- QUT ePrints
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1. A comparison is shown in Table 8 Feature CDS ISIS INMAGIC free text searching command line mode only Occurrences not shown Occurrences shown yes Move to search from selected index yes terms Can combine function keys F G when selecting term to help create search expression Search specific fields yes yes Use field identifiers n Defined in search Default is record statement Boolean operators AND OR NOT AND OR NOT amp AND OR amp NOT apply to complete record apply within fields Cao Middleton Page 12 Proximity operations Yes yes Choice between exact In order Pn otherwise Wn number or at least Ranging limited yes use VAL function in free text yes Table 8 Search facility comparison Indexes generated by CDS ISIS and INMAGIC can be printed CDS ISIS however generates printed indexes only in a file with predefined name IFLIST LST It does not send the index to a printer The lists may either be dumped includes address of term in the inverted file or produced with only the order number occurrences associated with the term and the term itself INMAGIC does not have a thesaurus searching facility CDS ISIS does not have standard option for thesaurus searching However It has a special PASCAL program for thesaurus searching distributed together with the program This module allows the users to use a thesaurus for selecting terms for creating a sea2. that structure In the case of CDS ISIS in order for changes made to FST to have effect on the whole inverted file you also need to regenerate the file Copying data structure files INMAGIC allows many databases to share the same data structure file A new data file may be generated using the existing data structure In the case of CDS ISIS each database must have its own FDT even when it is identical with other structures There is no facility for direct copying the existing database definition files within the CDS ISIS except through DOS CDS ISIS however allows the users to create different customised data entry worksheets for databases each of which may contain different fields whereas INMAGIC has only one default data entry worksheet which is created automatically by the system CDS ISIS also allows copying from existing FST and print formats Creating auxiliary files Auxiliary files include files for stopwords the any file validation and search prompts INMAGIC has 14 default stopwords to which additions may be made INMAGIC has a standard option for creating validation files and search prompts A validation file is not used by standard CDS ISIS and the stopwords file and any file must be created by text editor programs Security Cao Middleton Page 10 CDSAISIS can exercise the use of password and security to some extent It does not provide user internal facility to define passwords to restrict access to
3. around the world is established The conditions on use of CDS ISIS are specified in the Licence Agreement signed between UNESCO or the official distributor and the receiving institution 2 2 INMAGIC INMAGIC is a software package developed by the Inmagic Inc It includes necessary tools to perform database definition and maintenance information retrieval and report production The first version was introduced in 1980 and was written in the FORTRAN language In 1984 INMAGIC was rewritten in C and upgraded for microcomputers In 1989 SearchMAGIC a search only end user interface was released allowing the users to distribute INMAGIC databases to the others In 1992 SearchMAGIC was combined with INMAGIC 7 2 and released as INMAGIC PLUS including capacity for image management It is not an Optical Character Recognition package but images can be stored displayed and printed The company also produces INMAGIC PLUS for Libraries and INMAGIC PLUS for Law Firms incorporating predefined database definitions and report formats Like a CDS ISIS database an INMAGIC database consists of records that contain a collection of fields File types used are listed in Table 2 where xxxxxx represents database name The DIC and DTM files must be synchronised with the DAT to avoid database errors The data structure file STR must be created prior to database creation Users communicate with the INMAGIC through a menu hierarchy Cao Mi
4. can produce reports in tabular formats that are not available with standard CDSAISIS systems e CDSAISIS and WINISIS have strong and diverse indexing techniques that can meet various requirement and a programming facility enabling customisation to meet specific needs including interfaces e CDS ISIS and WINISIS have language versions other than English for interfaces e CDSAISIS and WINISIS accommodate international standard bibliographic transfer format e The Thesaurus searching module written with CDS ISIS PASCAL gives the software the ability to use a Thesaurus for information searching Cao Middleton Page 19 Inmagic software is easier for novices to use and provides more assistance as well as application specific versions It is readily adaptable to non bibliographic application and for applications that require frequent amendment and update CDSAISIS and WINISIS provide comparable search and report facilities and have the advantages of permitting customised language interfaces and being freely available and supported by UNESCO The DOS version has seen wide implementation in developing countries and it is to be expected that the Windows version will follow suit For systems that have relatively similar basic features it may seem obvious to choose the one that is free However account should also be taken of the sophistication of the potential users and the cost of the length of the learning curve There will be circumstances wher
