Search Products
The Search Products Menu item allows the user to search for services by selecting Service Product Categories and associated Information Topics, and specifying keywords. Services in NSRR are classified under six Service Product Categories: Aeronautical, Flight, Navigation, Operation and Maintenance, Surveillance, and Weather. (See the Service Profile Help for category definitions.) To make it easier for potential consumers to discover the services that fit their needs, services within each category are further classified by associating them with one or more "Information Topics", i.e., types of data and information products they deliver. NOTE: this Product Category/Information Topic classification also supports the NSRR Home Page "Search for a service" capability.
The Service Product Categories on the left are not listed alphabetically, but by the number of services which provide products of this type. This number is displayed in parentheses after the category. When the user selects a category (e.g., "Weather"), a list of all matching services appears; simultaneously, the selected category on the left expands to show associated Information Topics (e.g., "Precipitation Products") which the user can continue to select to narrow down the search results. Results are presented in the form of panels, each containing a matching service's name, version, short description, lifecycle stage, and all the Information Topics the service has been associated with. The result set can be sorted by relevancy, service name, and lifecycle stage.
The user can also enter keyword search terms in the text box of the form. These keywords can be enclosed in quotes to search for an exact match, and can be preceded by a + sign to require all matches to include the term, and a - sign to require all matches to exclude a term. When the user searches with one keyword only, that keyword in the search results will be highlighted. When the user enters multiple terms in the text box without qualifying punctuation, the result set will combine the keywords with an implicit logical OR. Matches are returned in order of relevance.
The user can select Information Topics and enter keyword search terms in an iterative fashion to obtain an accurate result set quickly. Selecting the name of a service in the result set brings the user to the Profile View for that service. Likewise, selecting one of the Information Topics it has been associated with will bring up a screen showing all services that have also been associated with that Information Topic.