Help:ASK

See also Inline queries for more detailed explanations regarding semantic searches.

ASK is perhaps Centiare's most powerful tool for searching for information in the directory. It can be used in conjunction with or as an alternative to the Search Triple form-based search tool. Only registered users may create these ASK queries.

Example

Suppose you were interested in displaying all of the Centiare articles where a Latitude attribute between 39 degrees and 40 degrees North has been tagged. The following example ASK query...

<ask>
[[City:=*]]
[[State Code:=*|State]]
[[Zip:=*]]
[[Latitude:=>39.0]][[Latitude:=<40.0]][[Latitude:=*|Latitude]]
</ask>

...instantaneously produces this report when the page is Saved:

<ask> * State * >39.0Property "Latitude" (as page type) with input value ">39.0" contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process.<40.0Property "Latitude" (as page type) with input value "" contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process.Latitude </ask>

Of course, this is just an example, and ASK queries may be written to be as inclusive or restrictive of qualifying attributes as the author wishes. We recommend that you experiment with your own ASK queries on your User page (or sub-page) before you implement them in Directory or Main Space pages.