About automatic phrasing

When an application user provides individual search terms in a query, the automatic phrasing feature groups those individual terms into a search phrase and returns query results for the phrase.

Automatic phrasing is similar to placing quotation marks around search terms before submitting them in a query. For example, 'my search terms' is the phrased version of the query my search terms. However, automatic phrasing removes the need for application users to place quotation marks around search phrases to get phrased results.

The result of automatic phrasing is that a Web application can process a more restricted query and therefore return fewer and more focused search results. This feature is available only for record search.

The automatic phrasing feature works by:

Comparing individual search terms in a query to a list of application-specific search phrases. The list of search phrases are stored in a project's phrase dictionary.
Grouping the search terms into search phrases.
Returning query results that are either based on the automatically phrased query, or returning results based on the original unphrased query along with automatically phrased 'Did You Mean?' (DYM) alternatives.

Point three above suggests the two typical implementation scenarios to choose from when using automatic phrasing:

Process an automatically phrased form of the query and suggest the original unphrased query as a DYM alternative.
In this scenario, the automatic phrasing feature rewrites the original query's search terms into a phrased query before processing it. If you are also using DYM, you can display the unphrased alternative so the user can opt-out of automatic phrasing and select their original query, if desired.
For example, an application user searches a wine catalog for the terms "low tannin." The MDEX Engine compares the search terms against the phrase dictionary, finds a phrase entry for "low tannin," and processes the phrased query as "low tannin." The MDEX Engine returns 3 records for the phrased query "low tannin" rather than 16 records for the user's original unphrased query "low tannin." However, the Web application also presents a "Did you mean low tannin?" selection so the user may opt-out of automatic phrasing, if desired.
Process the original query and suggest an automatically-phrased form of the query as a DYM alternative.
In this scenario, the automatic phrasing feature processes the unphrased query as entered and determines if a phrased form of the query exists. If a phrased form is available, the Web application displays an automatically-phrased alternative as a "Did you mean?" option. The user can opt-in to automatic phrasing, if desired.

For example, an application user searches a wine catalog for low tannin. The MDEX Engine returns 16 records for the user's unphrased query low tannin. The Web application also presents a "Did you mean "low tannin"?" option so the user may opt-in to automatic phrasing, if desired.

There are two tasks to implement automatic phrasing:

Add phrases to your project using Developer Studio.
Add Presentation API code to support either of the two implementation scenarios described above.

Note: Implementing search features requires additional work outside of Developer Studio. Refer to the Endeca Advanced Development Guide for details.