Templates

When all of your searches are similar, varying only in part of a search string, instead of manually entering each search in the Batch Editor, you can create just one template. Having such a template and a file of varying parts, you can easily convert them into a batch.

To create a template, open the Batch Editor and check the Template check box at lower left part of the Batch Editor dialog box.
Now all searches you add to the batch will be considered templates. The only difference these have from ordinary searches is that templates contain numeric parameters as placeholders for the parts of your searches which vary, which will later be substituted with actual data from your text files.

Numeric parameters are single digit numbers between underscores: e.g. _1_, _2_, _9_, which you can use anywhere on the Query, Pre-Filter, and Description tabs of the Query Builder.

Example:

The task is to locate as many real estate related web sites for each state as possible.

You might want to conduct the following queries for each state and retrieve as many search results as possible.

"real estate" Alabama
"real estate" Alaska
...
"real estate" Wisconsin
"real estate" Wyoming

Even if you query only one search engine that returns 20 results per page and each search returns only 100 results (most likely this query would yield more results), you'll have to process 500 web pages. Hardly anyone can do that manually during a reasonable amount of time.

So this task requires automation. Batch search in FirstStop WebSearch is a good solution.

Suppose you have a text file with the names of all 50 states, each name on a separate line. At least it won't be a problem to get such a list. And you don't wan't to manually add "real estate" to each line to be able to use the Simple Batch wizard. This is where you can benefit from templates.

1. Open the Batch Editor.
2. Check the Template check box.
3. Click the

Add Search button.
4. As a search string, specify "real estate" _1_
5. Save the search.

You've just created a template with one numeric parameter _1_ that will later be substituted with state names.

You might want to save this template: for example, it can be useful if you'll need to find real estate related sites for specific cities.

To convert the template to a real batch:

1. Click the Convert To Batch button (visible only when the Template check box is checked).
2. Specify the file that contains the names of states. It should be a plain text file. By default, FirstStop looks for files with .qvf (Query Values File) extension.

Your template will be converted to a batch with 50 searches that you can either save for future use or start the batch search immediately.

If you forgot to check the Template check box and added a search that contains numeric parameters, FirstStop will offer to load values from a .qvf file just for this particular search.

Number of searches in a template

A template can contain as many searches as you wish. When you convert a template to a batch, each template search (a search with _n_ parameters) will be converted to N real searches, where N is the number of value strings in the .qvf file.

Example:
A template with two template searches

_1_ "real estate"
_1_ hotel

with the following .qvf file containing three value strings

Boston
Chicago
Washington

will be converted to a batch with six searches:

Boston "real estate"
Chicago "real estate"
Washington "real estate"
Boston hotel
Chicago hotel
Washington hotel

See also:
Description of .qvf files
Batch Editor
Batch Searches. Overview.