useful information to help you work with DirectInfo.


Working with help system

You can find information in this help system using the text searching mechanism integrated in your browser. After you are inside the help page, you can search for specific text on that page by clicking the Edit menu, and then clicking Find (on this page). A Find dialog will appear and you must just type the text and press Enter. The same dialog could be invoked by pressing Ctrl+F simultaneously.


Searching text

This section describes the following topics: how the search is performed, how to specify advanced search expressions, how to search for special characters and keywords and how to use expressions related to thesauri..

How the search is performed

To enter a query into DirectInfo Documents, just type in a few descriptive words and hit the 'enter' key (or click on the Search button) for a list of relevant hits. When a search is initiated the system searches the contents of the items in the selected Document group(s) and finds those which match the search expression. Then a special score is calculated which represents the relevance of the found items to the search expression. The best-scored items are presented first in the results page. In order to perform an advanced search, please use the following keywords (expressions).


Advanced expressions

Search expressions can be combined to achieve greater accuracy in searching. Following reserved words and special charachters can be used:

  • AND (&)
    Use the AND operator to search for items that contain each of the query terms.
    Example: "cat AND dog"
  • OR (|)
    Use the OR operator to search for items that contain any of the query terms.
    Example: "cat OR dog"
  • NOT (~)
    Use the NOT operator to search for items that contain one query term and not another.
    Example: "cat NOT dog"
  • WILDCARDS (_, %)
    Wildcard characters can be used for pattern searches. "_" represents exactly one character whereas "%" represents zero, one or many characters.
    Example 1: "_at" will search for cat, bat, rat, etc.
    Example 2: "c%t" will search for cat, cabinet, cadet, etc.
  • ACCUMulate (,)
    Use the ACCUM operator to search for items that contain any of the query terms. The accumulate operator ranks items according to the total term weight of a item.
    Example: The "cat, dog, horse" search string will return all items that contain at least one of the keywords but those which contain all of them will appear first in order.
  • MINUS (-)
    Use the MINUS operator to search for items that contain one query term and you want the presence of a second query term to cause the item to be ranked lower. The MINUS operator is useful for lowering the score of items that contain unwanted noise terms.
    Example: "animal - cat"
  • NEAR (;)
    Use the NEAR operator to return a score based on the proximity of two or more query terms. Oracle returns higher scores for terms closer together and lower scores for terms farther apart in a item.
    Example: "NEAR((cat, dog))"
  • SOUNDEX (!)
    Use the SOUNDEX (!) operator to expand queries to include words that have similar sounds; that is, words that sound like other words. This function allows comparison of words that are spelled differently, but sound alike in English.
    Example: "!smythe" will search for smythe, smith, smithe, etc.
  • STEM ($)
    Use the STEM ($) operator to search for terms that have the same linguistic root as the query term.
    Example: "$scream" will search for scream, screaming, screamed etc.

Searching for special characters and keywords

Following special charachters can be used as wildcards in expressions:
  • Characters like "_" and "%" have special meaning for Oracle Text and must be escaped if they are part of a search keyword. There are two ways of escaping special characters: by preceding the character with "\" or by surrounding a whole search term in "{}". For example, if we want to search for "my_test_string" we have two options for building the search expression: either "my\_test\_string" or "{my_test_string}".
  • Oracle Text keywords like SYN, NEAR, etc. must also be escaped in order to be processed correctly. For example if we want to search for the word "syn" we must use the expression "{syn}".
  • When building the item index Oracle Text uses special stoplists to prevent some words from being indexed since they are not meaningful for the context. For example, in the English language such words are: a, for, out, the, one, than, when, etc. Oracle Text does not return results for such words.

Advanced expressions related to thesauri

Following advanced expressions are related to thesauri:

  • SYNonym (SYN)
    Use the synonym operator (SYN) to expand a query to include all the terms that have been defined in a thesaurus as synonyms for the specified term.
    Example: "SYN(dog)"
  • about(phrase)
    Use ABOUT when you want to increase the number of relevant documents returned from the same query without this operator.
    Example: 'about(soccer rules in international competition)' In this English example, Oracle returns all documents that have themes of soccer, rules, or international competition.
  • BT(term[(qualifier)])
    Expands a query to include the term defined in the thesaurus as a broader term for term.
    Example: 'BT(tutorial)'
    If machine is a broader term for crane (building equipment) and bird is a broader term for crane (waterfowl) and no qualifier is specified for a broader term query, the query BT(crane) expands to: '{crane} or {machine} or {bird}'. If waterfowl is specified as a qualifier for crane in a broader term query, the query BT(crane{(waterfowl)}) expands to the query: '{crane} or {bird}'.
  • BTG(term[(qualifier)
    Expands a query to include all terms defined in the thesaurus as broader generic terms for term.
  • BTP(term[(qualifier)
    Expands a query to include all the terms defined in the thesaurus as broader partitive terms for term.
  • BTI(term[(qualifier)
    Expands a query to include all the terms defined in the thesaurus as broader instance terms for term.
  • NT(term[(qualifier)
    Expands a query to include all the lower level terms defined in the thesaurus as narrower terms for term.
  • NTG(term[(qualifier)
    Expands a query to include all the lower level terms defined in the thesaurus as narrower generic terms for term.
  • NTP(term[(qualifier)
    Expands a query to include all the lower level terms defined in the thesaurus as narrower partitive terms for term.
  • NTI(term[(qualifier)
    Expands a query to include all the lower level terms defined in the thesaurus as narrower instance terms for term.
  • PT(term)
    Replaces the specified word in a query with the preferred term for term.
    Example: The term 'automobile' has a preferred term of 'car' in a thesaurus. A PT query for 'automobile' returns all documents that contain the word 'car'. Documents that contain the word 'automobile' are not returned.
  • RT(term)
    Expands a query to include all the terms defined in the thesaurus as a related term for term.
    Example: The term 'dog' has a related term of 'wolf'. A RT query for 'dog' returns all documents that contain the words 'dog' and 'wolf'.
  • TR(term[, language])
    Expands term to include all the foreign equivalents that are defined for term.
    Example: Consider a thesaurus with the following entries for 'cat': cat, SPANISH: gato, FRENCH: chat. To search for all documents that contain 'cat' and the spanish translation of 'cat', issue the following query: 'tr(cat, spanish)' This query expands to: '{cat}|{gato}'.
  • TRSYN(term[, language])
    Expands term to include foreign equivalents of term, the synonyms of term, and the foreign equivalents of the synonyms.
    Example: Consider a thesaurus with the following entries for 'cat': cat, SPANISH: gato, FRENCH: chat, SYN lion, SPANISH: leon. To search for all documents that contain 'cat', the spanish equivalent of 'cat', the synonym of 'cat', and the spanish equivalent of 'lion', issue the following query: 'trsyn(cat, spanish)'. This query expands to: '{cat}|{gato}|{lion}|{leon}'
  • TT(term)
    Replaces the specified word in a query with the top term in the standard hierarchy (BT, NT) for term.
    Example: The term 'dog' has a top term of 'animal' in the standard hierarchy of a thesaurus. A TT query for 'dog' returns all documents that contain the phrase 'animal'. Documents that contain the word 'dog' are not returned.

Search options

Searching for documents on a particular topic is as easy as typing a question, or just a word or two, into the "Search Options" panel. You can perform simple search or advanced search by defining a set of options. 

 

Simple search

You can simply type a word and search immediatelly for all the documents that contain it. Nothing else is needed to be specified.

For example, if you want to find information about "test":

  1. Select "Search" from the menu bar.
  2. Type the word "test". The text typed by you will replace the current text.
  3. Perform one of these steps:
  • Click the "Search" button.
  • Press Enter to start searching.
The search engine will search for your text in all document groups. This setting is selected by default. Search results for "test" appear in the right frame. The document names are displayed as hyper-links. Click the links to open the documents that  contain word "test".
Process might become even simple when you repeat recent search or want to search for word listed in Search results page. "Quick keywords typing" describes how Direct Info Documents can help you.


