 The
Advanced search can be thought of as a query wizard because
it makes searching for properties easy. In the Advanced search,
you may only enter one search term per category, but you may enter
search terms in several categories at once. In general, the more
search terms you enter, the fewer results you will receive.
When you begin the Advanced search wizard, a dialog box
opens to let you choose the location of the properties you wish
to search for: State, County, or City.
Click in the radio button next to your choice and click the "Next"
button to continue. The following dialog box shows the first of
the three tabbed areas: General, Individual Structure,
and National Register Criteria.
Wildcard Search Fields
The fields marked with
an asterisk (*) are Wildcard Search fields and set up
so that a user can type in a text string (like part of a name,
or part of an address) and find the record without having to know
the exact way it is entered in the database. For example, if you
enter "Park Place" in the Property Name text
box, your search will return results like,
- Lincoln Park, Park Place Cafe
- Linden Park Place--Belle Avenue Historic
District
- Park Place Historic District
- Home Park Place.
Wildcard search fields
are similar to keyword searches used in Google and other Web search
engines, but the entire text string you enter is considered ONE
keyword in this application. You will notice in the above example
that no records containing only "Park" or only "Place"
were returned. Only records in which the text string of "Park
Place" appeared were returned.
General Tab
Under the General tab, you can search for a property by
its name or address. Many of the properties, however, do not have
specific names. Others have several names, some of which are used
only on a local level. Unless the property is very well known, a
name search may not find the specific property you seek. Searching
by address under the General tab refers to the street address.
If you are searching for a property in a specific city, the city
is indicated on the first page of the wizard.
Also on the General tab, you can specify the NRHP status
of the properties you are seeking. If you want to search for properties
with specific NRHP criteria, click on the National Register
Criteria tab. Note: you must make a selection in National
Register Evaluation before you can use any options under the
National Register Criteria tab.
Also on the General tab, you can specify the category
(building, structure, object, site, or district) of the property
you seek, or the survey in which it was inventoried.
Individual Structure Tab
Under the Individual Structure tab, you can search by
specific details of individual structures that may appear on a property.
A property may have one or more than one structure identified with
it--a house, a barn, and a shed, for example. You may specify the
architect, builder, or any of the materials that were used for the
walls, roof, or foundation. These fields are wildcard
search fields, so by entering "wright" in the architect
field, you will find the buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
and other architects with the same last name. If you wish to enter
both first and last names of an architect or builder, enter in the
form of lastname, firstname.
You can also specify, by selecting from drop-down lists, the current
function of the individual structure, and the historic function,
and the architectural style. To find structures by when they were
built, enter a year in the Begin Year and End Year
text box. You must enter a value in both text boxes--to specify
a building that was built in 1870, for example, enter 1870 in BOTH
the Begin Year and End Year text boxes.
National Register Criteria Tab
If you want to search for a property on the NRHP by using criteria
specific to that program, first select an option under National
Register Evaluation on the General tab,
then click on the National Register Criteria
tab. (These are designations specific to the NRHP
program--you may refer to http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/
for more information.) You may select an owner type, a significance
criteria, and a significance criteria consideration from drop-down
lists. If you know the National Park Service certification number
and/or certification date, you may search by those. You may also
enter a significant area, and date range for that significant area
(begin year and end year). You may also select a Multiple Property
Listing from the drop-down list to see all of the properties listed
by a theme (for example, Round Barns in Illinois, Carnegie Libraries,
or Historic Fairgrounds in Illinois).
When you have selected all of the options from one or more of the
categories, click on the "Finish" button to begin the
search. You can see the results in the Results Area. |
The Query Builder was designed
to allow you to develop complex queries by manually creating search
expressions based upon Structured Query Language (SQL). This type
of searching may not be for everyone, but we have included the functionality
for those who require complex querying. It allows you to search
for multiple options within a category (the Advanced search
function only allows you to enter one option per category). It also
allows you to join search expressions based on the logical operators,
AND, OR, and NOT (the Advanced search function links all
expressions with the AND operator). Finally, it allows you to change
the normal order of precedence by placing parentheses around groups
of expressions. Those who are skilled in Boolean searching will
find this method of searching very familiar.
The Query Builder screen helps you build queries by a
simple series of steps. First, select the field name from the drop-down
list of the first category in which you wish to
search. When you select a field that has a limited number of options,
like Category, you will see a text box appear with a drop-down list
for you to choose an option.
Select an option from the list and click on the "Add"
button. The statement is then created in the "Where Clause"
window:
(Unit.Category = 'building')
If this were the only condition you wanted to use for the search,
you could click the "Finish" button to execute the search.
However, if you want to add additional search expressions, select
a second category from the Field Name list.
Not all fields have a drop-down list from which you can choose
a search term. For example, you must enter your own search term
into Property Name and Address. Fields that do
not have drop-down lists are treated as wildcard
searches.
Notice that since this is the second expression, a logical operator
is required--the AND operator is chosen by default, but you can
select OR if necessary. (When you use the NOT operator, it should
be preceded by an AND or an OR.) Click on the "Add" button
to add this expression to the end of the existing Where Clause:
(Unit.Category = 'building') And (Property.SignificantName like
'%Capitol%')
The wildcard characters and appropriate syntax are entered for
you. You may at any time edit the search string that is created
by clicking within the box and editing the expression as necessary.
NOTE: There are no safeguards against entering illegal SQL syntax;
edit these statements carefully. |