5. certain functions or files However SYSPAR PAR can be used to create passwords that redirect users to particular menus worksheets or display formats that hide certain functions or fields INMAGIC allows users to control master password for system manager and passwords for users with access to certain fields Data maintenance Table 6 summarises the comparison of data input features Both packages have provision for batch input ASCII files in the case of INMAGIC ISO2709 format in the case of CDS ISIS Because CDS ISIS is developed in relation to the standard it is able to make use of the delimiters and subfield elements that are embodied in its structure It can therefore accommodate implementations of ISO2709 such as MARC and the CCF Direct input from keyboard yes yes Fil i ees ee Creating temporary default setting template a E p e E ie al Seal E ree ee Table 6 Data input and maintenance In a CDS ISIS database you can delete fields without causing damage to existing master files before you do reorganisation of the master file or export into an ISO 2709 file but you cannot edit data in the deleted fields CDS ISIS also allows you to change field attitude length pattern type without damaging an existing database though if you shorten fields you cannot then edit records containing longer fields without restoration of the original length This problem is not present with INMAGIC because it does not have field length
6. one given database It contains all terms that are used as access points during the retrieval for a given database Information on how terms are selected to be included in the file is defined by FST The ANY file ANY is an optional file that is associated with the inverted file It defines any terms each of which is a collective name assigned to a group of search terms CDS ISIS will automatically use all terms that are assigned in the given any Cao Middleton Page 4 term to form a search operation For example we can create ANY Southeast Asia which defines the name of all countries in the region Indonesia Malaysia Thailand Notes Functions XXXXXX FDT Field Definition Table FDT defines the fields and their characteristics pxxxxx FMT Data Entry Worksheets FMT define the screen layout used to create records of a database pyyyyy FMT XXXXXX PFT Display Print Formats define the screen display and print layout of records yyyyyy PFT XXXXXX FST Field Select Table FST he first FST with database name defines fields to be indexed and indexing techniques for them additional FSTs are used for data yyyyyy FST exchange XXXXXX MST Master File a data file which contains all records of a given database XXXXXX XRF Cross reference File gives the location of each record in the Master File must be copied with the master file B tree search term dictionary control file XXXXXX NO1 B tree nodes for
7. report or display formats or saved search set number The Help option is available in CDS ISIS but is not comprehensive It is available for data entry or entering data or parameters in the system worksheets Nowhere in the online system is there help about how to write a search expression how to use operators what symbols are used to express the operators how to select terms from the term dictionary or what function keys may be used Most of this material is present in the Manual INMAGIC provides much more extensive on line help Both packages provide users with clear current status information such as the number of records and current display format Error messages Buxton and Trenner have noted that error messages are an important part of an interactive system and have significant effect on user s behaviour Perera concluded that error messages of CDS ISIS are not user friendly but hostile Many error messages are cryptic and difficult to comprehend even by experienced users CDS ISIS also produces terminal errors these are errors not detected and recognised directly by CDS ISIS such as when a storage device is out of space They are detected by the PASCAL run time error system which terminates the program INMAGIC was found to have more user friendly error messages Program development by users This is a strong point of CDS ISIS While INMAGIC is ready to use and closed software and users cannot change its int
8. terms up to 10 characters long XXXXXx L01 B tree Leaf for terms up to 10 characters long xxxxxx No2 B tree nodes for terms longer than 10 characters re eeano O Table 2 CDS ISIS Database Files The two basic components of CDS ISIS are its menu system and worksheets System and Data entry Menu modification is undertaken using the System Utilities Services System Worksheets are used for stipulating parameters that are needed to execute a given function e g printing data exchange They are predefined but may be redefined Data entry worksheets are used to create or modify a database record The Windows version of CDS ISIS is being developed The June 1997 Beta release may be downloaded from UNESCO s Internet site This version includes e Data Entry module using existing worksheet files e Print and sort modules using existing formats e A Guided Search Interface OPAC e Amore complete On line Help File e ISIS DOS indentation commands e Internationalisation English and Italian messages are provided Cao Middleton Page 5 Policy for CDS ISIS development includes e Rewriting in C programming language in order to provide a common standardised language for all the versions MSDOS WINDOWS UNIX VAX VMS e Adopting a multi platform software development system in order to increase portability e Implementation of client server architecture A network of some 135 officially appointed distributors
