Filtering structured documents in the SYNDOC environment

This paper describes the filtering approach for searching documents whose structure is defined by a grammar. The method is based on the theoretical model for defining filters to specify information interest of a user. It is employed to find documents in SYNDOC, a syntax-directed text processing system. The method is suitable, for example, for SGML and ODA documents. The user selects a grammar and indexes only documents for the selected grammar. A filter generated in a syntax-directed way using the grammar describes conditions for indexed documents integrating structure and content constraints. The user compares a filter with indexed documents and, either edits, browses or prints original documents using the selected output form. Indexed documents, filters and retrieved documents can be stored for further purposes.