Result set semantics

Issue raised by: Alan Kent Thu, 17 Oct 1996 18:48:05 +1000

A client sends a search where databaseName = A; resultSetName = 1; query = dog.
The client then sends a second search where databaseName = B; resultSetName = 2; query = dog OR resultSet 1.
That is, the second query asks for records from database B containing the word "dog" or records from result set 1. However, result set 1 contains records from database A. So should the latter search (which pertains only to database B) identify records from A as well, or only records from result set 1 that belong to database B, i.e. none?

It should include records from A. In Z39.50-1995 we developed additional procedural description to address this very question, which was ambiguous in the 1992 text. See 3.7.1 (a) and (b). Note that when an operand is of the form AttributesPlusTerm, it is evaluated against the specified databases, but when an operand is of the form resultSetName, it is not.