Managed Synonym Lists

Managed Synonym Lists are user defined synonym lists that can be added to query criteria. Each list is uniquely named and can be implicitly used for specific searches, depending on application needs. For example, suppose a user wants to retrieve records for all customers in Los Angeles, California. The data, however, varies from record to record, with some being LA and some Los Angeles. In the CITY_ABBR provided managed synonym list, LA is a synonym of Los Angeles and Los Angeles is a synonym of LA. Therefore, no matter which way the criteria is entered and no matter which way the city was entered in the database, the record will be found.

Omnidex provides several predefined managed synonym lists that can be used and modified. You can also create you're own custom managed synonym lists, as long as they are properly formatted. See Adding or Modifying a Managed Synonym List for more information.

Reinstalling Omnidex software will cause any modified files to be overwritten. Make a safe copy of modified files prior to reinstalling Omnidex to avoid losing changes.

Adding or Modifying a Managed Synonym List

To add a new synonym list or modify an existing list:

• Create the new list or modify an existing list in the correct format. See below for details.
• Save the file as a .tdf or .txt file. This file must be located in the config/english/synonyms subdirectory of the OMNIDEX_HOME directory.
• Recompile oaglobal. oaglobal.src is located in the config subdirectory of the OMNIDEX_HOME directory.
  > oacomp oaglobal
• Rebuild the oaglobal indexes. The installation script is located in the same location as the oaglobal source file.
  > dbinstal < oaglobalin
• Load the ofx files for the tdfs. The use file is located in the same location as the oaglobal source file.
  > odxsql -use=oagloballd

Details

Managed synonym lists are maintained in tab-delimited files. These files must have a .tdf or .txt file extension and can contain multiple lists. The file must be located in the config/english/synonyms subdirectory of the OMNIDEX_HOME directory.

Tab-delimited files can be easily maintained using many applications, such as Microsoft Excel, as well as various text editors and word processors. Column layout must be maintained and the proper delimiters must be used. Columns must be separated using a tab character, and rows must be separated by a linefeed. Note that Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP requires a carriage-return and linefeed to terminate each rows. This will be handled automatically in most Windows tools.

Each list has the same format: LISTNAME tab KEYWORD tab REPLACEMENT

LISTNAME is the name of the list. Each list name must be unique to distinguish multiple lists from each other. This name is used to instruct Omnidex which list to obtain the synonyms from.

KEYWORD is the word that the list of synonyms in REPLACEMENT pertain to. KEYWORD can contain a word or phrase up to 128 characters and is case-insensitive.

REPLACEMENT contains a comma or space separated list of synonyms for the word in the KEYWORD column. The replacement list may be up to 8,192 characters. Replacement words or phrases may be intermingled and can occur in any order.

The REPLACEMENT or synonym list may consist of:

A word or phrase to be used in replace of the current word. Words may be separated by spaces, commas or both. Phrases must be enclosed in double-quotation marks.

To include the current word, you must include it in the synonym list.

A string of qualification criteria indicated by enclosing the entire replacement string in parenthesis. The criteria may include Boolean operators and nested parentheses.

In this example, you would apply this synonym list to a date class field.

Pointers to other entries within the same list. Pointers are indicated by prefixing the word with a > (greater-than sign). Pointers can be nested.

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