9. Evaluation of UNESCO s CDS ISIS and some Inmagic text storage and retrieval products CAO MINH KIEM and MICHAEL MIDDLETON Preprint of paper published in Program 1998 32 3 283 302 ISSN 0033 0337 ABSTRACT A comparison was made between CDS ISIS its Windows version WINISIS and Inmagic s INMAGIC and DB TextWorks software Packages were evaluated for their database creation information retrieval and report production capabilities Windows versions were found to provide significant enhancements over DOS versions of software 1 Introduction 1 1 Software categories A great deal of personal computer software is now available for organisation of information Such information management systems usually comprise structured database and information retrieval components A number of writers have advanced categories for such software For example Burton and Petrie differentiate between conventional database management systems and information retrieval systems McCarthy distinguishes between file management systems database management systems preconfigurated data management systems and text oriented data management packages Sieverts and Hofstede suggest grouping into classical retrieval systems end user software and other indexing full text retrieval hypertextual personal information management and best match and ranking programs The classical retrieval systems resemble those developed for on line information retrie
10. S ISIS is an inexpensive approach to library computerisation Sieverts et alf when comparing it with other 8 programs including INMAGIC 7 2 concluded that despite some deficiencies CDS ISIS is a very powerful and versatile program Mahmood considered it the best library software for developing countries Over the last nine years it has become one of the most popular packages of its kind in the world Over 15 000 registered copies of the software have been distributed free of charge or at cost price in both developed and developing countries INMAGIC PLUS is among the best selling library software in the United States and a number of other countries Cibbarelli reported about 30 000 Inmagic installations in 55 countries in 1995 It is a popular library software in law firms universities Government agencies and other business building text based retrieval systems Inmagic DB TextWorks a software package for Windows based PCs and networks was introduced in 1995 It includes relational like database linking integrated image management and other features Costs depend upon type of implementation and range form US 795 for single user US 2900 for 5 user US 4500 for 10 user and up 1 3 Purpose of evaluation The evaluation was carried out in order to determine the advantages to a developing country of creating bibliographic databases using commercial software and the extent to which these advantages were offset by th
11. at contains five parts including page definitions user question definitions calculation definitions page layout and record layout while CDS ISIS display format contains only record layout information Other specifications for page definition and page layout are stored in the system and used just before printing e CDSAISIS does not provide for calculations Because of the separation of record display information and page layout in CDS ISIS the screen display of information may differ from the actual output to a file or a printer Both packages provide default display formats however in INMAGIC the default format is always present while the CDS ISIS ALL format is used only if the present format is an empty one no commands or no format is selected Sorting and subsorting procedures are available in each package with descending sorts included in INMAGIC In CDS ISIS the sort result can be loaded into a separate database which has fields corresponding to sort keys The sorting parameters in CDS ISIS can be entered directly or can be predefined by creating user defined print worksheets The worksheets facilitate the sorting procedures as they save the data entry when sorting or printing However users must be aware of their existence and know the names as the system does not prompt or let them know about that worksheets Another disadvantage of sorting is that the sorted results can not be displayed within CDS ISIS You can have a look at it
