Introduction to the Ovid Jumpstart Feature

The Jumpstart feature allows administrators to create URLs that serve as shortcuts to common tasks within the Ovid Web interface. An Ovid Jumpstart URL can be typed into the location bar of a browser or displayed as links on a web page.

Jumpstart URLs are highly versatile. Depending on the elements, Jumpstarts can perform simple tasks such as logging in or selecting a popular database, or more complicated ones such as executing a saved search in a particular database or displaying a specific full-text article. Jumpstart works especially well in conjunction with Ovidís IP Validation feature.

Jumpstart can perform any of the following functions:

• Search for common topics, such as cholesterol or heart disease. For example, a research center specializing in kidney diseases could have links allowing users to access the latest MEDLINE citations on nephritis.
• Create direct links to specific databases, saving users the steps of logging in and selecting them. For example, a library offering access only to ABI/Inform could set up a Jumpstart link sending users straight into ABI/Inform with a single mouse click.
• Display the table of contents for a journal issue.
• Display the complete citation for a selected article or articles.
• Display a pre-selected full text article. For example, if students were assigned to read a certain journal article, a Jumpstart URL could send them directly to that article with one click.
• Log out users automatically in order to conserve license usage.
• Send customizable accounting comments to the Ovid statistics file.

Composing Jumpstart URLs

Jumpstart URLs are designed to direct a userís web browser to the Ovid Web application and to perform certain tasks within it. Jumpstart URLs are composed of the following:

• The required Ovid Jumpstart URL: http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS
• A PAGE element (&PAGE) and its associated parameters.
• Optional and required settings, depending on the Page element selected.

Page elements and their parameters and settings are detailed below.

Note: The & appears at the beginning of many elements used in Jumpstart URLs described in this document. The ampersand character (&) is used in URLs to separate CGI parameters or elements, much like a comma in writing separates phrases. This document always shows the & at the beginning of CGI elements to make the creation of Jumpstart URLs easier.

The order of Jumpstart elements does not affect the functionality of the URLs, with the exception that URLs must begin with the required Ovid Jumpstart URL, shown above.

Logging in With Jumpstarts

The URL displayed in the address window of the userís browser displays the value entered for the &ID and &PASSWORD elements. Since passing an id and password in Jumpstart URLs creates a security risk, you may want to use Jumpstarts only in conjunction with IP validated accounts.

An alternative to using IP validation or including the &ID and &PASSWORD in your Jumpstart URLs is to use hidden.cgi. Using a modified version of hidden.cgi, you can create Jumpstart URLs that hide password information.

Letter Cases

Jumpstart URLs are case sensitive; the string must be constructed precisely or the URL will not work. Jumpstart element names must be uppercase (as in, &PAGE or &DB) while the values entered to define an element are usually lowercase, with the following exceptions.

• The &T=JS parameter of the required standard URL must be in capitals (as shown above).
• Letter cases in the parameter for the &PASSWORD element must exactly match the password, preserving the upper and lower case of the actual password. A typical password option in constructed as follows:
  
  &PASSWORD=eudoraEW13

Letter cases in the &FORMAT parameter are uppercase. For more information, see the section entitled "Complete Reference Display Page Element".

Escape Characters in Text Strings

Because certain characters have specialized meanings in URLs, escape characters must be entered for those characters within Jumpstart URLs. The most commonly used of these characters in Jumpstart URLs are

For example, to create a Jumpstart that searches for the Journal of Bone & Joint SurgeryóAmerican Volume, the Jumpstart should be constructed as follows:
&SEARCH=journal+of+bone+%26+joint+surgery+-+american+volume.jn.

The %26 character equates to the ampersand (&) in the title of the journal and the + signs indicate spaces between each word.

Basic Elements of Jumpstart URLs

Although many options can be set for various Ovid Jumpstarts, a few standards do exist. This section lists standard elements used to construct Jumpstart URLs.

Most Jumpstart URLs begin like this:

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=modevalue&PAGE=pagevalue

As mentioned earlier, all Ovid Jumpstart URLs begin with:

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS

The first part of this URL sets the address of your Ovid Web OvidSP. The second part, T=JS, activates the Jumpstart.

