The new Syntax mechanics are baffling me!

Robert, I'll try to walk you through with some pics. However, see my reply from your other post about syntax searching. Currently you cannot specifiy anything at the word level. This is a known issue.

Let's do an opentext.org search. Let's model our search after Jn 3.16 so we can make sure we did it right.

First click to add a new search item. Add a "Clause" (1)

If you hover over the "clause," you will see four plus marks, which specify where you would like to add a new element. We're going to need to add 4 Clause components and a conjunction(adjunct, conjunction, predicator, subject, and complement). All of these are to the right of the primary clause, just like in the Clause visualization (2). As a result, we want to add the first element to the right of the clause. So we can click on the plus sign on the right hand side and choose "clause component" (3).

Let's add the rest of the clause components. Because the rest of the items are beneath the first component (again, see the clause visualization) (4), they need to be added from the plus sign beneath clause component 1. So add a conjunction by clicking on the plus sign beneath clause component 1 (5). Notice how the conjunction is beneath 1, but is subordinate to Clause 1. Visually this tells us it is a member of clause 1 (linked by an arrow), but must follow clause component 1 (because it is beneath). Again, notice how this matches the clause visualization of John 3.16. Go ahead and add another three clause components, using the plus signs beneath the conjunction and the added clause components (6).

Now we can specifiy the basic elements of the search by clicking on the appropriate boxes and specifying what they are. Notice how it matches the clause visualization (7).

Finally, let's run the search!

It's a success! 8 hits, including John 3:16 (8)!

I'll have another post to clarify some thoughts about the arrows.

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I would definately say it is an improvement from V3. The ability to drag components is a great feature and, as Bob mentioned above, the searches actually look like the opentext clause visualization, which means trying to construct a search from the text is easier. I think it will prove to be easier to learn for people new to syntax searching, though it requries a smidge of relearning if you're used to the old version. 

Once I got used to using the little plus signs, I have found that I far prefer this version. The way you select elements seems less cluttered than in 3.0, and even dividing the components into two groups is nice (clause, clause component, conjunction, word group, head term, modifier, connector, and word are on one side, while anything, gap, group, unordered group, and OR are on the other side).

I'm working on getting used to using the syntax searches to do what I used to do with graphical queries, and I think it's doable. I'm going to spend some time with them today, and I'll post some thoughts later on.