` elements with special IDs that
begin `mkws` can be provided. These are filled in by the MKWS code,
and provide the components of the searching UI. The very simple
application above has only two such components: a search box and a
results area. But more are supported. The main `
`s are:
* `mkwsSearch` -- provides the search box and button.
* `mkwsResults` -- provides the results area, including a list of
brief records (which open out into full versions when clicked),
paging for large results sets, facets for refining a search,
sorting facilities, etc.
* `mkwsLang` -- provides links to switch between one of several
different UI languages. By default, English, Danish and German are
provided.
* `mkwsSwitch` -- provides links to switch between a view of the
result records and of the targets that provide them. Only
meaningful when `mkwsTargets` is also provided.
* `mkwsTargets` -- the area where per-target information will appear
when selected by the link in the `mkwsSwitch` area. Of interest
mostly for fault diagnosis rather than for end-users.
* `mkwsStat` --provides a status line summarising the statistics of
the various targets.
To see all of these working together, just put them all into the HTML
`` like so:
Configuration
-------------
Many aspects of the behaviour of MKWS can be modified by setting
parameters into the `mkws_config` hash. **This must be done *before*
including the MKWS JavaScript** so that when that code is executed it
can refer to the configuration values. So the HTML header looks like
this:
This configuration sets the UI language to Danish (rather than the
default of English), initially sorts search results by title rather
than relevance (though as always this can be changed in the UI) and
makes the search box a bit wider than the default.
The full set of supported configuration items is described in the
reference guide below.
Control over HTML and CSS
-------------------------
More sophisticated applications will not simply place the `
`s
together, but position them carefully within an existing page
framework -- such as a Drupal template, an OPAC or a SharePoint page.
While it's convenient for simple applications to use a monolithic
`mkwsResults` area which contains record, facets, sorting options,
etc., customised layouts may wish to treat each of these components
separately. In this case, `mkwsResults` can be omitted, and the
following lower-level components provided instead:
* `mkwsTermlists` -- provides the facets
* `mkwsRanking` -- provides the options for how records are sorted and
how many are included on each page of results.
* `mkwsPager` -- provides the links for navigating back and forth
through the pages of records.
* `mkwsNavi` -- when a search result has been narrowed by one or more
facets, this area shows the names of those facets, and allows the
selected values to be clicked in order to remove them.
* `mkwsRecords` -- lists the actual result records.
Customisation of MKWS searching widgets can also be achieved by
overriding the styles set in the toolkit's CSS stylesheet. The default
styles can be inspected in `mkwsStyle.css` and overridden in any
styles that appears later in the HTML than that file. At the simplest
level, this might just mean changing fonts, sizes and colours, but
more fundamental changes are also possible.
To properly apply styles, it's necessary to understand how the HTML is
structured, e.g. which elements are nested within which
containers. The structures used by the widget-set are described in the
reference guide below.
Refinements
-----------
### Message of the day
Some applications might like to open with content in the area that
will subsequently be filled with result-records -- a message of the
day, a welcome message or a help page. This can be done by placing an
`mkwsMOTDContainer` division on the page next to `mkwsResults` or
`mkwsRecords`. The contents of this element are initially displayed,
but will be hidden when a search is made.
### Responsive design
Metasearching applications may need to appear differently on
small-screened mobile devices, or change their appearance when
screen-width changes (as when a small device is rotated). To achieve
this, MKWS supports responsive design which will move the termlists to
the bottom on narrow screens and to the sidebar on wide screens.
To turn on this behaviour, set the `responsive_design` configuration
element to `true`, and `responsive_design_width` to the desired
threshhold width in pixels. For example:
If individual result-related components are in use in place of the
all-in-one mkwsResults, then the redesigned application needs to
specify the locations where the termlists should appear in both
cases. In this case, wrap the wide-screen `mkwsTermlists` element in a
`mkwsTermlistContainer1` element; and provide an
`mkwsTermlistContainer2` element in the place where the narrow-screen
termlists should appear.
### Popup results with jQuery UI
The [jQuery UI library](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JQuery_UI)
can be used to construct MKWS applications in which the only component
generally visible on the page is a search box, and the results appear
in a popup. The key part of such an application is this invocation of
the MKWS jQuery plugin:
The necessary scaffolding can be seen in an example application,
http://example.indexdata.com/index-popup.html
### Authentication and target configuration
By default, MKWS configures itself to use a demo account on a service
hosted by mkws.indexdata.com. This demo account provides access to
about a dozen free data sources. Authentication onto this service is
via an authentication URL on the same server, which MKWS uses by
default so no configuration is needed.