In addition to this required standard element of the Jumpstart URL, the following element and parameter can also be included.

&ID=username, as in &ID=jdoe

This sets the username for user access. This is only required if you have not activated IP or custom validation.

&PASSWORD=password, as in &PASSWORD=eudoraEW13

This sets a password for user access. The value you supply must be in the same case as your chosen password (see the section entitled "Logging in With Jumpstarts"). As with &ID, this is only required if you have not activated IP or custom validation; however, if &ID is specified, then &PASSWORD is also required.

&MODE=modevalue

Use either "easy" or "ovid" to sets the search interface to Basic or Advanced, respectively. If you do not include this, Ovid sets the Jumpstart to Advanced Mode (&MODE=ovid) by default.

If any part of the URL is entered incorrectly, Ovid displays an error message when you attempt to use the Jumpstart. These messages often list information that can help you correct the error.

Page Elements

Ovid Jumpstart Page elements send your users to specific pages or screens. Every Jumpstart URL that you create must contain a Page element and its associated parameters, in the format &PAGE=pagevalue, as in &PAGE=dblist.

Select from the following interface display elements:

Each Page element has parameters that must be included to complete the URL. Optional parameters also exist and can be used to refine Jumpstart or to accomplish many other kinds of tasks. The Page elements and associated parameters are detailed further as follows.

Optional Page Parameters

The following parameters may be applied to any Page element, but are never required.

Skip the News Screen

&NEWS=n causes Jumpstart to skip the News Screen.

Common Page Parameters

The following parameters are commonly applied to the Page elements described later in this document. Some are required by certain Page elements, while others are optional. Some also behave differently, or have greater flexibility, when used with specific Page elements. These contingencies are addressed under the Page element sections.

Database Shortname

All Page element except &DBLIST= require the database shortname parameter in order to work correctly. The construct of the database parameter is

&D=shortname

Use the database shortname as the value for this variable, as in &D=medl to indicate MEDLINE. Database shortnames can be found in the Support area of the Ovid homepage at http://www.ovid.com/documentation/user/field_guide/index.cfm, in the database field guides, or within the Ovid statistical output.

If Multifile searching is enabled for your account,&D= can also designate multiple databases separated by commas without spaces. For example, &D=medl,nursing indicates a Multifile composed of the MEDLINE and CINAHL databases. This is particularly useful when using &SEARCH=, described below.

The Database Shortname parameter is required for the Main Search Page Element, Titles Display Page Element, Full Text Display Page Element, Complete Reference Display Page Element, Table of Contents Page Element, and Browse Journal Page Element.

Search Ovid

Using the &SEARCH=searchstring parameter sets a simple search for Ovid to execute. For multi-word searches, the plus sign ( + ) indicates a space, and you may also be required to use escape characters in the search string (refer to the "Escape Characters in Text Strings" table). Also, you must include a field identifier (such as .mp or .ti) or the search will not work. For example, to search for the author J. Smith, use the following construct within the Jumpstart URL:

&SEARCH=smith+j.au

Any field available in the selected database can be used in the optional Search Ovid setting. To search multiple fields, separate the fields with a comma. In the example below, the abstract (ab) and subject headings (sh) fields are searched.

&SEARCH=blood.ab,sh

The Search Ovid parameter also allows you to use the $ and # characters for wildcard searching. The $ character is a true wildcard, representing unlimited truncations, so any number of characters appear to the right of the $. For example, the following syntax can search for all forms of the word "artery"óincluding "arteries", "arterial", and so onówithin the title field.

&SEARCH=arter$.ti

The # is a mandated wildcard character that indicates a single required character. In the following example, documents with the words "woman" or "women" in the title are retrieved. This character must be represented by the escape character %23:

&SEARCH=wom%23n.ti

Note that the mandated wild card requires that a character be present, so the search string dog%23.ti retrieves documents with "dogs" in the title but not those with the word "dog."

When applying wildcards to the Search Ovid parameter of Jumpstart URLs, you must include the field to search. In the above example, &SEARCH=arter$ will not work.

You can also run multi-line searches more easily by connecting each line of the search with %0A (the hexadecimal equivalent of a new line). For example, to combine two title searches, one on cats and one on dogs, you would include the following in your search string.

