Technical Support Frequently Asked Questions

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FAQ's about MacWAIS

What is WAIS ?
Using MacWAIS
Locating WAIS sources
Locating and viewing files
Saving a question
For more information

Q. What is WAIS ?

A. WAIS stands for Wide Area Information Servers. WAIS is an Internet utility that lets you do keyword searches of over 500 indices on the Internet. Indices exist on a variety of topics. At this point there are more for technical subjects such as computer science or particle physics, but other subjects are being added all the time. The Project Gutenberg collection is searchable, and there a few indices of the Bible and other religious texts available.

When you do a WAIS search you search specific indices by keyword. The results are weighted according to how closely they fit the search topic, and you see a list of items that fit your search most closely. Once you have a list of items, you can save items to your hard drive or open and read them immediately.

MacWais is a WAIS application for the Macintosh.

Q. Using MacWAIS ?

A. A WAIS question has two parts-the search keywords, and what sources you want to search. When you first open MacWAIS you have access to only two sources, the Einet server, and the Directory of Servers server. You need to use the Directory of Servers to find other sources that have information useful for particular searches.

Q. Locating WAIS sources ?

A. The first search you do using WAIS is a search of the Directory of Servers, to find out which sources have information on the subject you are searching for.

  1. Choose New Question from the File menu.
  2. The question window and the Select Sources dialog box open.
  3. Locate the "Directory of Servers" file in the Select Sources dialog box.

    a) Select the "Directory of Servers" file.
    b) Click on >>Select>>.
    c) Click on Done to go to the question window.

  4. Under "Tell Me" type the search keywords.
  5. Click on the Ask button.
  6. The responses appear in the Information Found field.

The items are scored on a scale of 1-1000, with 1000 being for an item that fits your search words most closely.

To save a server reference from the list

  1. Select the server reference.
  2. Click on the Save button.
  3. Open the "wais-sources" folder.
  4. Click on the Save button.

To save a server reference and use it immediately:

  1. Select the server reference.
  2. Click on the View button. The Edit Source dialog box opens.
  3. Click on the box next to "Use with current question".
  4. Click OK.
  5. Save the server reference in the "wais-sources" folder.
  6. MacWAIS returns to the question window. Note that the source is now the source you just saved.
  7. Leave the original search words or type new search keywords in the "Tell Me" field.
  8. Click Ask.

Q. Locating and viewing files ?

A. So far these instructions have addressed finding, saving, and using sources. The process for finding a file is the same, except that when you click on View a window opens and displays the contents of the file. You can also save the file to your hard drive to open and look at later.

To find and save the MacWais user manual

  1. Use the EINet Shareware source.
  2. Search for "macwais".

The file name is "MacWais_User_Manual".

Q. Saving a question ?

A. When you close a question window or quit MacWAIS, you can save the question. This is useful if you use the same set of search keywords regularly, or if you want to return to a list of responses later. When you reopen the question the "Tell Me" and "Information Found" fields still contain the information they had when you closed the question window.

Q. For more information ?

A. To get the MacWais user manual, follow the directions given above.