Difference between revisions of "Data View"

Revision as of 14:20, 22 February 2011

Main Panel

The main panel of the data view, viewed as table

The main panel of the search page holds the results of searches and is used for manipulating large collections of data. Using the Search Filters a set of data can be obtained, viewed, and exported. The main panel lists the total number of search results, and allows paging through search results using the page numbers at the bottom of the main panel. Data is displayed in the main panel according to View Options.

Search Filters

Search filters are used to create specialised data sets in the data view. Before searching, be sure to understand the different types of Data Class used in ARK. It is essential to understand this terminology to make the most of the search filters.

The Data Toolbox and search functions.

The main types of search are outlined below:

• Free Text Search - A search based on a text string. The search filter looks in all text fields, and may return all types of record.
• Filter by Item - A search filter for a specific type of record (egs. contexts, special finds, photos, files, etc).
• Filter by Attribute - A search for a specific attribute of a record (egs. findtypes, period, etc).
• Filter by Site Code - A filter for ARKs with multiple site codes, returns all records from the requested code.
• Filter by Actor - A search for a specific Actor, returns all records that are in some way attached to this actor.

To complete a search, select the data class to be searched from the right-hand 'Data Toolbox'. Either enter the text string, or select the type or attribute from a dropdown list, and select 'Search'. You can narrow down your results by creating multiple filters until reaching the desired result. For example, after searching for all Special Finds (Item-->Special Find), the search could be further refined by searching for the text 'Gold' (Free Text-->'Gold'). This would return a set of all Special Find records including the word 'Gold'. To save the search within your ARK profile, type in a nickname for the results set and hit 'Save'.

The search function is likely to be restructured in future ARK releases to imrpove this process and include more complex searching options.

View Options

The data displayed in the data view main column can be shown in a number pre-configured ways. These are shown in the left-hand panel.

• View as Table: Displays a table with basic information about each result. The structure of the table will generally mirror the Data Entry Register. Please see your ARK administrator if you want to customise this view.
• View as Chat: Displays a short Google-style excerpt for each search result. This generally includes the record number, a short text describing the record, and a score showing how relevant the record is to the search request. Please see your ARK administrator if you want to customise this view.
• View as Map: Shows the user to a map view highlighting all the search results. By hovering over a highlighted result on the map, the context number will appear in a dedicated window. Clicking on this window you can link directly to a specific record. When many results are present within a small area, they are clustered together. By zooming in to a smaller scale, it is possible to make out individual results.

Export Data

To export a search result from the data view, simply select the 'Export as CSV' option from the top of the Left-Panel. This will prompt for you to download a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file. This file can then be imported as a table into standard spreadsheet or database programmes (Excel, Open Office, Access, etc).