&SEARCH=cat.ti%0Adog.ti

Using this format, you can include as many search lines as you want.

Note that if you have specified a multifile database in the &D= element and performed a search using the optional Search Ovid parameter, it is possible to dedupe your search results by including the following construct within the Jumpstart URL

. . .&SEARCH=searchstring%0A..dedup+1

Permanent saved searches can be run from within a Jumpstart URL string by using the Search parameter. The selected saved search must be available to the account that is using the Jumpstart URL.

To execute a saved search, enter the name originally assigned to the search immediately preceded by an underscore character ( _ ) in the Search Ovid construct. For example, in the parameter &SEARCH=_heart, the underscore tells the Ovid program to run a permanent saved search entitled "heart." The full URL (performed on MEDLINE database as indicated by D=medl) would look like the following:

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?&T=JS&ID=jdoe
&PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&MODE=ovid&PAGE=main&D=medl &SEARCH=_searchname

This Jumpstart sends users to the Main Search Page when the search has been run and results are posted in the Search History Window.

Temporary saved searches and Auto Alerts must be run using SearchType and SearchName parameters.

The optional Search Ovid parameter provides the search term to be executed, the hexadecimal value %0A creates a carriage return, and the ..dedup command causes the search set indicated (in this example, set 1) to be deduped.

Note: This syntax works only if Multifile and Deduping are enabled for your account.

The above parameters and options are for use with all Ovid databases except Books@Ovid. To set a Jumpstart URL for direct access into a textbook in Books@Ovid, you must specify it in the Books@Ovid parameter. For more information, see "Appendix A: Accessing Books@Ovid".

As mentioned earlier, if the Multifile feature is enabled for your account, it is possible to designate multiple databases for a search.

The Search Ovid parameter is required for Titles Display Page Element. It is conditionally required for the Full Text Display Page Element, Complete Reference Display Page Element, Table of Contents Page Element, and may be used with the Main Search Page Element.

Accession Number

The Accession Number parameter, &AN=accession_number, indicates the Accession Number of a single item you want to display. The Accession Number is found at the top of an itemís Complete Reference display. In some databases (like MEDLINE) the Accession Number is referred to as the Unique Identifier.

The Accession Number parameter is not required for any Page element. It is conditionally required for the Full Text Display Page Element, Complete Reference Display Page Element, and Table of Contents Page Element.

SearchType and SearchName

Ovid uses several kinds of saved searches ń permanent, temporary, and autoalert ń that can be used with Jumpstarts. Permanent saved searches can be run using the Search parameter. Another option is to use the SearchType and SearchName parameters. Specify the type of search using the SearchType parameter (&SEARCHTYPE=ts | ps | sdi, for temporary, permanent, or autoalert, respectively), and use a SearchName parameter (&SEARCHNAME=searchname).

To run a temporary saved search, set the search type to ts, as in &SEARCHTYPE=ts. To run a permanent saved search, set the searchtype to ps. To run an AutoAlert, set the searchtype to sdi. When you specify &SEARCHTYPE, you must use the &SEARCHNAME=searchname parameter in place of &SEARCH=searchname. The full URL would look like the following.

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?&T=JS&ID=jdoe
&PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&MODE=ovid&PAGE=main&D=medl &SEARCHNAME=searchname&SEARCHTYPE=ps

Note: While Jumpstarts to a temporary saved search are possible, they should generally be avoided, as temporary saved searches are, by default, deleted after 24 hours.

Automatic Logout

Using the &LOGOUT= parameter either automatically logs out users one minute after the page is displayed (using &LOGOUT=Y), or sends users to another URL when they log out (using &LOGOUT=URL). By default, once users click on the Jumpstart URL, they log in to an Ovid search session and must log out to discontinue the session. The Logout option can help control license usage.

If you use the &LOGOUT=y parameter with the Full Text Display Page Element or the Complete Reference Display Page Element in your Jumpstart, the parameter automatically logs out users one minute after they display a page.

If you use &LOGOUT= with any other Page elements, you can still use the logout feature. Instead of logging out users automatically, the feature sends them to your selected URL when they choose to log out. To use this feature, specify a URL address as the value in the &LOGOUT=URL, as in &LOGOUT=http://www.myhomepage.com.

