How to Search using a Word Wheel / Browse button

Overview
Using a Word Wheel / Browse button
Dialogue Box Controls
Troubleshooting

Overview

The Word Wheel dialogue box opens when you click a Browse button on a search page.

The Word Wheel dialogue box shows indexed information for which you can search. To conduct a search, select an item, click Paste to add the item to the search page, then submit the query. This eliminates trial-and-error searching and makes searching easier.

Using a Word Wheel / Browse button

Depending on whether you want to display words or terms (complete entries), select either the Words List or Terms List option button at the bottom of the dialogue box.
Use one of the following methods to select a word or term from the list:

Use the scroll bar to browse the list.
If a scroll bar does not appear, click in the list and use the keyboard keys to navigate to the item you want.
Type one or more characters in the Find box and click the Go to button to move to that item or the closest match in the list.

Click the Paste button to paste the word or term into the search page.
[Optional] Paste additional items, in which case an "OR" search will be done (for example, smith / jones).
Click the Search button on the search page.

Dialogue Box Controls

The following section explains each part of the Word Wheel dialogue box:

Find box / Go to button

In the Find box, type one or more characters, then click the Go to button to move to that item (or to the closest matching item) in the Choices List.

Choices List / Hits / Keys

The Choices List consists of two columns, Hits and Keys. The Hits list indicates the number of records that contain the word or term in the field you are searching (see the Field drop-down list at the bottom of the dialogue box for the name of the field). The Keys list shows indexed information for which you can search. Either words or terms appear in the Keys list, depending on the option button selected at the bottom of the dialogue box.

Words List / Terms List option buttons

A term is a complete entry, such as the name of an agency. If a field has both types of indexes, you can switch between them by selecting the Words List or Terms List option button. For example, the Terms List for a field named Agency Name shows the complete name of each agency (for example, Anzac Day Committee), while the Words List shows each word individually. This means you can search for either a single word (for example, board) or a complete term (for example, Art Gallery Enterprise Board).

Field drop-down list

The Field drop-down list shows the name of the field whose index you are viewing. This is useful when a box searches more than one field. For example, a box labeled Property will search several different fields. Select a different field from the drop-down list to see information stored in that field. You can paste criteria from any field listed, to search for the pasted item(s) in all of the fields in the box.

Paste button

Click the Paste button to paste the selected item from the Choices List into a box on the search page. You can paste more than one item (one at a time). A Boolean OR symbol is added between items that you paste. For example, if you paste community and board, the box on the search page will show community / board. When you submit the query, you will find records that contain either the word community OR the word board (or both). Before submitting the query, you can change the Boolean symbol to & (which represents AND) or ! (which represents NOT).

Troubleshooting: Word Wheel

If you are having trouble using a Word Wheel (Browse button), some of the most common problems are listed below. If you do not find an answer to your problem here, please contact Auckland City Council archives.

The Word Wheel buttons on a search page do not appear or do not work.

To display Word Wheel buttons and to run a Word Wheel, you need Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.0 or later, or Netscape Navigator version 3.x/4.x. For recent versions of Internet Explorer, you must install and use the Microsoft Virtual Machine. Recent versions of Sun Java are not backwards-compatible and do not function with Word Wheels, and recent versions of Netscape Navigator use this incompatible version of Sun Java.

The Word Wheel dialogue box is empty.

Try selecting a different field from the Field drop-down list on the Word Wheel dialogue box. If the drop-down list does not contain any other fields, the textbase may be inaccessible, missing, or damaged. Please contact Auckland City Council archives to report the problem. Another possibility is that your Web browser does not meet the requirements listed above in the first problem/solution mentioned.

To verify that the problem is with the Word Wheel itself (and not with the search page), do a simple search in the same search box. If the search does not work, then the problem is not specifically with the Word Wheel.

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Word Wheel technology supplied by Inmagic, Inc. http://www.inmagic.com.

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