Community:Search/TheGuiInterface

From NSDLWiki

The NSDL Search Service is a REST-like, non-graphical web service. It accepts queries as qualified URLs, and returns results as XML files. However, the NSDL does provide a graphical front-end to their instance of the NCore Search Service, at http://nsdl.org/search.

The GUI at nsdl.org is not a direct, one-to-one interface to the Search Service. Search queries are tailored to give results that are optimized for a particular audience or for a certain grade level. Certain fields in the index are boosted and some are restricted to accomplish the desired result.

The displayed search results also are not a one-to-one correspondence to those returned from the NSDL Search Service. Results are groomed, formatted, and combined with information from the NSDL OAI provider and from the NDR.

Overall, the GUI provides a very tailored interface to the NSDL Search Service. If you need to do more general queries, or to search across specific fields, you may need to construct your own GUI that accesses the Search Service directly.