12. ctions in online systems Sydney School of Librarianship UNSW 1986 P Perera Micro CDS ISIS a critical appraisal of its search interface Program vol 26 no 4 1992 pp 373 386 P Nieuwenhuysen Criteria for the evaluation of text storage and retrieval software Electronic Library vol 6 no 3 1988 pp 160 166 UNESCO Office of Information Programme and Services Division of Software Development and Application Mini Micro CDS ISIS Reference Manual Version 2 3 Bangkok Asian Institute of Technology 1989 A Buxton and A Hopkinson The CDS ISIS Handbook London Library Association 1994 ASTINFO ASTINFO Newsletter 1985 NACESTID He thong luu tru va tim kiem thong tin CDS ISIS 2 3 Information storage and Retrieval system CDS ISIS version 2 3 Hanoi NACESTID 1990 in Vietnamese F Devadason Computer assisted instruction package on CDS ISIS Gateway to the future conference proceedings Asia Pacific Library Conference 28 May 1995 I June 1995 Brisbane Australia Vol 2 South Brisbane Qld State Library of Queensland 1995 pp 197 209 Inmagic Inc INMAGIC PLUS User s Manual Version 1 0 1992 Inmagic Inc INMAGIC PLUS Command Reference Version 1 0 1994 Cao Middleton Page 21 29 Inmagic Inc INMAGIC PLUS Library Guide 1992 30 A Buxton and L Trenner An experiment to assess the friendliness of error messages from interactive information retrieval systems Journal of Informati
13. ddleton Page 6 Data structure more than one database may use a structure Records and their indexes XXXXxXx DIC Directory of the records within the DAT file if the DIC file is lost the record in the database cannot be retrieved List of database changes made but not yet indexed must be copied when DAT is Quick index of records within DTM must be copied when DAT is Report definition file so0cc0 FMS Report format definition form written out to a file for printing or editing Set of search prompts and a record display format available for use with a database XXXXXx SRy User work file provides a place for INMAGIC to store searches as well as workspace for sorts last character y is a work file ID code Table 3 INMAGIC Files DB TextWorks which is a software package for Windows based PCs and networks was introduced in 1995 Inmagic Inc refers to DB TextWorks as textbase software with integrated image management for Windows It has much in common with the INMAGIC PLUS but with new features such as Relational like linking enabling common data in one textbase to be referenced by other data Drag and drop WYSIWYG report writer design Report printing fully enabled with Windows fonts Image management capabilities supporting many standard file formats including TIFF JPEG and BMP Customising user interaction with databases with menu screen designer Search indexes may be produced for all fi
14. e cost of such software It had the secondary purpose of comparing the utility of the packages for illustration of Cao Middleton Page 2 information storage and retrieval principles in an instructional information management environment The particular packages were examined because of their significant local use in the business environment in the case of INMAGIC products and educational environment in the case of CDS ISIS and because of implementations of CDS ISIS in a number of countries in the South East Asian region 2 Overview of the software CDS ISIS Micro CDS ISIS was based on the Mainframe version of CDS ISIS started in the late 1960s thus taking advantage of the several years of experience acquired in its development It may be regarded as a classical information retrieval system Table 1 itemises some of its key features Data interchange function based on the ISO 2709 users to tailor the system to specific needs Table 1 CDS ISIS Features UNESCO distributes English French and Spanish versions of the package and has helped in developing versions for Arabic Chinese and Korean The first version 1 0 was released in December 1985 It is designed to run on IBM PC XT with minimal 256K RAM and hard disk requirements It comprised 6 different programs to execute the various functions Databases were able to handle up to 32 000 records Cao Middleton Page 3 In 1989 version 2 3 was distributed integratin
15. e it makes economic sense to make use of INMAGIC s software because of the extent of support provided and where most required functions are already installed WINISIS is much more dependent upon self help but because it is developed within a standards framework and because it is extendable with PASCAL programs it rewards time that can be invested References 1 P F Burton and J H Petrie The Librarian s Guide to Microcomputers for Information Management Workingham England Van Nostrand Reinhold 1986 pp 66 94 ISBN 0442317700 2 S McCarthy Personal filing systems creating information retrieval systems on microcomputers Chicago Ill Medical Library Association ISBN 0912176237 3 E G Sieverts and M Hoftstede Software for information storage and retrieval tested evaluated and compared Part I General introduction Electronic Library vol 9 no 3 1991 pp 145 153 4 W Saffady Text storage and retrieval systems a technology survey and product directory London Meckler Corp 1989 ISBN 08873565264 5 S Kumar and D C Kar Library computerization an inexpensive approach Library Review vol 44 no 1 1995 pp 45 55 6 E G Sieverts et al Software for information storage and retrieval tested evaluated and compared Part II Classical retrieval systems Electronic Library vol 9 no 6 1991 pp 301 316 T7 K Mahmood The best library software for developing countries more than 30 plus points o
