Information management with Index+
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What is Index+?
Information Retrieval Database | Server-Client Architecture | Open Systems Design | Web and z39.50 Gateways | Multi-platform Operability | Index+ Bridge
An information Management Environment
Index+ is a powerful software toolkit for creating systems to manage structured and unstructured text, data, still and moving images, sound and video. It features fast searching, high storage capacity, a robust, network orientated, server-client architecture and a range of application development tools. Index+ is designed for UNIX, MS-Windows, NT and mixed environments.
Index+ interfaces can be simple enough for inexperienced users, yet powerful enough for professional users. An Index+ database can be re-structured, copied or customised with a variety of application building tools. Index+ also provides interfaces to a range of programming environments.
Index+, created by System Simulation Ltd, has evolved as a toolset for building a range of applications for demanding clients. This range of applications and the continuous evolution of the Index+ system has ensured that it is very well suited to the requirements of the modern information economy. It enables the creation, development, management and exploitation of information and knowledge assets of any kind. System Simulation Ltd's business is now largely focused on partnerships with clients to optimise their use of information assets and maintain Index+ as a leading-edge technology.
Fast searches - innovative indexing algorithms which deliver very fast retrieval times via free text, Boolean and keyword searches with extensive hyperlinking.
Multi-platform support - for PC, NT and UNIX, in stand-alone or mixed environments.
Scalability - that is, it can support small or large databases with the same software.
Client/Server architecture - and a range of tools and libraries for configuring and managing databases and applications.
Integration of images, video and audio, with the ability to work with most known image file types and compression and decompression methods.
Network capability - through single user, local and wide area network systems, with the index+ Web gateway allowing Index+ databases to be accessed by any standard Web browser.
Robust and secure
Key technical features
Full-text indexing and searching
Server-client architecture with multi-platform operability, support for multiple sites and security features
Clients for GUI and character terminal environments
Multilingual and thesaurus capabilities
Batch and/or interactive update
Multimedia support and CD-ROM publishing
Ability to exchange information with PC packages such as spreadsheets, word processors and DTP software
Designed to be flexible
Suitable for applications of any size, Index+ is scalable and can adapt as information requirements change
May be moved between different hardware platforms without having to be rebuilt
Multi-platform - UNIX, NT, MS-Windows
Network support - Web, Intranet and Internet, Z39.50 Gateway
Index+ Bridge - an information broker which allows Index+ systems to search and retrieve information from remote databases.
Server-Client Architecture
A key reason for the robustness of Index+ is its server-client architecture. Simply put, the server-client model of information systems distinguishes between:
Client activities of managing a dialogue with the user resulting in requests for information
Server activities of managing information resources and responding to requests for information.
Server-client computing separates the server activity from the client activity and distributes this functionality across the network. This means that common services can be centralised on the most appropriate machines and user-specific processing is performed locally. This dramatically reduces network traffic compared with approaches based on terminal emulation, increases performance and provides virtually unlimited capacity for expansion.
Index+ server-client architecture supports both local and wide-area networks. Multiple clients and multiple servers can coexist on the same network with no restrictions.
Open Systems Design
Index+ has been designed to open systems principles. By meeting industry standards, Index+ provides users with flexibility in their choice of hardware and software components. Index+ is supported on a wide variety of hardware platforms and peripherals. Index+ can be integrated with third party hardware and software products, providing a consistent user interface across a wide range of environments. Index+ is written in the C and C++ programming languages. Each major component of the Index+ software is implemented as a separate module with clearly defined interfaces and functions.
WWW Gateway
The Index+ web gateway is designed to link directly to any standard Web server so allowing users to access Index+ databases from any Web browser.
Z39.50 Gateway
Z39.50 is an international standard information retrieval protocol. The Index+/Z39.50 Gateway allows Z39.50 client software to search in and retrieve data from Index+ databases over the internet. Z39.50 is the next step from web protocols allowing a number of resources to be made available through the same interface - essential for the development of effective libary and bibliographic services on the network. System Simulation's work on projects such as Aquarelle, CIMI, Van Eyck, SCRAN and ADAM has helped to extend the use of Z39.50 into the cultural heritage sector.