Access to a customised set of resources (including resources that
require authentication) can be provided. In this case, a
customer-specific authentication URL is used to gain access to these
rather than the default set. Contact Index Data on info@indexdata.com
for details.
Reference Guide
---------------
### Configuration object
The configuration object `mkws_config` may be created before including
the MKWS JavaScript code to modify default behaviour. This structure
is a hash, whose entries are described in the table below. All entries
are options, but if specified must be given values of the specified
type. If ommitted, each setting takes the indicated default value;
long default values are in footnotes to keep the table reasonably narrow.
---
Element Type Default Description
-------- ----- --------- ------------
debug int 1 Level of debugging output to emit. 0 = none, 1 = messages, 2 = messages with
datestamps, 3 = messages with datestamps and stack-traces.
facets array *Note 1* Ordered list of names of facets to display. Supported facet names are
`sources`, `subjects` and `authors`.
lang string en Code of the default language to display the UI in. Supported language codes are `en` =
English, `de` = German, `da` = Danish, and whatever additional languages are configured
using `language_*` entries (see below).
lang_display array [] A list of the languages to offer as options. If empty (the default), then all
configured languages are listed.
lang_menu bool true Indicates whether or not to display the language menu. ### We should get rid of this
setting, and simply display the menu if there's an `mkwsLang` element.
language_* hash Support for any number of languages can be added by providing entries whose name is
`language_` followed by the code of the language. See the separate section below for
details.
pazpar2_url string *Note 2* The URL used to access the metasearch middleware if `use_service_proxy` is false. ###
It's silly that you have to provide a different setting depending on whether
`use_service_proxy` is set. Should just use pazpar2_url in all cases.
perpage array *Note 3* A list of candidate page sizes. Users can choose between these to determine how many
records are displayed on each page of results.
perpage_default string 20 The initial value for the number of records to show on each page. ### The `perpage` and
`perpage_default` entries should be renamed `perpage_display` and `perpage`
respectively for consistency with the language-related settings.
perpage_menu bool true Indicates whether or not to display the perpage menu. ### We should get rid of this
setting, and simply display the menu if an appropriate container is provided.
query_width int 50 The width of the query box, in characters.
responsive_design bool false If true, then the facets display moves between two locations as the screen-width
varies, as described above. ### This entry should not exist: the design should be
responsive whenever `responsive_design_width` has a defined value.
responsive_design_width int 980 If `responsive_design` is true, this is the threshhold width, in pixels, at which the
facets move between their two locations.
service_proxy_auth url *Note 4* A URL which, when `use_service_proxy` is true, is fetched once at the beginning of each
session to authenticate the user and establish a session that encompasses a defined set
of targets to search in.
service_proxy_url string *Note 5* The URL on which the service proxy is accessed if `use_service_proxy` is true. This
service must be configured to provide search results, facets, etc.
sort array *Note 6* List of supported sort criteria. Each element of the list is itself a two-element list:
the first element of each sublist is a pazpar2 sort-expression such as `data:0` and
the second is a human-readable label such as `newest`.
sort_default string relevance The label of the default sort criterion to use. Must be one of those in the `sort`
array.
sort_menu bool true Indicates whether or not to display the sort menu. ### We should get rid of this
setting, and simply display the menu if an appropriate container is provided.
use_service_proxy bool true If true, then a Service Proxy is used to deliver searching services rather than raw
Pazpar2. ### Do we even need this? Can't we just assume that the Service Proxy is in
use when and only when `service_proxy_auth` is defined? Alternatively, retain this, but
use the same entry to specify the URL in either case.
---
#### Notes
1. ["sources", "subjects", "authors"]
2. /pazpar2/search.pz2
3. [10, 20, 30, 50]
4. http://mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy-auth
5. http://mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/
6. [["relevance"], ["title:1", "title"], ["date:0", "newest"], ["date:1", "oldest"]]
### Language specification
TODO
### jQuery plugin invocation
TODO
### The structure of the HTML generated by the MKWS widgets
TODO
- - -
Copyright (C) 2013 by IndexData ApS,