16. elds and 250 fields are permitted per database More field types including text numbers date are permitted Internet publishing is facilitated by the use of the HTML Write to file feature to publish reports created in DB TextWorks When a textbase is created DB TextWorks generates a number of files each of which has the same name as the textbase but a different extension as in Table 4 Extension Description TBA ACF DBS IXL DBR DBO SDO BTX Cao Middleton Page 7 Contains the lists of records indexed by the terms and words in the BTX file Textbase log file lists changes to the textbase structure and records HLP Optional textbase specific Help file INI Optional file used with the Copy Special feature Table 4 Textbase files 3 DOS Software Evaluation 3 1 Criteria Several approaches have been taken to evaluation of information management systems Some focus upon analysis of information retrieval features of the search 19 20 eG interface and include search functions user assistance and output flexibility Others look more broadly at the software packages in their environment and include criteria such as input and maintenance of data indexing of stored information interactive searching output features use of the program special versions and f i 3 21 security and technical requirements of software We have used also used this broader approach However since the evaluation was ca
17. er printing DB TextWorks records are marked for omission rather than printing and search sets must be saved explicitly for later display e Print previews are available with each package and WINISIS allows change of predefined formats immediately before printing Printing may then be directed to file or printer including PostScript as desired e Hypertext linking is enabled in WINISIS but not DB TextWorks For example in WINISIS it can be used to link a record containing descriptive information about a picture with the picture file The picture can be displayed by clicking on the link which will execute image software for display If a record has a link to an Internet document the clicking on the link activates an Internet browser Assistance for users The commercial product DB TextWorks is distributed with a comprehensive well organised manual Sample databases are also distributed with the software WINISIS being still in its test phase did not have a printed manual Files README WRI and WINISIS HLP containing basic instructions are distributed with the package The CDS ISIS 2 3 Manual continues to be useful for the Windows version DB TextWorks has an extensive on line hypertextual help WINISIS also has useful help file with hypertextual links but at the time of testing it was not comprehensive Cao Middleton Page 18 WINISIS now allows the users to select databases data entry worksheets display formats etc from a
18. erface CDS ISIS is like an open system providing users with programming facilities such as the thesaurus searching module THES PAS to develop different modules to be run in CDS ISIS Many different modules have been developed to enhance CDS ISIS For example Chowdhury et al Si developed a module for on line vocabulary control and the HERISKO interface has been developed for CDROM search Cao Middleton Page 15 4 Windows Software Evaluation WINISIS is the Windows version of CDS ISIS at time of evaluation in Beta test mode with a number of features yet to be implemented DB TextWorks is referred to as other category software by the Inmagic Inc and has been a commercial product since 1995 Some features of the packages are similar to their DOS predecessors while others are new improved or enhanced In this section we concentrate mostly on the new or enhanced features Both packages run under either Microsoft Windows 3 X or Windows 95 DB TextWorks can be installed for network with Windows NT WINISIS does not support long file and directory name You must use CDS ISIS classic 6 letters names for database names DB TextWorks can handle more fields and indexes than DOS INMAGIC PLUS for example the maximum number of fields is 250 each of which may be indexed Thirty different types of image formats are supported with graphical output facilitating display of stored photographs line drawings documents permits maps and
19. f Micro CDS ISIS Library Software Review vol 16 no 1 1997 pp 12 16 8 UNESCO CDS ISIS for Windows Readme wri file June 1997 Cao Middleton Page 20 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 P Cibbarelli Cibbarelli s survey user rating of INMAGIC PLUS software Computers in Libraries vol 13 no 6 1993 pp 39 43 P Cibbarelli Integrated on line software for libraries an overview of today s best selling IOLS Options from the US perspective Electronic Library vol 14 no 3 1996 pp 205 209 11 D Ellingen Inmagic DB TextWorks a Windows Textbase with images Database vol 19 no 2 April May 1996 pp 46 48 50 51 Inmagic Partial Price List January 14 1998 lt URL http www inmagic com pricelst htm gt UNESCO CDS ISTIS 1996 lt URL http www unesco org webworld isis isis htm gt P Niewenhuysen Computerised storage and retrieval of structured text information CDS ISIS version 2 3 Program vol 25 no 1 1991 pp 1 18 A N Grosch INMAGIC Electronic Library vol 6 no 2 1988 pp 90 98 S H Veccia INMAGIC PLUS for libraries it s a Library in a Box Database October 1993 pp 44 55 D C Ellingen INMAGIC PLUS Plus Images Database no 10 October 1993 pp 56 59 Inmagic Inc Inmagic DB TextWorks lt URL http www inmagic com dbtext htm gt 2 11 1997 M Middleton Analysis of inquiry fun
