Thunderstone Search Appliance Manual

Parametric Search Query

Syntax: text box for SQL clause, radiobutton Y/N

The Parametric Search Query setting has two fields. The SQL Query Clause is the SQL clause to be executed at search time (in addition to the normal text query). See here for details on the syntax and usage of this field.

The Allow Override setting is a yes/no radiobutton that controls whether to allow the search user to override the SQL Query Clause at search time. Since the clause is in SQL, which users are generally not familiar with, this should be left set to N unless the users are known to have sufficient Texis SQL expertise. The infield: syntax (here) is usually sufficient instead for search-user-generated queries.

One potential reason to allow SQL override is if the clause is pre-canned but one of several possibilities, i.e. it is chosen by the user from a select box from a custom form, instead of being typed in by hand. Another reason to allow override is for quick testing by the admin when setting up a profile. However, regardless of the form variable type, allowing SQL override has the potential to allow syntactically incorrect and/or resource-intensive queries to run (though syntax restrictions prevent any non-SELECT clauses).