Advanced search

You can set the Search Options panel to Advanced mode, which lets you narrow down a search by defining a more complex search query. You can choose one or more different. document groups; specify some file options: type, name, size  and date; define values of specific parameters that affect the presentation of the results.

For example, click the link Advanced and you will switch to "Advanced Search" mode. Then you could build a more complex query like this: 
  1. In the field "with all of the words" type "oracle database".
  2. In the field "and with the exact phrase" type "header size".
  3. In the field "and with at least one of the words" type "test".
  4. In the field "and without the words" type "java".
  5. Click the "Search" button.
The search query will be automatically constructed and sent in this form "oracle & database & {header size} & (test) ~java". See sections Advanced expressions and Advances expression related to thesauri for more details.


If you want to limit searching in a particular group or groups of documents follow these steps.
  1. Define your search query as described above.
  2. Click the link "Look in" or the "down-arrow" icon located at the right side of the link. A list of all document groups will appear.
  3. Choose the name of the document group you want to search in.
  4. If you want to choose more groups hold on "Ctrl" or "Shift" keys while clicking in the list.
  5. Click the "Search" button.

If you want to reset all the fields, check boxes and lists to their initial state, please click the "Reset" button.


File options

Searching in a limited set of files is possible by using some file filtering options. To define a particular file name or extension, file type, file size, or file date range you must take the following steps:
  1. Click the link "File options" or the "down-arrow" icon located at the right side of the link. A panel with some text fields and list boxes appears.
  2. In the field "File name" type a word you want to find in the file name.
  3. If you want to search for a specific file type, choose an item from the list "File type".
  4. Specify the desired file size in KB and choose an extra condition "At least" or "At most".
  5. Choose a specific time frame for the file date. You can also specify "Date range" and define the initial and/or the final date.

Note:  File options could be defined and used even without search query. This allows searching for specific files that are indexed and could be found by the search engine.

Presentation options

In addition to the filtering options, there is a possibility to define how the hits (documents that match your search query) will be displayed in the results page.
You can change the presentation options this way:
  1. Click the link "Presentation options" or the "down-arrow" icon located at the right side of the link. A panel with a check box, some text fields and a list box appears.
  2. Check or uncheck the check box "Show text fragments". This enables/disables showing of text fragments below each hit in the results page. Disabling text fragments will increase the speed of showing the results page. It will also disable the 3 text fields below because they are meaningless without text fragments.
  3. Type a number between 1 and 5 to define "Number of text fragments" to be shown.
  4. Type a number between 1 and 140 to define "Text fragment size". This will be used to define how many characters must be included in the fragment that contains the highlighted word/phrase.
  5. Type a number between 1 and 800 to define "Balloon fragment size". This will be used to define how many characters must be included in the balloon fragment.
  6. Type a number between 1 and 30 to define "Hits per page". This will be used to specify how many hits (documents that match the search query) will be displayed in the results page.
  7. Type a number between 1 and 30 to define "Pages displayed". This will be used to limit the number of pages with search results to a certain number.
  8. Select  an item from the list "Order results by". This will be used to order the results by score, document group name, date, etc.

Quick keywords typing

Direct Info Documents assists you typing keywords in search filed in two ways:
  1. A drop down list which contains latest used search strings might be invoked pressing button on the right side of the search field. If requested keyword is listed you can select it with mouse or pressing Enter button.
  2. Words from "Search results page" might be added to search field just by double-clicking over the required word.

Search results page


Search results shown in list view

After you press the "Search" button you will see the results page. It contains the hits (the documents that match the search query).
The most important elements on the results page are:
  • caption: it shows the search query, the number of the hits diplayed and the total count of hits found for this query.
  • navigation links: "Previous", "Next" and the numbers of the available pages with hits. Note that the link "Previous" does not appear on the first page with results, and the link "Next" does not appear  on the last page with results. The current page number is highlighted in red.
  • hits: one or more documents that match the search query are listed below the navigation links. Each hit  has a unique number in the list of hits. Hits are ordered by score (this is the default), date or document group.  The document name is printed in bold, so that it can be easily identified. It may be followed by an icon (white cross in red circle: ) that shows that the file is missing. If the file has been modified, the icon will be a white tilde in a green circle ().
  • text fragments: one or more lines of text that show the search query in the context of the document. The search query is higlighted in red and in a bold font. Note that if the query contains more words, only the first word is in red, and the next words are in black.
  • balloon fragments: this is a large text fragment shown as a tooltip when the mouse pointer is over a highlighted word in the text fragment. It shows more text surrounding the search query to allow the user to see the words in their context.
  • Document attributes and hits contexts: gray text labels below the text fragments. They show certain attributes of the document: size, date, document group, last index time. You might hide or show them using corresponding parameters in "Preferences page". Note that when some attribute is configured to be hidden, you still can see it in tooltip visible when mouse is over the document name (see the right picture below).
  • extra icons: these are small icons that appear at the bottom of each hit. By clicking on them, you can open the actual folder that contains the document (if it is located in a shared folder), open the document as an HTML page, etc.

This layout of the search result is called list view. It is looks more like the search results page of the most popular internet search engines.


Search result shown in table view

Search results could also be represented in a table view with coulmns showing the properties of each document. This facilitates sorting the results by a particular column.
Each row of the table view consist of:
  • unique number in the list of hits;
  • document name, followed by an icon (white cross in red circle: ) that shows that the file is missing. If the file has been modified, the icon will be a white tilde in a green circle ();
  • document size;
  • document date;
  • last index time;
  • score (showing the relevancy of document to the kewords);
  • extra icons: these are small icons that appear at the bottom of each hit. By clicking on them, you can open the actual folder that contains the document (if it is located in a shared folder), open the document as an HTML page, etc.
  • text fragments: one or more lines of text that show the search query in the context of the document. The search query is higlighted in red and in a bold font. Note that if the query contains more words, only the first word is in red, and the next words are in black.
Sorting the results by a particular column could be executed by clicking the link in the column title.  An icon showing the sort order is shown next to the title of the sorted column. The next click on the same column title will reverse the sort order.

Note: Document attributes and hits contexts are shown as columns only if they are switched on in the preferences. Each preference that is not shown as column could be seen as hidden attributes while mouse cursor is over the document name.


E-mail indexing and visualization

Direct Info Documents can index e-mail content including e-mail attachments in the same way as it process other documents like files or URLs for example. However it is distinguished not only in the way it visualizes document’s content, but also in processing additional information like: From, To, Cc, Bcc, Subject and Attachment name. What is more, you can ask Direct Info to search these fields using the reserved word ‘within’ followed by From, To, Cc, Bcc, Subject, Sent, Attachment, as it is shown in the example below:

samples.doc within Attachment
21.01.2005% within Sent

Direct Info treats attachments as separate documents, but it keeps dependencies between e-mail and attached file. There are two viewers, which are used for displaying e-mail content: one for e-mail body and one for HTML version of its attachments. Some attachments like pictures or movies are not indexed (which is set in Direct Info configurations page) and their HTML version is not available.



Document Status Report


The user must enter either a full path to the document or part of the document name into the 'Document name' field and then must click the "Check Status" button. Then, DirectInfo will search for documents that match the criteria and will report  the results in the right frame. The report is ina tabular format and displays a list of the full paths to the document, together with the document status. The document status field shows 'Y' if the docment is indexed or 'N', if the document is not indexed due to some reason. By clicking the link with the document path,  the user could see the entire status information about the selected document (the status with explanation of the error, if any; the document size, date and index time; the name of the document group that the document comes from.