Index+ Bridge (or Broker)
The Index+ Bridge is an information broker which allows Index+ systems to search and retrieve information from remote databases. This has many applications:
Search forms can allow optional searching across other datasets, for example, an Index+ search form could have a set of check-boxes each of which broadens the search to a specific repository which might be held remotely.
Bibliographic and other references in your data can be made 'live' so that clicking on the reference will retrieve the item.
Index+ client software can be used to front non-Index+ databases.
Datasets which cannot be held in a single repository for organisational or political reasons can be presented as though it were held together.
The Web allows some of these facilities, but only managed at the user's browser. Since the Index+ Bridge manages these database accesses itself, the facilities can be presented to the user with all the power of Index+'s authoring and presentation capabilities. It is also not restricted to use in web browsers, but can be used in any of Index+'s client software.
The Index+ Bridge is organised as a set of 'channels', each channel managing a different kind of dialogue or protocol. Currently we offer a Z39.50 channel, implementing the ISO standard for distributed searching and retrieval, and a 'shell' channel which allows for the easy and flexible prototyping of other bridging possibilities.
back to topIndex+ components
Server
The Index+ server is the database engine at the heart of the Index+ system. It is a single threaded process handling all storage, retrieval, and searching. This ensures integrity for information held in the database. The server can handle multiple databases on a single machine. The current release supports retrieval based on:
Full-text and numeric indexing, including wildcard, proximity and field-specific searching
Range and sorted indexes based on arbitrary alpha-numeric expressions
Record-based storage of structured and unstructured data
Multiple record types in a single database
Structured fields, including those with unlimited nesting, lists and arrays
Fields and field structures of unlimited length and complexity
Ability to organise databases across multiple disc partitions allowing very large databases
The Index+ server is supported by a full range of clients and other utilities for database configuration and management.
Clients
Index+ clients provide the interface for the user and also for any other systems the Index+ database is to be integrated with. An application may use one or more graphical and character-based user clients as well as special purpose interfaces to other systems.
Index+ includes visual configuration tools for designing and building the client interfaces in both environments. Using the programming interfaces, developers can easily build special-purpose clients to integrate the Index+ database with other systems.
WIX
WIX (Windows Index+) is a client for use in MS-Windows environments. This offers a graphical user interface which can be configured to present a look and feel varying from that of standard business applications to fully fledged multi-media applications complete with hyperlinks.
Generic II
In a character-based environment the Generic II client provides a configurable interface which supports both command-line and menu-driven styles. This is compatible with most terminals and terminal emulator software.
Index+ for MS-Windows
Index+ can run as a standalone system under MS-Windows as well as supporting MS-Windows clients communicating with Index+ servers on other machines on the network.
Index+ application programming interfaces (API)
Index+ offers a programmer's interface to the basic services in the C language. It also provides a set of application libraries supporting higher-level capabilities in C, Visual Basic, C++ and an application developers language called IPI.
Index+ for the Internet
A WWW gateway is available that will allow data held in an Index+ database to be presented as HTML. This allows the contents of an Index+ database to be viewed and searched from any World Wide Web browser.
A Z39.50 interface is available. This allows an Index+ server to respond to requests from any client that uses the Z39.50 protocol.
Index+ Bridge
The Index+ Bridge is an information broker which allows Index+ systems to search and retrieve information from remote databases.
Information retrieval
Index+ is designed for both text and numeric searches and provides very fast retrieval. Search commands are specified using simple English-like terms or by filling in search screen forms.
Text searches look for the presence of a given word or phrase in the documents being searched. They can include proximity and partial matching requirements. Proximity specifies that the words being searched for must occur within a given span of words and optionally in a given order. Partial matching allows incomplete words to be entered together with wildcard characters. Wildcard characters can occur anywhere in the search specification.
