pgestraier/trunk/README.pod

=head1 pgestraier - search Hyper Estraier indexes from PostgreSQL

This package is essentially PostgreSQL C function which calls Hyper Estraier
API and returns results in user defined format.

=head1 Why is it written?

Aside from providing single API to query your RDBMS and full text index
(using any language that has PostgreSQL client libraries), real power is
hidden in ability to join results from full text index and structured data
in RDBMS.

=head1 How to install

Installation should be simple. However, you will have to have following
software already installed before you try this function:

=over

=item *

PostgreSQL (tested with version 7.4.8) with development libraries

=item *

Hyper Estraier (tested with versions 0.3.9 and 0.3.10)

=back

To run tests you will also need:

=over

=item *

working perl installation

=item *

perl modules C<DBI>, C<DBD::Pg>, C<Test::More> and optionally C<HyperEstraier>

=item *

C<trivia.list.gz> from Internet Movie Database in data/ directory

=item *

database "test" with permissions for current user

=back

If you have all that, you should be able to type

  make

and see sample results. You will be asked your password once (via sudo) to
install pgest.so shared library in system-wide location so that PostgreSQL
could access it.

Next, you will have to create test index. You have two options:

=head2 Create index using estcmd

This will create temporary files on disk and index them using estcmd gather

  cd data
  make index
  cd ..

B<Warning:> this method is incomplete and won't create node index needed
to run last examples in C<test.sql> correctly. Solution is simple: either
symlink your newly created index to Hyper Estraier C<_node> directory or
create node and fill re-create index using C<estcall>.

=head2 Create index using Hyper Estraier perl bindings

For this, you will have to install perl bindings from

L<http://hyperestraier.sourceforge.net/binding/>

If you installed bindings as documented in README file, you can use
perl binding to create index about three times faster. However, you will
fist need to create node I<trivia> using Hyper Estraier's administration
interface at L<http://localhost:1978/masterui>. You will also need user
C<admin> with password C<admin> because those values are hard-coded in
C<indexer.pl>. If you want to use different user on index name, feel
free to change script.

  cd data
  make perl
  cd ..

To run tests (which require that you have estcmd in your $PATH) issue

  make test

See also included file test.sql for more examples of usage.

=head1 Usage of pgest from SQL

C<pgest> PostgreSQL function has two different prototypes (number of arguments) depending on usage.

        SELECT
                -- columns to return (defined later)
                id,title,size
        FROM pgest(
                -- path to index OR URL to node, user-name and password
                -- you will need JUST ONE of following two lines, depending
                -- on your usage described below
                '/full/path/to/casket',
                'http://localhost:1978/node/trivia', 'admin', 'admin',
                -- query
                'blade runner',
                -- additional attributes, use NULL or '' to disable
                -- multiple attributes conditions can be separated by {{!}}
                '@title ISTRINC blade',
                -- order results by
                '@title STRA',
                -- limit, use NULL or 0 to disable
                null,
                -- offset, use NULL or 0 to disable
                null,
                -- attributes to return as columns
                ARRAY['@id','@title','@size']
        ) AS (
                -- specify names and types of returned attributes
                id text, title text, size text
        );

=head2 Accessing database directly

If you want to access database directly (without running C<estmaster> process), first argument is full path to database file.

Have in mind that C<postgres> user under which PostgreSQL is running must
have read permission on Hyper Estraier database files.

This will work a bit faster on really small indexes. However, when your
index grows bigger, you might consider using node API to remove overhead of
database opening on each query.

=head2 Using index via C<estmaster> server process

If first argument is URL to node (like C<http://localhost:1978/node/trivia>)
and there are two additional parameters (user-name and password) after it,
C<pgest> will use node API and access index through C<estmaster> process which should be running on (local or remote) machine.

This will remove database opening overhead, at a cost of additional network
traffic. However, you can have Hyper Estraier C<estmaster> process running on
different machine or update index while doing searches, so benefits of this
approach are obvious.

B<Note:> Currently, there is no support to search more than one index (depth
of search is always 0). This will be fixed.

=head1 Who wrote this?

Hyper Estraier is written by Mikio Hirabayashi.

Perl bindings for Hyper Estraier are written by MATSUNO Tokuhiro.

PostgreSQL is written by hackers calling themselves PostgreSQL Global
Development Group.