The user could see only the non-indexed documents by chechking the check box "Only not indexed file".

NOTE: The file path must be specified in the exact same way as DirectInfo has located it during the crawling process. For example, if the client computer's name is MyPC, and if it has a shared folder called Docs on the C: drive, then the client can access the folder either directly via C:\Docs\somefile.doc, or through the LAN via \\MyPC\Docs\somefile.doc. These two paths will produce the same file. However, if DirectInfo has located the file through the Initial Path \\MyPC\Docs\, then the only path that will make DirectInfo recognize the file will be the latter one, i.e. \\MyPC\Docs\somefile.doc.


Documents belonging to a Document Group / Initial Path

Further below, for the user's convenience, a tree of the Document Groups and their respective Initial Paths is displayed. The user can browse what Initial Paths are available by clicking on the "plus" icon before the name of the document group. This will cause expanding of this document group and the Initial Paths could be seen. The user may click on the link of a specific document group, or some of  its initial paths. Then a list of all documents in this group will appear in the right frame, together with their statuses.

 

Document groups

In the context of DirectInfo document groups are logicaly defined groups that contain documents from different kind of sources: file shares, web servers, mail servers. Each separate source of documents has its own initial path depending on its type.

To manage the document groups click the "Document Groups" item in the main menu and the "Document Groups" page will open. You must have administrative rights to access this page.
This screen shows the list of all document groups separated on pages. For each document group, the following is shown:
  • unique number in the list
  • its name
  • flag "Yes" or "No" showing if the group has been recently modified
  • number of found/indexed documents
  • number of duplicate documents (documents with same content)
  • current status of the indexing process
  • some links related to this document group. These links are used for starting, stopping, restarting or resuming the indexing process, starting the optimization process, showing the index logs and statistics for the document group.
Some specific operations can also be triggered from the buttons below the list.

If a particular process is running for this group (crawling, indexing, optimizing), the group's name is grayed out and the group is disabled for further actions.
Content of this page is refreshed every 10 sec. due to "Automatic Refresh" check box (on its right upper side). It might be unchecked, but then you need to refresh page content manually.

Controlling the indexing process

The indexing process includes tree stages based on the tasks performed with the documents: crawling, indexing and optimizing. This indexing process is executed as a database job so that controlling of it means startting, stopping and resuming of  the database job at these different stages.

Here is a short description of the stages:

1. Crawling: At this stage the job will run the respective crawlers depending on the type of the initial paths and they will crawl the files. Crawling could be virtually stopped or paused, but it will perform its entire work because crawlers are external modules and their execution could not be controlled. Stopping or pausing during this stage actually will stop the job at indexing stage. Restarting at this stage will start the crawler from the begining. Resuming will continue with indexing.

2. Indexing: At this stage the job will run the indexing of the entire document group on chunks. The term chunk here means a small set of documents that are processed in a group. After a chunk is indexed the indexing process will index next chunk untill the entire list of documents become indexed. Using this specific technique allows the user to stop, pause and resume indexing. Actually if the user have stopped or paused the indexing, the process will continue to index until the last document in the chunk is processed. Resuming the job will continue to index the next chunk. Restarting the job will start the crawling.

3. Optimizing: At this stage the job will run optimization of the already created indexes. Optimization is actually executed as separate stage and could not be stopped, paused or resumed.

Note: The indexing process (job) could be scheduled for execution at a specific time range so that it is a frequent case that some of the jobs will be controlled automaticaly by the schedule controler. See section Schedules for more details.


Creating document group

You can create a new document group by following these steps:

  1. Press the "New Group" button on the "Document Groups" page. A new pop-up window will appear.
  2. Type the name of the new document group.
  3. Type a simple description of the document group.
  4. Check the boxes "Search" and/or "Edit" to grant a specific public access right for this group.
  5. Uncheck the checkbox "Use Compressed Cache", if you don't plan to compress the document cache for this group (it is checked by default). This will improve the performance while getting the documents from the cache, but  will increase the disk space needed for storing the cached documents.
  6. Press the "Create Group" button.
If you want to clear all fields and enter new values, click the "Clear" button.


Changing document group

You can change the name and the description of an existing document group by following these steps:

  1. Click the link with the name of the document group in the list on the "Document Groups" page. A new page will appear.
  2. Type the new name of the new document group.
  3. Type the new description of the document group.
  4. Press the "Update Group" button.
If you want to return all fields to their initial state, click the "Reset" button.


Initial paths for document group

The initial paths of the document groups are needed to instruct the crawler -- the module which scans (or "crawls") a given location and detects the documents contained therein -- where is the starting point for the crawling process. At least one initial path must be specified for each document group in order for the group to be usable. You can manage the initial paths for a selected document group after clicking on the group's name in the "Document groups" page.

The list of initial paths for this document group will appear. Each record of the list contains:
  • unique number in the list;
  • the actual file path, URL, or the name of the mail server;
  • type of the initial path (File, Web, Mail);
  • mail server type (POP3, IMAP), if appropriate;
  • mail server port, if appropriate;
  • search depth for recursive crawling;
  • file path type (UNC or regular), if appropriate;
  • number of found documents;
  • links "Edit" and "Delete" for operations with the current initial path;
This page also contains a button "New Initial Path" that  could be used for creating new initial paths.

On the bottom of the page are located some links related to the current document group. Clicking on these links will display a page for managing the access rights or showing the index logs and statistics for this document group.


Creating an initial path

You can create the following types of initial paths:

Creating a URL initial path
You can create a new URL initial path by following these steps:
  1. Go to page "Group initial paths" by clicking on a document group's name, and then press the button "New Initial Path". A new pop-up window will appear.
  2. Choose type "URL Web".
  3. Type the initial path location (for instance: http://www.acme.com).
  4. Define search depth. For example, if you specify the value of 3 here, DirectInfo will only crawl 3 levels deep. After the 3rd level, hyperlinks will not be followed any deeper. The value of 0 means "do not follow any hyperlinks; just search on the initial level".
  5. Use the field "Search in domains" to restrict the crawling to the specified domains. By default, the value here will be derived from the value, specified in the "Location" field. In our example of www.acme.com, the domain will be "acme.com". This effectively means that only the acme.com site will be crawled. If you leave this field empty (i.e. no domains specified), it's possible for your initial site to contain links to other sites which, in turn, may contain links to other sites and so on, and so forth; and if the Search Depth is unlimited, DirectInfo may end up trying to scan the whole Internet. So, use this field with caution.
  6. If you want, type into field "Exclude domains" some domains that you want to be excluded from crawling.
  7. Press the button "Create Initial Path".
If you want to clear all fields and enter new values, click the "Clear" button.


Creating a FILE initial path
You can create a new FILE initial path by following these steps:
  1. Go to page "Group initial paths" by clicking on a document group's name, and then press the button "New Initial Path". A new pop-up window will appear.
  2. Choose type "File(s)".
  3. Type the initial path location (for instance: \\docserver\docs).
  4. Define search depth. For example, if you specify the value of 3 here, DirectInfo will only crawl 3 levels deep. After the 3rd level, subfolders will not be followed any deeper. The value of 0 means "search only in the initial folder; don't traverse any subfolders".
  5. If you want, type some domains that you want to be excluded from crawling.
  6. Uncheck the checkbox "Defined by UNC path", if your path is not UNC. Note that checking/unchecking this checkbox does not transform the location path. It must be defined manually!
  7. Press the button "Create initial path".
If you want to clear all fields and enter new values, click the "Clear" button.