The Automatic Logout parameter is not required for any Page element. It may be used with the Main Search Page Element, Titles Display Page Element, Full Text Display Page Element, Complete Reference Display Page Element, Table of Contents Page Element, and Browse Journal Page Element.

Database Selection Page Element

The Database Selection Page element allows administrators to send users directly to the page within Ovid where the user selects a database.

The construct of the Database Selection Page element is &PAGE=dblist and appears after the basic Jumpstart URL, as follows:

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&ID=jdoe
&PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&MODE=ovid&PAGE=dblist

The Database Selection Page has no required parameters.

Note: Although &DBC=n can be used with &PAGE=dblist, it should not be used, as it will hide the change database button. If you have created a Jumpstart into the database list, it is most useful to allow them to go back once they enter a specific database. &DBC=n would prevent them from doing so.

Main Search Page Element

The Main Search Page element allows administrators to send users to the Main Search page of a selected database. The primary advantage of using this  element is that it eliminates the first step of selecting a database.

The construct of the Main Search Page element is &PAGE=main and appears after the basic Jumpstart URL, as follows:

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&ID=jdoe
&PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&MODE=ovid&PAGE=main&D=dbsn

The Main Search Page element requires the &D= parameter.

Titles Display Page Element

The Titles Display Page element allows administrators to display usersí search results in Titles Display format. This feature is useful if the administrator wants Jumpstart search results to be displayed in titles format. The construct of the Titles Display Page element is &PAGE=titles and appears after the required standard elements of the Jumpstart, as follows:

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&ID=jdoe
&PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&MODE=ovid&PAGE=titles&D=medl&SEARCH=arteries.ti

The Titles Display Page element requires the &D= and &SEARCH= parameters.

Full Text Display Page Element

The Full Text Display Page element allows administrators to display the full text of a selected Ovid Full Text article. If the search results in multiple items, only the first full text item in the set is displayed. Advantages of using this element is that it allows administrators to present a single full text article directly via a link.

The construct of the Full Text Display Page element is &PAGE=fulltext and appears after the required standard elements of the Jumpstart, as follows:

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&ID=jdoe
&PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&MODE=ovid&PAGE=fulltext &D=dbsn&SEARCH=arteries.ti

The Full Text Display Page element requires the &D= parameter, and either the &SEARCH= or &AN= or &SEARCHNAME= and &SEARCHTYPE= parameters.

When using the Database Shortname (&D=) parameter, note that you must designate a database that includes Ovid Full Text records or a database that links to full text articles.

If the Multifile feature is enabled for your account, it is possible to select multiple databases for a search. Use either Search parameter, Accession Number parameter or SearchType and SearchName parameters.

As detailed elsewhere, the Search Ovid feature, &SEARCH=searchstring, sets a simple search for Ovid to execute. When searching Ovid Full Text, Ovid displays the first full text article retrieved. To access the rest of your results, view the Titles Display.

The Accession Number parameter, &AN=accession_number, indicates the Accession Number of a single item for which you want to display the Ovid Full Text record. The Accession Number is found at the top of an itemís Complete Reference display. In some databases (like MEDLINE) the Accession Number is referred to as the Unique Identifier.

The Figure Size parameter, &FIGS=full | medium | thumb | none is used to specify the size for the Full Text Graphic. By default, the setting is &FIGS=thumb, specifying a thumbnail graphic. The graphic can be set to full size, medium, or hidden as well.

Complete Reference Display Page Element

The Complete Reference Display Page element allows administrators to display the first complete reference retrieved by a search statement set in the Search parameter. The main advantage of using this element is that administrator can show end users a single bibliographic citation via a Jumpstart link.

The construct of the Complete Reference Display Page element is &PAGE=reference and appears after the required standard elements of the Jumpstart, as follows.

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&ID=jdoe
&PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&MODE=ovid&PAGE=reference&D=dbsn

The Complete Reference Display Page element requires the &D= parameter.

Note that when a logout parameter is used, the usual links found with Ovid Full Text articlesósuch as Abstract, Table of Contents, and Fulltextódo not appear.