20. g all programs into one The database capacity was extended to 16 000 000 records and the PASCAL programming language interface was introduced Release 3 0 which supports local area networks followed in 1992 The latest MSDOS version 3 07 was distributed in 1994 The Beta test version 1 0 for Windows WINISIS was launched in 1996 The version we consider is the June 1997 version Functions are carried out by a set of 8 major services grouped into two categories user services and system services The four user services are e ISISENT Data entry and record editing e ISISRET Information retrieval e ISISPRT Printing and sorting e ISISINV Inverted file maintenance The four system services are e ISISDEF Database definition or modification e ISISXCH Data exchange facilities and master file maintenance e ISISUTL Utilities e ISISPAS Advanced programming facility A database consists of logically related but physically distinct computer files File names are listed in Table 2 In the table xxxxxx represents the name of the database and yyyyyy represents user chosen file name A database definition consists of four mandatory components each stored in separate files Field definition table FDT Data entry Worksheets FMT Display Print formats PFT and Field Select Table FST The Inverted file is an index file of the master file which contains all database records There is only one inverted file IFP for
21. limit or definition INMAGIC does not provide internal backup facilities It uses DOS BACKUP and RESTORE CDS ISIS however has its own backup and restore utilities These work only on the master file The database structure file must be copied separately Index creation Cao Middleton Page 11 Both packages permit a variety of indexing methods INMAGIC enables either keyword or term indexing or the two combined CDS ISIS has 9 options based upon complete fields subfields or sequences defined by indicators Table 7 lists the features CDS ISIS Indexingtechniquessmethods _ _ 9 J 3 Indexing whole field Indexing every word of the field yes yes Stopword list yes yes Table 7 Indexing features Retrieval Both packages provide most standard information retrieval features although the implementation differs For example searching through indexes requires an indication of index in INMAGIC but CDS ISIS defaults to all fields Boolean searching in CDS ISIS takes effect on an entire record whereas with INMAGIC it may be specified within or between fields For proximity searching INMAGIC permits specification of words in same order or regardless of order CDS ISIS uses the period symbol to indicate that there are at most n 1 intervening words A B means adjacent A B means within at most 2 words of each other It uses the dollar symbol to indicate an exact number of intervening words A B means exactly one intervening word
22. on Science vol 13 1987 pp 197 209 31 G G Chowdhury A Neelamenghan and S Chowdhury VOCON Vocabulary control online in MicroISIS databases Knowledge Organisation vol 22 no 1 1995 pp 18 22 32 G Stergiou and S Kaloyanova Application of Micro CDS ISIS and HEURISKO for the preparation of CD ROMs Electronic Library vol 13 no 5 1995 pp 477 482 33 Inmagic Inc Inmagic DB TextWorks User s Manual 1995 Authors CAO Minh Kiem Manager Marketing Office National Centre for Scientific and Technological Information and Documentation NACESTID Hanoi Vietnam Michael Middleton Senior Lecturer School of Information Systems QUT Brisbane Australia Email m middleton qut edu au Cao Middleton Page 22
23. other visual information WINISIS does not handle images but it has linking features that allow users to run an application outside WINISIS using information from the database DOS to Windows Conversion WINISIS does not require conversion of data from a DOS CDSASIS database All database files can be copied to the WINISIS database directory or location can be indicated by specification in the SYSPAR PAR file DOS CDS ISIS can use WINISIS databases though WINISIS display formats for graphics are incompatible DB TextWorks textbases are incompatible with INMAGIC PLUS databases The conversion process however is straightforward and can be implemented with standard tools provided Input Field characteristics text alphabetic pattern numeric for WINISIS are the same as CDS ISIS but DB TextWorks supports an expanded range as indicated in Table 10 Field Type Fields contain Any text or combination of alphanumerics punctuation spaces and line breaks A series of digits that may be calculated or sorted as a value Cao Middleton Page 16 Items in which case and punctuation should be considered significant during searches and sorts such as chemical names or scientific formulas UDC Table 10 DB TextWorks field types Image The name s of associated image file s Link Text matched against a corresponding field in another textbase for association Both packages support keyboard and batch input WINISIS like its DOS ve
