Advanced Search and Retrieve

Information on the different fields of the advanced search can be accessed from the list in the left box.

The ICSDWeb interface is divided into 6 parts (Fig. 1):
(1.) Header,
(2.) Navigation,
(3.) main interface,
(4.) Search Action field,
(5.) Search Summary field and
(6.) Query History field.

The header shows a welcome message. The “Logout” button allows you to leave the current session. After database searches have been performed, a “Print” button will appear where appropriate.

The Navigation allows you to jump back to the “Basic Search” form, to access specialized pages for performing advanced searches, and to manage your queries.

The main interface is the central working place for the ICSD. Here you can enter and refine searches.

The Search Action field allows you to run, save and clear your current query.

In the Search Summary field preliminary numbers of results are shown.

The Query History field contains your last 30 performed searches and allows you to access them quickly and conveniently.

Performing searches

Searches are easily performed by entering specific criteria (details of search fields will be discussed in their context) into the according search fields. In order to check if the result set will have an easy to handle size, click the button “Count […] Search”. The Search Summary field will then be updated to show the number of results of the current search, without actually executing the search. This is a necessary procedure, because only result sets with less than or equal to 1000 hits will be displayed. By showing the number of potential candidates you will have the opportunity to narrow down your search.  Fig. 2 shows an example where clicking "Count Symmetry Search" results in more than 1000 hits. Clicking “Run Query” will result in an error (Fig. 3).

Figure 1: ICSDWeb main screen.

Figure 2: There are more than 1000 entries with P centering in ICSD.

Figure 3: Error message when expecting too many results.