Creating an EMAIL initial path
You can create a new EMAIL initial path by following these steps:
  1. Go to page "Group initial paths" by clicking on a document group's name, and then press the button "New Initial Path". A new pop-up window will appear.
  2. Choose type "E-mail box".
  3. Type the mail server name (for instance: mailserver.mycompany.com).
  4. Define the Mail Server type. You can choose either IMAP or POP3.
  5. Define the port that your Mail Server listens to.
  6. Define the user whose mailbox you want to index.
  7. Define the password for the mailbox.
  8. Press the button "Create initial path".
If you want to clear all fields and enter new values, click the "Clear" button.


Creating an LDAP initial path
You can create a new LDAP initial path by following these steps:
  1. Go to page "Group initial paths" by clicking on a document group's name, and then press the button "New Initial Path". A new pop-up window will appear.
  2. Choose type "LDAP".
  3. Type the ldap host name.
  4. Define the port that the LDAP server listens to. The default non-SSL port for LDAP servers is 389. Secure (SSL) communication is not supported yet. So, you must provide the non-SSL port here.
  5. Define the user name that will be used to log into the LDAP server.
  6. Define the LDAP server's base folder. For example, something like "DC=ACME,DC=COM". If you are not sure what the folder is, please, ask the server's administrator.
  7. The "LDAP query" field defines the LDAP query that will be used to fetch data from the LDAP server. The fetched data will be indexed by DirectInfo. Initially, the field will be populated for you with a default query that fetches all Contacts and Users. Most likely, you will need to change it. You can do that by pressing the "Edit" button and entering the new query into the field.
  8. Press the button "Create initial path".
If you want to clear all fields and enter new values, click the "Clear" button.


Changing an initial path

You can change an existing initial path by following these steps:
  1. Go to page "Group initial paths" by clicking on a document group's name, and then press the link "Edit" for the selected initial path. A new pop-up window will appear.
  2. Type the new initial path location.
  3. Change search depth.
  4. Type new paths that you want to be excluded from crawling.
  5. Check/uncheck the checkbox "Defined by UNC path" depending on how you have defined the location.
  6. Press the button "Update Initial path".
Note that you cannot change the type of an existing initial path.

If you want to reset all fields to their initial values, click the "Reset" button.


Access rights for document group

There are 2 different access rights for a document group:
  1. "Search" right  - grants a user group the right to search text in the document of this document group
  2. "Edit" right - grants a user group the right to edit the properties of this document group, managing the initial paths, view the index logs and statistics.
You can change the access rights for a selected document group by doing this:
  • Go to page "Change document group" by clicking on a document group's name, and then click the link "Access Rights" on the bottom of the page. A new page with a list of all user groups will open.
  • Check/uncheck the check boxes "Search" and "Edit" for the chosen user group.
  • Click the button "Save" to save your changes, or the button "Reset" to reset the state of all check boxes.


Index logs for document group

Index logs for document groups store information for the errors that have occurred during the indexing. Viewing these logs is useful, if you want to identify the problems that concern certain documents, which are not indexed.

Each index log has its unique start and end date that define the time frame of an indexing session. You can browse the full log or the summary log for an indexing session.


Index log summary

Index log summary gives a list of the different types of errors that have occurred during the indexing session. Next to each error is the number of the documents that are affected by this error.
If you want to see the list of files for a selected error - just click on the link with the error message.

Full index log

Full index log shows more detailed information about the errors that have occurred during the indexing session. Each row from the list of errors contains:

  • date and time of the error;
  • error message;
  • location of the document affected by this error;

Statistics for document group

You can see the statistics gathered during the indexing session for each document group. The statistical data is useful for finding the document types or single documents that consume most of the indexing time. 2 separate statistical reports are availabale for your consideration: statistics summary and statistics details.

Statistics summary

Statistics summary report  includes the total time for indexing the entire document group and a list of all indexed document types. Each row of the list contains:

  • unique number of the row in the list;
  • name of the document type, or file extension if the file type is unknown;
  • total number of the documents of that type;
  • maximum time for indexing a single document of that type;
  • average time for indexing a single document of that type;

If you want to see the "Statistics details", just click the link "Details" on the top of the page.

Statistics details

Statistics details report includes the total time for indexing the entire document group and a list of all indexed documents. Each row of the list contains:
  • unique number of the row in the list;
  • location and name of the document;
  • name of the document type, or file extension if the file type is unknown;
  • time for indexing this document;
  • size of the indexed document;
  • start date of the indexing of this document;

If you want to see the "Statistics summary", just click the link "Summary" on the top of the page.

Duplicates

You can use DirectInfo to find duplicated files in the file system (files with same content).
Just type some file paths and press the button "Find Duplicates".
Then a list of all duplicated files will appear and below each file are listed its duplicates.
If you want to search for a specific file name, just type it in the field "Duplicates for". Wild cards are also applicable here.

In this page you can see also the duplicates count per document group. These counts are calculated during the indexing process if the duplicates functionality is switched on.

Preferences

There is a large list of  user preferences that you could use to adjust DirectInfo to your preferred style. In the left frame you will see the groups of preferences  combined by similarity. Clicking on the name of each group will show in the right frame a list with the preferences of this group.


Each row of the preferences list includes:
  • unique number of the row in the list;
  • preference name;
  • flag that shows whether this preference value is required;
  • current value of the preference
  • link "Edit" for changing the preference.


Here is a short description of each of the user preferences:


Preference name Default value Description
Autorefresh of Document Groups view Yes If the value is Yes, and if the Document Groups page is currently displayed, it will be automatically refreshed every 10 seconds.
Balloon fragment number of sentences 2 On the Search Results page, when the user places the mouse cursor over a highlighted keyword, a tooltip appears which displays a text fragment from the original file surrounding the keyword. This preference specifies how many sentences should be included in the fragment.

The preference's value is only taken into account, if the value of the Fragments or sentences to be shown preference is Sentences.
Balloon fragment size 200 On the Search Results page, when the user places the mouse cursor over a highlighted keyword, a tooltip appears which displays a text fragment from the original file surrounding the keyword. This preference specifies how big the tooltip fragment should be.

The preference's value is only taken into account, if the value of the Fragments or sentences to be shown preference is Fragments.
Fragments or sentences to be shown Fragments Regarding the Search Results page, this preference specifies whether the fragments displayed for each document - both the short fragments displayed on the page and the popup fragments that appear when the mouse cursor goes over a highlighted keyword - will consist of a certain number of characters (see Text fragment size and Balloon fragment size), or a certain number of sentences (see Balloon fragment number of sentences).
Hits per page 5 Specifies how many search hits should be displayed on each individual results page.
Language English Specifies the language of DirectInfo's user interface.
Number of pages displayed 10 Specifies the number of page links that should be displayed at the top and at the bottom of each Search Results page. Clicking on one of these links will take you to the respective page.
Number of text fragments 3 Specifies how many short text fragments should be included into the Search Results for each file. Each fragment contains an occurrence of a user-specified search keyword along with a little of the text that surrounds the keyword. See also Text fragment size.
Records per page 10 For all pages which display a pageable list of entries (like Security, User preferences, Usage Statistics, etc.), this preference specifies how many entries will be included on a page.
Results view type List View Allows the user to select the default presentation of the Search Result: either List View, or Table View.
Search result order Score Specifies how the Search Result should be sorted. The available methods are: by File date, by File index time, by Group name, by File name, by Score (or relevance), and by File size.
Search result sort order Descending Specifies whether the sorting should be Ascending or Descending. See also Search result order.
Show HTML version link Yes Specifies whether the HTML Version link should be shown for the documents listed on the Search Results page.
Show document group Yes Specifies whether the information about the Document Group a document belongs to should be shown for the documents listed on the Search Results page.
Show file date Yes Specifies whether the file date should be shown for the documents listed on the Search Results page.
Show file path as link Yes Specifies whether the file name in the Search Results should be a hyperlink allowing the user to open or download the file.
Show file size Yes Specifies whether the file size should be shown for the documents listed on the Search Results page.
Show file status Yes Specifies whether the file status should be shown for the documents listed on the Search Results page.
Show index time Yes Specifies whether the time when a document was indexed should be shown for the documents listed on the Search Results page.
Show score Yes Specifies whether the score (i.e. the relevance of a document to the Search criteria) should be shown for the documents listed on the Search Results page.
Show text fragments Yes Specifies whether several small fragments containing the Search keywords should be shown for the documents listed on the Search Results page. See also Text fragment size, Number of text fragments, Fragments or sentences to be shown
Text fragment size 50 Specifies the length in characters of each short document fragment displayed on the Search Results page for each document. This option is only taken into account if the value of Show text fragments is Yes and if the value of Fragments or sentences to be shown is Fragments.
UI Style Windows XP Determines the overall look & feel of DirectInfo. The possible values are Windows XP and Classic.