24. rch expression The thesaurus database is a separate database THES which contains terms and information about their relationship Output Features for presentation of retrieved results are similar for the two packages as shown in Table 9 Each requires use of commands for data display They do not automatically display results if the search finds only a single record INMAGIC has unformatted and formatted options for display In unformatted display one record a time is presented and users can use arrow keys to move to a specific part of the displayed record CDSAISIS allows display of the latest search result only It displays one screen page a time and the user can only go forwards by lt ENTER gt key No backwards key is available Selection of a specific record in a search result isn t allowed no no Standard output formats Except Libraries and Law versions User defined output formats Selection of specific fields for display or printing y y Sorting of search results or records es Yes am with descending i no Highlighting of search terms pe yes Cao Middleton Page 13 Formats for exchange with other programs no no Output of reference list according to journal styles no no Table 9 Output features Both programs permit customised formats Some major differences in display format designing between the two packages are e CDSAISIS does not support column display for tabular reports e An INMAGIC report form
25. rried about using small test bibliographic databases of about 50 records on the subject of information policy our emphasis is on a features analysis of input output and information retrieval facilities 3 2 Comparison We evaluated CDS ISIS 3 07 and INMAGIC PLUS 1 0 Minimal RAM for CDSAISIS is 640 Kb and for INMAGIC is 500 Kb Hard disk space per program is 2 Mb and 1 5 Mb respectively System limitations INMAGIC has no limitation on the record and field length enabling storage of complete structured large documents CDS ISIS allows all fields to be indexed The 200 lines of FST indicates that all fields can be indexed each line in the may have more than one field Limitations are summarised in Table 5 CDS ISIS 3 07 INMAGIC PLUS Cao Middleton Page 8 Maximum number of 16 000 000 unlimited records database Characters per record 8 000 characters Characters per field 8 000 characters Maximum number of indexed fields 200 lines Fields per data entry worksheet page 19 fields not applied Maximum number of 20 pages not applied pages worksheet Maximum size of a display formats 4 000 not applied Maximum number of stopwords 799 words Total length of stopword list including space lt 255 Maximum length of indexed term 35 characters 59 characters Table 5 System limitations An INMAGIC database has one default data entry worksheet while a CDS ISIS database may have many Each CDS ISIS data entry worksheet may have se
26. rsion accepts batch input from file in ISO 2709 format only DB TextWorks accepts INMAGIC tagged format exported from the DOS version and Delimited ASCII format which uses symbols to indicate record and field delimiter Global editing is supported in both packages Two other input improvements in WINISIS are e Term Dictionary on input users activate and drag drop terms from it into the data entry worksheet thereby improving consistency of data in the database e A basic validation check on the field format and information is carried out from a user defined file The use of files containing authorised terms for inputting is not implemented in WINISIS This facility is available in DB TextWorks Both packages enable templates for data entry in DB TextWorks called Record Skeleton WINISIS permits copying of information in existing record to new record This feature is not present in the DOS version Reorganisation of data file WINISIS retains its features from the DOS version allowing users to reorder fields change field names but not tags and change field attitude DB TextWorks improves on INMAGIC PLUS by allowing reorder of fields if textbases are empty Index creation DB TextWorks can index all fields in a textbase so there may be up to 500 given that there may be two indexes Term and Word per field It retains INMAGIC PLUS options WINISIS reduces to 5 options from the 9 of DOS because field identifiers can be di
27. s content only outside CDS ISIS using word processing software Assistance for users User assistance normally takes the form of print manuals and online help Both packages are accompanied by this information For CDS ISIS there is an official manual published by UNESCO and a more recent handbook produced by Buxton and Hopkinson The updates for version 3 0 and 3 07 are present in the README file accompanied with the distribution of the program or are described in various numbers of the ASTINFO Newsletter The manual is well organised with contents and index Some countries e g Vietnam also publish the manual in their national languages based on the original There is also a self instruction package TEPACIS for CDS ISIS Cao Middleton Page 14 INMAGIC PLUS is distributed with comprehensive manuals written in a manner that is understandable by inexperienced users There is no facility for listing databases accessible for use in CDS ISIS which presents difficulties for the use who cannot respond to the prompt Database name This also applies when the user wants to select items such as display print formats data entry worksheets user print worksheets save files INMAGIC gives users more assistance For example you can select a database more easily because the database names in the current directory are listed or you can specify the address to look for a database list The same assistance is available when selecting
