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| URL fragment | Field name (used in the rest of this document | Description |
|---|---|---|
| http://www.stepbible.org/ | Base URL | This is the base URL to which STEP will call out to. For Desktop editions of the software, this will usually be http://localhost:8989/. Our development site is at http://dev.stepbible.org |
| q=version=ESV|version=NIV|strong=G0018|reference=Matt | Search query | The query that STEP attempts to parse. This describes the action that user has committed to. Visually, this is the textual representation of the different roundels in the search box: This could be a Bible passage lookup, a word search against the original text, a search by meaning, etc. The query can be split up in different parts, each part being a search term. The search terms are separated by a pipe delimiter (|) and STEP copes with the delimiter whether it is URL encoded or passed as is. Some browsers may complain about the lack of URL encoding (though none have been encountered so far). Each search term takes the form of: type=data Type is the type of data that is being requested. This qualifies the data. This is usually done by the user selecting an option from a dropdown. At the time of selection from the dropdown, STEP can determine that by selecting the word 'hesed', the user is wanting to look up data H2618. As a result, on clicking search, the term strong=H2618 is added to the URL. The list of data types is explained below . |
| options=VLGUVN | Display options | Depending on the type of search requested by the user and the chosen modules (Bibles and commentaries), different options are made available. For example, displaying verses line by line is always available for any Bible/commentary. However, cross-references may only be available in certain Bibles. Other times, the view of the data itself doesn't support those options (e.g. turning Greek accents off is not supported in English texts). A full list of options is described below. |
| display=INTERLEAVED | Display mode | There are 6 different mods of display. A display mode affects the structure and layout of the text. For example, a user may opt to display multiple versions and compare their textual differences, or see them in column. The full list of display options is described below. |
| qFilter=H0023,H0054 | Search filter | A comma separated list of strong numbers (or left out to not apply a filter) |
| sort=false (sort=VOCABULARY) | Sort type | Sometimes, search results can be aggregated by strong number (VOCABULARY) or by scripture reference (false). This means the user sees the same set of verses, however STEP will insert headings for group of verses that belong to the same strong number. |
The power of STEP comes by the joining of multiple search terms together to combine searches, references, Bibles and commentaries. This allows the user to create complicated searches. For example, a user could cast a wide net over all subjects referring to David and refine it to only those passages that contain the text word 'David'. This means that although a passage may be missing the actual word David, the user ends up seeing all passages that refer to the throne of David, and not that of any other kind.
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| Examples | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| version | version=ESV version=Luther | Identifies a particular resource (a version of the Bible, or a commentary) |
| reference | reference=Mark.2-reference=Mark.3 reference=Mark.2:10 reference=Mark%202 (URL encoded) reference=Mwa 2 (Swahili names) reference=Mar.2:10-ff (verse 10 to end of chapter) | Identifies a reference, e.g. Gen.1.1. References are to lookup a passage or to limit the scope of a search. STEP attempts to parse any reference as best it can. For example, STEP is able to parse Swahili references, etc. The best way of working out what is supported is to try them out. STEP itself attempts to ensure there URL always contains a well-formed OSIS reference (e.g. Book.chap.num-Book.chap.num, Book.chap, etc.) This is so that sharing URLs on the internet, does not rely on the browser's language. (Note: on the desktop, the language will be detected from the browser, which is usually the OS language) |
| text | text=Abraham text=Melkizedc~ (allow for spelling alternatives) text=Abra* (and much much more) | Carries out a text search. A text search is defined as a search for the specified term in the selected resources. If the selected resource(s) are Greek, then it attempts to match the term (assumed to be input in Greek) to the selected corpus. If the resource is in English, the term is assumed to be in English, etc. etc. e.g. imagine opening up a Word document, and pressing CTRL+F and keying in a term. Text searches are however much more powerful in that they support many different types of operators. Please see Query Syntax for extensive detail (row marked as search prefix 't=' |
| syntax | syntax=og=agathos syntax=og=agathos~ sh=throne (and much much more) | Useful in many different cases to obtain more fine grained control of the types of searches run. Please see Query Syntax for extensive detail on the syntax. |
| greekMeanings | ||
| hebrewMeanings | ||
| hebrew | ||
| greek | ||
| strong | ||
| meanings | ||
| subject | ||
| nave | ||
| xnave | ||
| topicref | ||
| relatedrefs | ||
| exactform |
- version:
- reference: . e.g.: Mark.2-Mark.3, or Mark.2:10, or Mark.2, etc.
- text:
- syntax
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As an example, if a strong number isn't available for example, then syntax=og=agathos will lookup the Greek word agathos against STEP's lexicon. This will return a number of strong numbers which will in turn me used to search. This syntax offers numerous types of searches! | ||
| strong | strong=H0001 (search for the word 'father') | A search by strong number. This search is used mainly when using the search dropdown. Selecting an entry from the search dropdown effectively searches the strong number. The syntax search described above allows more flexible 'original word searches' . The search by strong is effectively shortcuting a number of lookups and is therefore fractionally faster. |
| meanings | meanings=throne | Searches for all words that mean a particular term in English. The search effectively looks up various fields in all entries in the STEP lexicon. The strong numbers of any matching entries are collected and then used to query the selected resources. |
| subject | subject=throne | Searches all headings contained in the selected resources for a particular search term and displays the headings matched. The ESV and NIV are always added to the resources included in the search, though the search results will prefer headings that have been found in the Bibles&Commentaries specifically selected by the user. |
| nave | nave=throne | Searches the top-level headings of the Nave topical "concordance" and returns all verses that are found under the top-level heading. The results are grouped under their nave headings |
| xnave | xnave=throne | Similar to nave=, but searches across all headings contained in the Nave topical concordance. |
| topicref | topicref=Gen.1 | Searches for all verses that are related by subject. The search effectively carries out the following steps:
The search was originally built to support a single verse, however it is extended and optimized to also be used for chapters and whole books. |
| relatedrefs | relatedrefs=Gen.1.1 | Find related verses. Related verses are defined as verses that share a certain commonality in the originally. The following steps are taken:
All these numbers are currently hard-coded, though items on the backlog envisage giving control over these to the user, potentially in the form of a slider to allow the user to determine "how common" verses should be. E.g. we could allow a user to say at least 3 words should be common. This search is defined for a single verse input. Where several verses are given, the result is undefined (though STEP will try and cope gracefully) |
| exactform | exactForm=ησχυναν | STEP URLs support the full unicode set and as a result the URL can contain full Greek and Hebrew. This search searches for the exact form against all forms found in the 'specific forms' STEP data set (this comprises various Greek NT and Hebrew OT texts as well as the LXX). These forms are crossed referenced against strong numbers and then used to search the selected resources |
Note:
- When a selected resource does not contain strong numbers, STEP will carry out the search on the ESV but display the results from the selected resources. This obviously means that the results will not be clickable.
- When passing full unicode, STEP may decide to remove cantillation/pointing/accents/vowels depending on options and searches to ensure search results are found correctly. Unicode is also normalised at index time. This means the different combinations of characters in the Unicode word will not affect the results.
Combining data types
Default values
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