Expression searches look for numbers or strings within a range of values. They can search for the results of calculations based on the contents of fields in one or more records. This provides Index+ with functionality common to conventional numerically orientated relational databases.
Queries can be built up using the boolean operations AND, OR and NOT. These can combine text searches and expression searches freely.
By default Index+ searches across all the fields in a data record. However, if required, searches may be restricted to a particular field or group of fields. Clients can be configured to allow the user to create complex queries by simply filling in forms or to give the user full flexibility and power of the Index+ retrieval language in a command-line interface.
Flexible data organisation
Index+ does not impose any pre-defined structure on the application. It can store and index large bodies of text as single fields or records as well as supporting the highly structured organisation typical of a relational database application. Both approaches can be used in a single database allowing the data to be structured to suit the needs of the application rather than the dictates of the underlying database system.
Data structures
Index+ databases are configured from the following classes of objects - fields, links, record types and indexes. A field is a sub-category of information about a particular entity or object. For example, a record containing information about a particular artist is likely to have a field for the artist's name, a field for their date of birth, and a field giving information about the artist's work. Fields can hold variable length text, numbers or dates. The Index+ server can also handle structured data in the form of lists, arrays and arbitrarily nested structures.
Links provide one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many associations between records allowing complex data objects to be built up in the manner of object-oriented databases. Links can have an associated type so that retrievals can be made on the basis of link type. Index+ has different ways of implementing links to enable the most appropriate to be chosen for a specific link function.
Record types consist of collections of fields. They allow different kinds of records to be maintained separately in the same database. Each record type in a database can have a different set of fields and types of information or they can share fields, allowing users to search for field-specific information across multiple record types.
Text indexes
Text indexes divide text fields into a number of words or phrases using a word parser and then index the location of each word or phrase.
Text indexes are configurable. They can be set up to use particular character sets for parsing a body of text into individual words. This means that Index+ has no difficulty with non-English characters such as those with accents. Text indexes can be configured to be case sensitive or insensitive. They can contain information about which field contains the word and which words surround it to allow for field-specific or proximity searching. If there are words that do not need to be indexed, these can be held in a stoplist.
A database can contain many differently-configured text indexes. Typically a single field-specific text index may be used for the majority of the text fields with separate text indexes used for special cases such as part numbers, accession numbers and so on.
Expression indexes
Expression indexes support both range searching (retrieving all records with a field value between an upper and lower limit) and the retrieval of a set of records in a particular order. This can be used to index date, time, date/time and numeric fields, or to allow alphabetic browsing of structured text fields.
Expressions can be numerical or logical calculations and can utilise string manipulation operations. A versatile language allows the result of any expression which can be derived from a field or combination of fields to be indexed.
Other Index+ features
Index+ has developed in response to the requirements of our users. It has many features to support the implementation of robust, easy to use, information systems.
Multiuser
Index+ servers running on UNIX platforms are full multiuser systems, using region locking on files. Index+ has been designed so that items in the database are kept locked for the shortest possible time, giving impressive performance statistics. The only limit on the number of users is the hardware available.
Multi-platform operability
Index+ can operate in a wide range of environments and configurations including:
Single user MS-Windows
UNIX server networked to MS-Windows PC clients
UNIX server and clients with serially linked user terminals
UNIX server and clients with LAN and user PCs in terminal emulation mode
NT server configurations as for UNIX
The database files created by Index+ are portable between implementations on different platforms. This means that a database can be built on one machine and then distributed and run on a range of different systems without having to re-build the database.
The Index+ server is designed to be portable to any UNIX or POSIX compliant platform. It has been ported to a wide and growing range of platforms. We will port Index+ to new environments on request.
Network support
The Index+ server-client networking layer uses a network abstraction which means that Index+ can be run on a variety of networks. Several different network interfaces are supported on various platforms. In recent years there has been a strong trend among network software providers towards presenting applications with a single interface to networking, regardless of the network or the network software. This means that often a single Index+ installation can run on different underlying network platforms, just by changing the networking software: no change is necessary to Index+. This is particularly true of TCP/IP networks, the most common network for running server-client Index+.