In addition, the Complete Reference Display Page element can use the Citation Default Format option (&M), the Complete Reference Fields Display option (&F), and the Citation and Complete Reference Fields Display option (&FORMAT) parameters.

Citation Manager Default Format Option

Using the optional &M=default_format allows you to set the default format for the citation display. The possible settings are ovid, medlars, tagged, comma and when available, title and toc. See the Ovid Web OvidSP User Guide for descriptions of these settings.

Note: Not all settings are available for all databases. If a selected setting is not available for the selected database, the setting defaults to "ovid."

Complete Reference Fields Display Option

Using the optional &F=fields_to_display allows you to choose the fields that should appear on the Complete Reference display. The possible options are TITLES, ABSTRACT, SUBJECT, ALL, TX, FTWARN, or any available field format. See the Ovid Web OvidSP User Guide for further details on these options.

Note on the &F=all and &F=ftwarn options: When you use the &F=all option, Ovid does not retrieve the bibliographic full text field in databases containing such a field (for example, Cinahl, ABI/Inform, Periodical Abstracts). The &F=ftwarn option retrieves all of the fields retrieved by &F=all as well as the bibliographic full text field.

Citation Format and Complete Reference Fields Display Option

The optional Output / Field Parameter option, &FORMAT=output format|field, combines the Default Format (&M) and the Complete Reference Display Format (&F) parameters. Enter the output format (ovid, medlars, tagged, comma and when available, title and toc) followed by a pipe ( | ) and the field format (TITLES, ABSTRACT, SUBJECT, ALL, TX, FTWARN, or any available field format).

The following Output / Field parameter set within the Jumpstart URL, &FORMAT=ovid|TITLES, retrieves citations in the title format (which includes the author, title, and source fields) and displays those citations in the Ovid format. See the Ovid Web OvidSP User Guide for descriptions of these options.

Table of Contents Page Element

The Table of Contents (TOC) Page element allows administrators to send users to the table of contents for a particular issue of a journal. It is available for Ovid Full Text databases and bibliographic databases with tables of contents such as Current Contents.

The construct of the Table of Contents Page element is &PAGE=toc and appears after the required standard elements of the Jumpstart, as follows.

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&ID=jdoe
&PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&MODE=ovid&PAGE=toc&D=ccall&SEARCH=arteries.ti

The Table of Contents Page element can have multiple functions when used with the Journals@Ovid database. To use the TOC Page element with Journals@Ovid, you must indicate the database name. Therefore, set the Database parameter to ovft to indicate the Journals@Ovid database.

With the Journals@Ovid database selected, the TOC Page parameter can perform two different functions.

• It can be used to send users to the table of contents for a particular issue of a Journal (as described above). When the Accession Number is used in conjunction with the TOC Page element in Journals@Ovid, the table of contents is displayed from the selected article onward. Changing the last set of digits to zeroes allows the specific issueís TOC to display from the beginning.

If the Accession Number parameter displayed the TOC of a particular issue from a selected article onward, using &AN=00043790-199608000-00052 to display the full table of contents of the issue, you would convert it to &AN=00043790-199608000-00000.

• The Accession Number parameter can also be modified to send users to the Issues List Display of a particular journal. Once there, users can choose any issue and display its table of contents as desired (as long as the Logout parameter was not included in the URL). To display an issues list, change the second set of digits in the Accession Number parameter to zeros, as follows:

For example, if the Accession Number parameter is &AN=00043790-199608000-00052, to display the issues list for the journal in which the indicated accession number is located, use to &AN=00043790-000000000-00000.

Modifying the AN in this way, &AN=00043790-000000000-00000, sends the user to the Journals@Ovid issue list for the journal from which the accession number is taken.

Note: These methods only works within the Journals@Ovid database. They do not work with any other Ovid Full Text or bibliographic database.

The Table of Contents Page element requires the &D= parameter, and either the &SEARCH= or &AN= or &SEARCHNAME= and &SEARCHTYPE= parameters.

Using &SEARCH= with the TOC Page Element allows you to link to the table of contents display of the first article that the search retrieves.

Use &AN=accession_number to indicate a specific record whose Table of Contents you want displayed.