Changing a preference

You can change a preference's value by doing the following:
  1. Go to the "Preferences" page.
  2. Choose a preference you want to change and click the link "Edit". A new pop-up window will appear.
  3. Type the new value or select it from the list of available values.
  4. Press the button "Update Parameter" to update the value.
If you want to reset all fields to their initial values, click the "Reset" button.

Application parameters

Application parameters are used to define some values used by the application and to control the application behaviour in certain situations. This page is accessible only if you have administrative rights.  In the left frame you will see the groups of application configuration parameters combined by similarity. Clicking on the name of each group will show in the right frame a list with the application parameters of this group.


Each row of the parameters list includes:
  • unique number of the row in the list;
  • parameter name;
  • flag that shows whether this parameter value is required;
  • current value of the parameter
  • link "Edit" for changing the parameter.
 

Here is a short description of each of the application parameters:


Parameter name
 Default value
 Description
Automatic Index Optimization true This flag instructs the indexing procedure to make an optimization immediately after the indexing.
Cache 4K Enabled true This flag instructs the indexing procedure to store the 4KB of the document in a separate cache. This is very useful for faster highlighting and fetching the text fragments.
Check OS file's access rights during Search false CURRENTLY FOR MS WINDOWS ONLY!!!!

If this option is enabled, the Search Results will contain only files that the user can access through the Operating System.

Thus, the security will be increased but this will also induce a serious performance degradation of the 'Search' functionality because DirectInfo will have to check whether the current user has OS access privileges for each file about to be included in the Search Results. If the files are many, the performance will drop significantly because it takes around 0.1 second to check the OS file permissions for one file.

Furthermore, all users should be defined in DirectInfo with THE SAME names as their OS user names.
Default Chunk Size 100 Default chunk size is used to specify the maximum number of document locations that have to be passed to the indexing procedure. This allows the indexing to be made on chunks and stopped between two chunks (after the indexing of the current chunk is finished).
Delete missing documents after crawling false This flag is used to instruct the crawler to delete or keep the missing documents, or the documents that currently generate errors during crawling.
Download Timeout 1 30 Used by the web content loader. If the loaded document size stays unchanged for the specified amount of seconds the process is being terminated.
Download Timeout 2 180 Used by the web content loader. If the loading process cannot finish for the specified amount of seconds, the process will be terminated.
Use Duplicate Functionality false This flag is used to instruct the indexing procedure to find the duplicate documents during the indexing session. This may signficantly slow down the indexing process and must be used carefully, if a large number of documents need to be indexed.
Excluded File Extensions lnk Files with these extensions will not be crawled and thus they will not be searchable
Filter Timeout 1 60 Used by XFilter, a Java class running and monitoring filters; XFilter controls the size of the filters output and if the size stays unchanged for the specified amount of seconds, the process will be destroyed; the default value is 60 seconds; the range is 10 to 600 seconds;
Filter Timeout 2 600 Used by XFilter, a java class running and monitoring filters; if the filtering is not finished for the specified amount of seconds, the process is being destroyed; the default value is 600 seconds; the range is 60 to 1200 seconds;
JDBC Connect String
The port and SID of the connect string must be properly set to match these of the current database. The external web crawler needs this to work properly.
Logging of Usage Statistics false Enables the collection of statistical data on the usage of the different modules of DirectInfo.
These statistics can later be reviewed through the Usage Statistics module.
Memory For Indexing 50M The memory to use for indexing. The larger the memory, the less fragmented the index. 50 MB is the current maximum.
Not Indexable File Extensions exe; com; zip; gif; jpg; jpeg; bmp This parameter defines the extensions that have to be skipped by the indexing process. These files will still be crawled. Users will be able to search for them only by file attributes: name, size, etc.
Show automatic optimization statistics true Specifies whether index statistics (documents and tokens counts) should be collected and logged at the end of each optimization.
Number of changes to start optimization 100 This is a threshold value indicating when to start the automatic optimization. If the number of changed documents found during the current crawling session is greater than this value, then the optimization will start automatically.
Optimization Timeout 4 Timeout in hours for optimization. If the optimization runs for more than the specified number of hours, it will be forced to stop.
ORACLE Home Path C:\oracle\ora92 Oracle Home Path is used to search for the external web crawler and the needed java libraries to make it run. It is automatically set during the execution of the installation script.
Operating System Directory Separator \ This is the symbol that represents the directory separator for the Operating System.
Parallelism Degree for Indexing 1 This value is used to instruct Oracle Text to use more than one parallel processes during the indexing. This increases the performance.

NOTE: Use this parameter with caution because too many processes may use too much system resources.
Plain Text Extensions txt; htm; html; log; xml; xsl; css; js; java; c; h; sql; jsp; asp; php; cgi; This set specifies the extensions of the plain text documents. Plain text documents are not filtered and for this reason they are indexed faster than other document types.
Proxy Server
This value specifies the proxy server to be used by the web crawler.
Proxy Port
This value specifies the proxy port to be used by the web crawler.
Proxy Is Set false
 This flag instructs the web crawler whether it must use the proxy server.
Show Crawled Docs Link false Specifies whether the crawled documents must be shown as links.
Use XPDF Filter true Specifies whether PDF documents should be processed by XPDFilter or by INSOFilter.



Changing a application parameter

You can change a parameter's value by doing the following:
  1. Go to the "Application parameters" page.
  2. Choose a parameter you want to change and click the link "Edit". A new pop-up window will appear.
  3. Type the new value or select it from the list of avalable values.
  4. Press the button "Update Parameter" to update the value.

If you want to reset all fields to their initial values, click the "Reset" button.

Schedules

The schedules are useful, if, for example, you want to crawl and reindex a document group in a certain time frame and repeat this process regularly, or if you want to specify a time when DirectInfo should optimize itself by gathering statistics of all its data. This page is accessible only if you have administrative rights.

Creating a schedule

To create a new schedule follow these steps:

  1. Go to "Schedules" page and press the button "New Schedule". A pop-up window will appear.
  2. Choose a document group for the schedule. Or specify that the schedule deals with the whole application, not just with an individual group.
  3. Choose a process from the list. For document groups, the options are: "Crawl And Index", "Index Only" and "Optimize". For the application-level schedules, the only available option is "Gather table statistics".
  4. Choose the schedule type from field "Recurence". Note that changing the value of this field will force redrawing the fields before in relation to what you have selected.
  5. Type in the fields bellow or chose some dates, depending on the type of recurence that you have specified before.
  6. Press the "Save" button to save the new schedule.

If you want to clear all fields, click the "Clear" button.

Here are the different forms for the different types of schedules:


New schedule

This scheduled process will be started once at the specified start date and start time and will be stopped at the specified stop date and stop time.
Stopping of the process means it will be forced to stop even if it  is in stage of execution. The execution may finish itself before the stop date and time.
 