Unless specially requested, Index+ networking clients for MS-Windows are now configured to use the WINSOCK.DLL v1.1 interface to TCP/IP. Index+ will run over any network software which conforms to this standard.
On UNIX systems, Index+ is built to use the 4.2/4.3BSD sockets interface, where available. This allows Index+ software to run alongside all the other standard TCP/ IP applications available under UNIX.
System limits
A central feature of Index+ is that it is designed to allow growth of the applications built upon it. Index+ database size is limited only by the hardware available and the file handling capabilities of the operating system. Subject to these constraints, unlimited numbers of record types, fields, and indexes may be specified and unlimited numbers of records and search lists may be held in each database. Any number of databases can run on the same platform.
Support for multiple sites
Users can log in from remote sites in the conventional manner. Alternatively they can run client software in a local workstation which connects to a remote server over a WAN, private line or PSTN connection. Index+ databases can be managed as slaves to a master database. The slave databases are updated incrementally by the master database at appropriate intervals.
Multilingual capability
Index+ supports eight-bit character sets for multilingual text, as well as the Chinese character set BIG5. Index+ provides configurable field-specific alphabets which define the role of each character as a word separator, part of a word, or to be ignored completely. These alphabets also define the sorting sequence of the characters giving Index+ a powerful capability for handling non-English alphabets. Index+ Generic II can be configured to run in different language versions with the addition of a file containing translations of the user messages.
Batch and interactive update
Index+ provides interactive record editing with immediate validation and feedback. Alternatively, Index+ can process batch input in any defined format using an input filter. Using such filters it is easy to import data from most word processor or database export formats. Adding a new input filter is straightforward.
Security
Index+ provides various degrees of security. Access or Update permission can be granted or denied on a user-by-user basis, as can access to individual commands.
Generic II stores objects (system, data and menu screens, saved queries, reports etc.) in a two level structure with each user having a work area for private objects and a global area for objects which are more widely available. Each such object has owner and public access and update permissions.
Multimedia support, electronic publishing
Index+ is a sophisticated tool for creating high quality presentations covering a large quantity of text, graphical and multimedia content served from an Index+ database.
Index+ can store any form of digital data, indexing it as required by use of an appropriate parser and index combination. This makes it ideal for supporting large scale repositories for managing digital data for electronic publishing on CD-ROM, online systems or other media. These repositories hold digital content in a general purpose form that can be re-used for multiple purposes thus offsetting the cost of digitisation.
Thesaurus support
The Index+ Thesaurus Editor supports the development and use of thesauri to BS 5723 (ISO 2788). Users can import standard thesauri such as the BSI Root thesaurus and then develop them further to meet their particular requirements.
The Index+ thesaurus provides a means of enforcing a controlled vocabulary in certain fields during data input as well as being an aid for searching. When searching, the thesaurus offers broader, narrower or related terms in order to refine a query.
Making Index+ work for you!
Support and Training
We offer a comprehensive package of support arrangements tailored to user requirements, ranging from 24-hour pager support to telephone and email support. Training is provided for application builders, database administrators and end-users.
Migration tools
Tools for importing data from a wide range of third party files and databases to Index+ applications are available. We have extensive experience in this area.
Specialist requirements
Information management systems frequently require support for a range of specialist functions as well as the basic storage and retrieval facilities. The application building tools provided with Index+ are designed so that appropriately tailored systems are very easy to make, use and maintain. These facilities include:
Interfaces to newswire systems
Storage management for large text and image archives
Interfaces to Point of Sale equipment
Interfaces to EDI systems
Interfaces to scanning and OCR software
Script-based multimedia authoring
Loan management
Exhibition design
Index+ has been successfully integrated with RDBMS and other more specialised applications, for example workflow automation or accounting systems.