This small C function is written by Dobrica Pavlinusic, dpavlin@rot13.org.
1	=head1 pgestraier - search Hyper Estraier indexes from PostgreSQL
2
3	This package is essentially PostgreSQL C function which calls Hyper Estraier
4	API and returns results in user defined format.
5
6	=head1 Why is it written?
7
8	Aside from providing single API to query your RDBMS and full text index
9	(using any language that has PostgreSQL client libraries), real power is
10	hidden in ability to join results from full text index and structured data
11	in RDBMS.
12
13	=head1 How to install
14
15	Installation should be simple. However, you will have to have following
16	software already installed before you try this function:
17
18	=over
19
20	=item *
21
22	PostgreSQL (tested with version 7.4.8) with development libraries
23
24	=item *
25
26	Hyper Estraier (tested with versions 0.3.9 and 0.3.10)
27
28	=back
29
30	To run tests you will also need:
31
32	=over
33
34	=item *
35
36	working perl installation
37
38	=item *
39
40	perl modules C<DBI>, C<DBD::Pg>, C<Test::More> and optionally C<HyperEstraier>
41
42	=item *
43
44	C<trivia.list.gz> from Internet Movie Database in data/ directory
45
46	=item *
47
48	database "test" with permissions for current user
49
50	=back
51
52	If you have all that, you should be able to type
53
54	make
55
56	and see sample results. You will be asked your password once (via sudo) to
57	install pgest.so shared library in system-wide location so that PostgreSQL
58	could access it.
59
60	Next, you will have to create test index. You have two options:
61
62	=head2 Create index using estcmd
63
64	This will create temporary files on disk and index them using estcmd gather
65
66	cd data
67	make index
68	cd ..
69
70	B<Warning:> this method is incomplete and won't create node index needed
71	to run last examples in C<test.sql> correctly. Solution is simple: either
72	symlink your newly created index to Hyper Estraier C<_node> directory or
73	create node and fill re-create index using C<estcall>.
74
75	=head2 Create index using Hyper Estraier perl bindings
76
77	For this, you will have to install perl bindings from
78
79	L<http://hyperestraier.sourceforge.net/binding/>
80
81	If you installed bindings as documented in README file, you can use
82	perl binding to create index about three times faster. However, you will
83	fist need to create node I<trivia> using Hyper Estraier's administration
84	interface at L<http://localhost:1978/masterui>. You will also need user
85	C<admin> with password C<admin> because those values are hard-coded in
86	C<indexer.pl>. If you want to use different user on index name, feel
87	free to change script.
88
89	cd data
90	make perl
91	cd ..
92
93	To run tests (which require that you have estcmd in your $PATH) issue
94
95	make test
96
97	See also included file test.sql for more examples of usage.
98
99	=head1 Usage of pgest from SQL
100
101	C<pgest> PostgreSQL function has two different prototypes (number of arguments) depending on usage.
102
103	SELECT
104	-- columns to return (defined later)
105	id,title,size
106	FROM pgest(
107	-- path to index OR URL to node, user-name and password
108	-- you will need JUST ONE of following two lines, depending
109	-- on your usage described below
110	'/full/path/to/casket',
111	'http://localhost:1978/node/trivia', 'admin', 'admin',
112	-- query
113	'blade runner',
114	-- additional attributes, use NULL or '' to disable
115	-- multiple attributes conditions can be separated by {{!}}
116	'@title ISTRINC blade',
117	-- order results by
118	'@title STRA',
119	-- limit, use NULL or 0 to disable
120	null,
121	-- offset, use NULL or 0 to disable
122	null,
123	-- attributes to return as columns
124	ARRAY['@id','@title','@size']
125	) AS (
126	-- specify names and types of returned attributes
127	id text, title text, size text
128	);
129
130	=head2 Accessing database directly
131
132	If you want to access database directly (without running C<estmaster> process), first argument is full path to database file.
133
134	Have in mind that C<postgres> user under which PostgreSQL is running must
135	have read permission on Hyper Estraier database files.
136
137	This will work a bit faster on really small indexes. However, when your
138	index grows bigger, you might consider using node API to remove overhead of
139	database opening on each query.
140
141	=head2 Using index via C<estmaster> server process
142
143	If first argument is URL to node (like C<http://localhost:1978/node/trivia>)
144	and there are two additional parameters (user-name and password) after it,
145	C<pgest> will use node API and access index through C<estmaster> process which should be running on (local or remote) machine.
146
147	This will remove database opening overhead, at a cost of additional network
148	traffic. However, you can have Hyper Estraier C<estmaster> process running on
149	different machine or update index while doing searches, so benefits of this
150	approach are obvious.
151
152	B<Note:> Currently, there is no support to search more than one index (depth
153	of search is always 0). This will be fixed.
154
155	=head1 Who wrote this?
156
157	Hyper Estraier is written by Mikio Hirabayashi.
158
159	Perl bindings for Hyper Estraier are written by MATSUNO Tokuhiro.
160
161	PostgreSQL is written by hackers calling themselves PostgreSQL Global
162	Development Group.
163
164	This small C function is written by Dobrica Pavlinusic, dpavlin@rot13.org.