New daily schedule

This scheduled process will be started once at the specified start date and start time and will be stopped at the specified stop date and stop time.
Stopping of the process means it will be forced to stop even if it  is in stage of execution. The execution may finish itself before the stop date and time.


New weekly schedule

This scheduled process will start every weekday specified as start day and start time and will stop every weekday specified as stop day and stop time.
Stopping of the process means it will be forced to stop even if it  is in stage of execution.


New monthly schedule

This scheduled process will start every month at specified start day and start time and will stop every month at specified stop day and stop time.
Stopping of the process means it will be forced to stop even if it  is in stage of execution.


Changing a schedule

To change an existing schedule follow these steps:
  1. Go to "Schedules" page and press the link "Edit". A pop-up window will appear.
  2. Change the start date or press the calendar button to choose a date from the calendar.
  3. Change the start time.
  4. Change the stop date or press the calendar button to choose a date from the calendar.
  5. Change the stop time.
  6. Press the "Save" button to save the changes.
If you want to clear all fields, click the "Clear" button.

Schedule controller

Shedule controller is used to manage all scheduling processes. When it is run, it monitors defined shedules and runs them if it is necessary. So when it is stopped no one task will run. Use this menu to stop or start controller.

Security administration

To restrict the user rights for certain actions and document groups, the administrator must implement a security policy. The "Security administration" page can be reached from the main menu. It is accessible only if you have administrative privileges. It includes two main sections:
  1. Managing users
  2. Managing user groups

Managing users

Managing the users includes creating, editing and deleting a user, assigning a user to a user group, managing user access rights for a document group. All these actions can be started from the "Managing users" page. It shows a list of all users separated on pages. Each row contains:
  • unique number of the row in the list;
  • user name;
  • links "Edit User Groups", "Edit Document Groups", "Edit" and  "Delete" that are used for starting the described actions.

Creating a user

You can create a new user by performing the following steps:
  • Go to page "Users" and press the button "New User". A new pop-up window will appear.
  • Type a unique user name. If such a name already exists, an error message will pop up.
  • Type a password for the new user. The user is able to change this password later by himself.
  • Type the first name of the user. This field is not mandatory.
  • Type the last name of the user. This field is not mandatory.
  • Press the button "Create user".
If you want to clear all fields, click the "Clear" button.

NOTE: When the application works with Basic authentication schema, the user created, should also exists as Oracle user.

Changing user

You can change an existing user by performing the following steps:
  • Go to page "Users" and click the link "Edit". A new pop-up window will appear.
  • Change the user name. If such a name already exists, an error message will pop up.
  • Change the password. The user is able to change this password later by himself.
  • Change the first name of the user.
  • Change the last name of the user.
  • Press the button "Update user".
If you want to reset all fields to their initial values, click the "Reset" button.

Editing user groups for user

You can edit the groups that an existing user is a member of. To do this, follow these steps:
  • Go to page "Users" and click the link "Edit User Groups". A new page will appear.
  • Select a user group from the list "Available user groups".
  • Press the button with a right arrow on it to transfer the selected user group to the list "Selected user groups".
This will immediately make the user a member of the selected group. The same action can be executed faster, if you simply double-click the selected user group.

If you want to exclude the user from a user group, do these steps:
  • Go to page "Users" and click the link "Edit User Groups". A new page will appear.
  • Select a user group from the list "Selected user groups".
  • Press the button with left arrow to transfer the selected user group to the list "Available user groups".
This will immediately exclude the user from the selected group. The same action can be executed faster, if you simply double-click the selected user group.

Note that the movement of a user group is immediate and does not need to be confirmed!

Editing document groups for user

Each user can be given access rights to a specific document group. You can do this by following these steps:
  • Go to page "Users" and click the link "Edit Document Groups". A new page will appear.
  • Choose a document group from the list and check or uncheck its check boxes "Edit" and "Search". See section Access rights for document group for more details.
  • Repeat this operation for the document groups that you want.
  • Press the 'Save" button to save the changes.
If you want to reset all the check boxes to their initial state, click the "Reset" button.


Attaching permission set to user

You can attach an existing permission set to user in order to enable its permission statements to be applied to this user. Just follow these steps:
  • go to page "Users" and click the link "Attach permission set" available on the row of the selected user;
  • a new pop-up window will appear showing a list of permission sets;
  • click on the link with name of the permission set and it will be attached to this user. The window will be automatically closed;

Detaching permission set from user

You can detach an existing permission set from user in order to disable its permission statements to be applied to this user. Just follow these steps:
  • go to page "Users" and click the link "Detach permission set" available on the row of the selected user;
  • the permission set will be detached from this user;


Mapping network users

Mapping network users to DirectInfo users is important when you have shared network files and you need to apply the security policy of the operating system (OS) concerning these files. Supposing that you already have the users imported from the OS to DirectInfo, it is important to allow these users to login to DirectInfo and use its features. That is why you need to map these users to DirectInfo users. To do this just follow these steps:
  • go to page "Users" and click the link "Map networks users" available on the row of the selected user;
  • a new pop-up window will appear, showing the list of imported network users in the left box;
  • select user from the left box and click the button "->" to add it to the right box (the list of mapped users);
  • if you want to remove some users from the list of the mapped users, just point them in the right box and click the button "<-";


Managing user groups

Managing the users groups includes creating and deleting a user group, assigning users to a user group, assigning roles to user groups, managing user group access rights for a document group. All these actions can be started from the "User Groups" page. It shows a list of all users separated on pages. Each row contains:
  • unique number of the row in the list;
  • user group name;
  • links "Edit Users", "Edit Roles", "Edit Document Groups", "Edit" and  "Delete", that are used for starting the described actions.

Creating user group

You can create a new user group by performing the following steps:
  • Go to page "User Groups" and press the button "New user group". A new pop-up window will appear.
  • Type a unique name of the user group. If such a name already exists, an error message will pop up.
  • Press the button "Create group".

If you want to clear all fields, click the "Clear" button.

Editing users for user group

You can edit the users of an existing user group. To do this follow these steps:
  • Go to page "Users Groups" and click the link "Edit Users". A new page will appear.
  • Select a user from the list "Available Users".
  • Press the button with a right arrow on it to transfer the selected user to the list "Selected Users".
This will immediately make the user a member of this group. The same action can be executed faster, if you simply double-click the selected user.

If you want to exclude user from the user group do these steps:
  • Go to page "User Groups" and click the link "Edit Users". A new page will appear.
  • Select a user from the list "Selected Users".
  • Press the button with a left arrow on it to transfer the selected user to the list "Available Users".
This will immediately exclude the user from the selected group. The same action can be executed faster, if you simply double-click the selected user.

Note that the movement of a user is immediate and does not need to be confirmed!

Editing roles for user group

You can edit the roles of an existing user group. To do this follow these steps:
  • Go to page "Users Groups" and click the link "Edit Roles". A new page will appear.
  • Select a role from the list "Available Roles".
  • Press the button with a right arrow on it to transfer the selected role to the list "Selected Roles".
This will immediately assign the role to this group. The same action can be executed faster, if you simply double-click the selected role.

If you want to exclude a role from the user group do these steps:
  • Go to page "User Groups" and click the link "Edit Roles". A new page will appear.
  • Select a role from the list "Selected Roles".
  • Press the button with a left arrow on it to transfer the selected role to the list "Available Roles".
This will immediately exclude the role from the selected group. The same action can be executed faster, if you simply double-click the selected role.

Note that the movement of a role is immediate and does not need to be confirmed!

Editing document groups for user group

Each user group can be granted access rights to a specific document group. You can do this by following these steps:
  • Go to page "User Groups" and click the link "Edit Document Groups". A new page will appear.
  • Choose a document group from the list and check or uncheck its check boxes "Edit" and "Search". See section Access rights for document group for more details.
  • Repeat this operation for the document groups that you want.
  • Press the 'Save" button to save the changes.
If you want to reset all the check boxes to their initial state, click the "Reset" button.

