Most of the systems time is spent generating HTML and XML reports associated with each database object. Generating a report requires multiple database lookups, retrieving related data from external databases and rolling it all into one HTML report page . Once the reports are generated, adding them into the AltaVista Search index is trivial. The system also handles ongoing information updates automatically on an ongoing basis. These new reports are added to the AltaVista Search index automatically.
Researchers always know they are receiving accurate search results.
The database query interface looks like a normal AltaVista Search query page. This ensures that users quickly become familiar with using it and are likely to employ any accumulated knowledge of AltaVista search syntax when performing database searches. Query response is very fast, even under peak loads, average total response time is less than 3 or 4 seconds. The SearchSDK Perl interface provides all the necessary facilities for searching and managing the AltaVista index and extracting matching entries. Since Perl excels at text manipulation, it is also a simple matter to add additional features such as hit highlighting.