28. splayed eliminating the need for prefixes such as AU TI Retrieval Facilities summarised in Table 8 continue to be available in the Windows version of the packages however several enhancements have been implemented Cao Middleton Page 17 e Index displays term occurrences now appear in WINISIS displays and the display may be limited to specified field subsets e Search mode WINISIS now permits an assisted mode as well DB TextWorks continues the DOS command query and Query by Example options e Specified field searches in DB TextWorks QBE forms can be customised by the users One QBE can accept up to 4000 characters In selection of WINISIS fields to be searched field identifiers are added to a term by consulting a Window that shows searchable fields e Search history displays in a WINISIS window and clicking an element of the history will display results Output Features shown in Table 9 for DOS versions continue to apply together with enhancements as follows e Windows fonts are present for each package and a WYSIWYG is implemented DB TextWorks form designer provides a Drag Drop facility for ease of forms design The use of fonts and font sizes is also possible in WINISIS but the user is required to use commands to write the display or print formats and to define the font table e Search results display is improved in WINISIS by being able to click elements of search history Any record in a set may be marked for lat
29. val systems Saffady uses the term text storage and retrieval systems for full text retrieval systems software products that operate on the complete content of a document We use the term textual storage and retrieval systems to indicate the group of products belonging to the classical category in the Sieverts and Hofstede classification Management of structured text can be seen as a specific application that requires software used for this purpose to have special features Structured textual data for example bibliographic descriptions have characteristics such as variable length fields and records and multiple values for fields that make them difficult to Cao Middleton Page 1 manage with generic database systems such as Access DBase and Oracle with their orientation towards numerical fixed length field data Features and capacity of text storage and retrieval systems vary markedly Selection of the most appropriate software package for a particular environment is challenging 1 2 CDS TSIS and Inmagic Here we consider two Inmagic Inc products INMAGIC PLUS 1 0 and DB TextWorks 1 0 together with UNESCO s CDS ISIS and WINISIS Versions of these packages have been described favourably in a variety of contexts The DOS version of CDS ISIS is a well known textual information storage and retrieval package in the developing countries Kumar and Kar reviewed the world wide application of CDS ISIS and showed that the use of CD
30. veral different pages Database definition For CDS ISIS definition involves four steps e Creating Field Definition Table e Creating data entry worksheet e Creating Field Select Table e Writing a display or print format CDS ISIS does not automatically create default data entry worksheet based on the existing FDT INMAGIC will automatically create a default data entry worksheet and display format provided that the user has created a structure Part of an example is shown in Figure 1 MPHASIS for each field LABEL URL VOL l TO AU CO JO SO SE CF PY Cao Middleton Page 9 F 14 F 15 NUMBER Figure 1 Example INMAGIC data structure No PG Fie LA LANGUAGE DT AB DE N N Yo Doc TYPE T K Ea When there is a need for data structure modification CDS ISIS allows addition of fields anywhere in the FDT With INMAGIC once you have saved the data structure you cannot rearrange field order nor can you add fields except at the end of the structure In CDS ISIS you may also delete fields without losing your data They remain in the master file Updates Although CDS ISIS checks consistency of other database structure files with the changes made to FDT it informs you of the need for modification which you must then carry out yourself If you change indexing code or order key in an INMAGIC data structure you need to use the Build or Remove options on all databases using
31. window that list available files In general Windows versions of the two products are now more user friendly and provide users with more tools and easier interaction WINISIS is considerably improved in comparison with DOS version CDS ISIS 3 07 5 Conclusion The evaluation indicates that the packages are powerful software for structured textual information management They have many similarities in their basic features while having a number of distinguishing features Features common to both versions of the packages are e Suitability for the management of structured textual information with variable record length e Users define their own databases e Powerful search facility with use of Boolean and proximity operators allowing flexible and diverse search combination e Customisation of output formats especially formats that are specific and characteristic for library and information work like indexes and sorts e Editor capacity allowing users to enter new data and edit existing data Distinguishing features include e Inmagic products have more extensive on line help and are more user friendly particularly when comparing DOS versions e Inmagic products handle more data types which make them more flexible to use for purposes e g administrative other than conventional bibliographic databases e Some searching features are more powerful than that in CDS ISIS for example range search and comparison e Inmagic products
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