Usage Statistics Summary

This page shows a summary of all usage statistics, i.e. which objects have been used, how many times, the min/max/average elapsed times, etc. By clicking on an object, the user will be taken to the Object Usage Details page for that object and will be shown further details regarding the usage of that object.

It is also possible to select a time period for which you want to see usage statistics. This can be done by selecting a 'Start date' and an 'End date' and clicking on the 'Search' button.

Object Usage Details

This page shows a summary of all instances when a certain object has been used. The information includes the start and end times as well as the time it took for the object to execute. The page also shows which user used the object, whether the execution completed successfully, and some additional details that may have been reported by the object when it was executed.

By clicking on the start time, the user will be taken to the Usage Session Details page where information about the concrete usage of the object will be shown. Sometimes the usage of an object involves the usage of other objects. For example, when searching for given keywords, the search results will usually contain fragments of each document that contains the keywords. The code that generates these fragments is called by our 'object' (whose usage the user is currently viewing). Therefore, the fragments are included into the same 'usage session' as parent current object. By clicking on the object's start time, you will see all other objects that have been invoked as part of the object's session.

It is also possible to select a time period for which you want to see usage statistics. This can be done by selecting a 'Start date' and an 'End date' and clicking on the 'Search' button.
 

Usage Session Details

This page shows a summary of all objects belonging to a given 'usage session'. The information includes the name of each object, the start and end times as well as the time it took for the object to execute. The page also shows which user used the object, whether the execution completed successfully, and some additional details that may have been reported by the object when it was executed.

Most used queries

This page shows a statistics for the most used search queries. The information includes the keywords and the number of calls for each keyword. The user could filter the results for a specific time interval between start and end date and specify the number of queries to be included in the report.


Permissions

DirectInfo has a specific mechanism for granting visibility to the documents that are accesible to its users. You could define a set of access permissions that define which documents could be accessed and searched by a specific users.
This set is called permission set in the termsof DirectInfo. It is vital to understand what realy is the permission set in order to be able to manage the user access to  the documents. 
Each permission set is assigned to a single user (called owner of this permission set) and the other users could be attached to or detached from this permission set. This allows to apply the already existing permission set to a list of users when searching text in documents.
The permission statements has its own name and description to facilitate the administration.

The permission set is comprised of one or more permission statements. The permission statement defines the visibility for specific set of documents called content collection in the terms of DirectInfo. Each content collection has its own name (custom or automatically generated) and type. The available types are:
  • Documents - a list of  selected documents, defined by their location and name;
  • Document groups - a list of selected document groups defined by their names. This type includes all the documents that might appear inside the document groups in future;
  • Initial paths - a list of selected initial paths from a single document group. This type includes all the documents that might appear inside the initial paths in future;
  • Total set - virtually all the documents known to DirectInfo, including those that might be added in future;
The permission statements are taken into account by the search engine depending on the currently logged user.

Managing permission sets

Managing the permission sets includes creating, editing and deleting a permission set, attaching users to it or detaching users from it. All these actions can be triggered from the "Permission Sets" page, reachable from the main menu "Security/Permission Sets". This page shows a list of permission sets separated on pages. Each row contains:
  • unique number of the row in the list;
  • permission set name. The name is shown as link and if you click on it you will see the permission statements of this permission set;
  • permission set description;
  • user name of the owner of this permission set ;
  • links "Edit", "Delete", "Attach users" and  "Detach users", that are used for starting the described actions.
  • button "New permission set",  used for creating new permission sets.

Creating permission set

You can create a new permission set by following these steps:
  • Go to page "Permission sets" and press the button "New permission set". A new pop-up window will appear.
  • Type a name for the new permission set to make it more distinguishable. If such a name already exists, an error message will pop up.
  • Type a short description of the permission set  (for instance which permission statements or collections are involved);
  • Click the link "Select user" to select the owner of this permission set. A new pop-up window will appear to show the list of users. Just click on the name of the selected user and it will go to the field "Owner". After selecting the user the list with users will be automatically closed.
  • If you want this permission set not to be tied up to a particular user just click the link "Make PUBLIC". This will clear the field "Owner";
  • When you are ready to save the changes press the button "Create".

If you want to reset all the fields to their initial state, click the "Reset" button.

Editing permission set

You can edit the properties of an existing permission set by following these steps:
  • Go to page "Permission sets" and press the link "Edit" available on the row of the selected permission set. A new pop-up window will appear.
  • Change the name of the permission set. If such a name already exists, an error message will pop up.
  • Change the description of the permission set;
  • Click the link "Select user" to change the owner of this permission set. A new pop-up window will appear to show the list of users. Just click on the name of the selected user and it will go to the field "Owner". After selecting the user the list with users will be automatically closed.
  • Click the link "Make PUBLIC" if you want this permission set  to be public. This will clear the field "Owner";
  • When you are ready to save the changes press the button "Update".
If you want to reset all the fields to their initial state, click the "Reset" button.

Deleting permission set

You can delete an existing permission set by following these steps:
  • go to page "Permission sets" and press the link "Delete" available on the row of the selected permission set.
  • a confirmation message will appear.
  • press the button "Yes" if are really sure you want to delete this permission set or press the button "No" if not.

Attaching users to permission set

You can attach users to an existing permission set to enable its permission statements to these users. Just follow these steps:
  • go to page "Permission sets" and press the link "Attach users" available on the row of the selected permission set.
  • a new pop-up window will appear showing a list of available users (not attached to this permission set).
  • check the check boxes next to the user names to select some users .
  • press the button "Attach users" to save your choice. After pressing this button the list with users will be automatically closed.

Detaching users from permission set

You can detach users from an existing permission set to disable its permission statements to these users. Just follow these steps:
  • go to page "Permission sets" and press the link "Detach users" available on the row of the selected permission set.
  • a new pop-up window will appear showing a list of available users (attached to this permission set).
  • check the check boxes next to the user names to select some users .
  • press the button "Detach users" to save your choice. After pressing this button the list with users will be automatically closed.

Managing permission statements

Managing the permission statements includes creating and deleting permission statements. These actions can be triggered from the "Permission Statements" page. This page could be reached only from the page "Permission sets" by clicking on the name of the selected permission set.
The "Permission stataments" page shows a list of permission statements separated on pages. Each row contains:
  • unique number of the row in the list;
  • name of the content collection involved in this statement;
  • type of the content collection;
  • visibility granted to this content collection (yes or no);
  • date which the permission statement is created on;
  • name of the user who has created this permission statement;
  • link  "Delete" which is used for deleting the current permission statement;
  • link  "Edit" which is used for editing the name and the description of the current permission statement;
  • button "New permission statement",  used for creating new permission statements.

Creating permission statement

Creating the permission statements is the most important task while managing permissions to the documents in DirectInfo. To create new permission statement  you must complete the following steps:

  1. Define the documents to be included to form the document collection for this statement (by choosing either some documents, or document groups, or initial paths, or everything).
  2. Define the users to be affected by this statement.
  3. Select the visibility for the document collection to be granted to the selected users.
Note that steps 1 and 2 might be executed in reverse order. In other words you could select the users before selecting the documents.

The creation of the permission statement could be triggered from different starting points depending on which part of the application you are currently browsing. These starting points have been added to make this process more intuitive and easier for administration. Note that you could perform this operation only if you have a role "ADMIN".

To create new permission stament  follow these steps:
  • open the "Permission statements" page by choosing a permission set from "Permission sets" page;
  • press the button "New permission statement" at the bottom of the page. A new window will pop up to enable selection of the documents to be included in the permission statement;
  • click one of the links "Search results", "Document groups" or "Everything" to open the relevant page for selection. The default page is "Search results". Please refer to the previous topics for more details about how the selection could be performed, or do the following: either check some documents from the list of results, or check some document groups, or check some initial paths. Note that If you click "Everything" then you will be forced directly to select the visibility;
  • click the button "Next >>" to proceed with the next step; If  there is nothing selected (either documents, or document groups, or initial paths) an alert message will be displayed, and you will not be able to go to the next page until you have not selected some of these;
  • select the visibility for this permission statement (visible or not visible) using the radio buttons;
  • press the button "Finish" to save the changes, or press the button "<< Back" to return to prevoius page and change your selection.

Creating permission statements for search results

You could create new permission statements directly from the page with search results. If you have a role "ADMIN" the serach results page is displayed in a diffrent way than the normal page. There is a check box next to each document  that is shown in the results. You may select some documents by checking their check boxes. In order to create permission statement from search results, just do the following:
  • type the desired keywords and search for them by clicking the "Search" button;
  • check some documents from the list of results. You may go to another page with results and select some documents from that page. Have in mind that the previously selected documents will be stored and if you go back to the previous page you may see their check boxes remain checked. This allows to be selected document from different pages;
  • press the button "Make permission statement" at the bottom of the page. A new window will pop up to show the list of users;
  • select some users by checking their check boxes. You may go to another page with users and select some users from that page. Have in mind that the selected users will be stored and if you go back to the previous page you will see them checked. This is useful if you want to select a large number of users located on different pages.
  • click the button "Next >>" to proceed with the next step; If  there are no selected users an alert message will be displayed, and you will not be able to go to the next page until you have not selected at least one user.
  • select the visibility for this permission statement (visible or not visible) using the radio buttons;
  • press the button "Finish" to save the changes, or press the button "<< Back" to return to prevoius page and change your selection.
Note that if you have selected more than one user, then a single permission statement will be created for each user.

Creating permission statements for document groups

You could create new permission statements for selected document groups. There is a check box next to each document group. You may select some document groups by checking their check boxes. In order to create permission statement from document groups, just do the following:
  • open the "Document Groups" page from the main menu;
  • check some documents groups from the list. You may go to another page with document groups and check some check boxes from that page. Have in mind that the previously checked document groups will rmain checked if you go back to the previous page. This approach is useful when you want to select document groups from different pages;
  • press the button "Make permission statement" at the bottom of the page. A new window will pop up to show the list of users;
  • select some users by checking their check boxes. You may go to another page with users and select some users from that page. Have in mind that the selected users will be stored and if you go back to the previous page you will see them checked. This is useful if you want to select a large number of users located on different pages.
  • click the button "Next >>" to proceed with the next step; If  there are no selected users an alert message will be displayed, and you will not be able to go to the next page until you have not selected at least one user.
  • select the visibility for this permission statement (visible or not visible) using the radio buttons;
  • press the button "Finish" to save the changes, or press the button "<< Back" to return to prevoius page and change your selection.
Note that if you have selected more than one user, then a single permission statement will be created for each user.

Creating permission statements for initial paths

You could create new permission statements for selected initial paths of one document group. There is a check box next to each initial path. You may select some initial paths by checking their check boxes. In order to create permission statement from initial paths, just do the following:
  • open the "Document Groups" page from the main menu;
  • click the name of the desired document group and the list of initial paths will appear;
  • check some initial paths from the list;
  • press the button "Make permission statement" at the bottom of the page. A new window will pop up to show the list of users;
  • select some users by checking their check boxes. You may go to another page with users and select some users from that page. Have in mind that the selected users will be stored and if you go back to the previous page you will see them checked. This is useful if you want to select a large number of users located on different pages.
  • click the button "Next >>" to proceed with the next step; If  there are no selected users an alert message will be displayed, and you will not be able to go to the next page until you have not selected at least one user.
  • select the visibility for this permission statement (visible or not visible) using the radio buttons;
  • press the button "Finish" to save the changes, or press the button "<< Back" to return to prevoius page and change your selection.
Note that if you have selected more than one user, then a single permission statement will be created for each user.

Creating permission statements for users

You could create new permission statements for selected users. There is a check box next to each user name. You may select some users by checking their check boxes. In order to create permission statement for some users, just follow these steps:
  • open the "Users" page from the menu "Security" in the main menu;
  • select some users by checking their check boxes. You may go to another page with users and select some users from that page. Have in mind that the selected users will be stored and if you go back to the previous page you will see them checked. This is useful if you want to select a large number of users located on different pages.
  • press the button "Make permission statement" at the bottom of the page. A new window will pop up to enable selection of the documents to be included in the permission statement;
    • <>click one of the links "Search results", "Document groups" or "Everything" to open the relevant page for selection. The default page is "Search results". Please refer to the previous topics for more details about how the selection could be performed, or do the following: either check some documents from the list of results, or check some document groups, or check some initial paths. Note that If you click "Everything" then you will be forced directly to select the visibility;
  • click the button "Next >>" to proceed with the next step; If  there is nothing selected (either documents, or document groups, or initial paths) an alert message will be displayed, and you will not be able to go to the next page until you have not selected some of these;
  • select the visibility for this permission statement (visible or not visible) using the radio buttons;
  • press the button "Finish" to save the changes, or press the button "<< Back" to return to prevoius page and change your selection.
Note that if you have selected more than one user, then a single permission statement will be created for each user.


Editing permission statement

You can edit the name and the description of an existing permission statement by following these steps:
  • go to page "Permission statements";
  • press the link "Edit" available on the row of the selected permission statement. A new pop-up window will appear;
  • Change the name of the permission statement. If such a name already exists, an error message will pop up.
  • Change the description of the permission statement;
  • When you are ready to save the changes press the button "Update".

If you want to reset all the fields to their initial state, click the "Reset" button.


Deleting permission statement

You can delete an existing permission statement by following these steps:
  • go to page "Permission statements";
  • press the link "Delete" available on the row of the selected permission statement; There will be a confirmation message that appears after;
  • press the button "Yes" if are really sure you want to delete this permission set or press the button "No" if not.



Managing collection items

Managing the content collections includes adding new items (documents, document groups, initial paths) to collection and deleting deleting items from collection. These actions can be triggered from the "Permission statements" page by clicking the link "Change collection". This will open a new page with title "Collection items" showing the items in the selected colleciton. This page has the following elements:
  • name of the content collection;
  • type of the content collection;
  • unique number of the row in the list;
  • name of the content item;
  • link  "Delete" which is used for deleting the current content item;
  • button "Add new items",  used for adding new items depending on the type of the content collection.

Note that you cannot add content items different than the type of the collection, because it is not allowed to have mixed type of content collections.

Adding new collection items

In order to change the items in content collection you are allowed to add new documents, document groups or initial paths to it.

To add new collection items you must complete the following steps:
  • go to menu item "Security\Permission sets";
  • click on the name of the desired permission set;
  • from the list of permission statements choose a content collection and click the link "Change collection" on the same row;
  • clicking the button "Add new items". See the previous section for more details;
  • choose some new items by checking their checkboxes;
  • click the button "Save". This will close the current window and will add the chosen items to the collection.
Note that  you will be given the choise to select only content items from the type of the selected content collection. This will open different windows for selecting documents, document groups or initial paths. These windows will look almost as the windows that  are used for defining the permission statements, except that they don't have the step for defining the visibility.


Deleting collection items

You can delete items from content collection by following these steps:
  • go to menu item "Security\Permission sets";
  • click on the name of the desired permission set;
  • from the list of permission statements choose a content collection and click the link "Change collection" on the same row;
  • from the list of collection items (documents, document groups or initial paths) choose an item and click the link "Delete" on the same row. There will be a confirmation message that appears after;
  • press the button "Yes" if are really sure you want to delete this collection item or press the button "No" if not.