In addition, if you use the &AN= parameter with the Table of Contents Page element, you can also use the &LINKTYPE= parameter to specify how the resulting document should be displayed. The linktype options are asHead and asBody. The behavior of these options is determined by the accession number sent in the JumpStart.

When you use &LINKTYPE=asHead, Ovid will show the document with that accession number as the header, while if you use &LINKTYPE=asBody, Ovid will display the document as the body. Because an accession number can be edited to indicate an article, an issue, or a journal, and because &LINKTYPE has two distinct options, this setting can display six different results. By default, the setting is &LINKTYPE=asBody.

If you pass an accession number of an issues list, such as

&AN=00043790-000000000-00000

and you specify the &LINKTYPE=asHead, you are requesting to display the issue list for that journal, beginning with the most recent issue. If you requested the same accession number with &LINKTYPE=asBody, you are requesting the issue list record be in the body of the document, and therefore a journal list is displayed, beginning with the journal specified in the accession number.

If you pass an accession number of a table of contents, such as

&AN=00043790-199608000-00000

and you specify the &LINKTYPE=asHead, you are requesting to display the actual table of contents, while if you specify &LINKTYPE=asBody, you are requesting that the issues list be displayed. The issue of the accession number will be displayed first.

Finally, if you pass an accession number of an article, such as

&AN=00043790-199608000-00001

and you specify the &LINKTYPE=asHead, you are requesting to display the Complete Reference for the article, while if you set &LINKTYPE=asBody, you'll get the Table of Contents for that article.

Browse Journal Page Element

The Browse Journal Page element allows administrators to specify the Browse Journal Page as the Jumpstart target page. It is available for Journals@Ovid, ACP, and Cochrane databases.

The construct of the Browse Journal Page element is &PAGE=browse and appears after the required standard elements of the Jumpstart, as follows:

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&ID=jdoe
&PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&MODE=ovid&PAGE=browse&D=ovft&BROWSEOPT=browseJournals

The Browse Journals Page element requires the &D= parameter, and the Browse Journal Option parameters, described below.

Browse Journals Option

The Browse Option parameter (&BROWSEOPT=browseoption) allows you to send users to the specific browse option when more than one browse option is available.

Browse By Name

Browse By Name (&BROWSEOPT=browseJournals) allows users to browse for journals by name.

Browse By Category

Browse by Name (&BROWSEOPT=browseCategories) allows users to browse for journals by subject.

Appendix A: Accessing Books@Ovid

There are two methods of accessing Books@Ovid (available on the Ovid online system only) using the Jumpstart feature.

The first allows the administrator to send users to the Main Books@Ovid Search Page by setting the Books@Ovid value to the Database parameter, as in &D=baov, as in:

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid&ID=jdoe
&PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&D=baov

The second method allows you to send users directly to a particular textbook by creating the URL (as described above) and adding a Books@Ovid select parameter construct, &PCOSTART. An example would look like the following:

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid &ID=jdoe
&PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&D=baov&PCOSTART=bookshortname

If you do not know the textbook shortname, contact Technical Support.

Appendix B: Common Tasks for Jumpstarts (Sample URLs)

The following sample URLs perform common tasks such as bypassing the News Page or beginning searches within selected databases. These examples assume IP Validation for authentication, so the User ID and Password parameters do not appear.

Ovid Database Selection Screen URLs

The following URLs affect the display of the Database Screen. For more information, see the section entitled "Common Page Parameters,".

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid&PAGE=dblistsends users to the Database List page. In this example, the omission of the newspage parameter displays the Ovid News page (if the news page is enabled on your system) before sending the user to the Database List Page, but if the news page is already suppressed, the URL will not display it. Once users select a database, they are presented with the Advanced mode Main Search Page.

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=easy&PAGE=dblist

displays the Ovid News page, then sends users to the Database List page. If the news page is already suppressed, the URL will not display it. Once users select a database, they are presented with the Basic Mode Main Search page.

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=dblist&NEWS=n

skips the Ovid News Page, then displays the Database List page.

Main Search Page URLs

The following URLs influence the way users first see the Ovid Main Search page. For more information, see the section entitled "Main Search Page Element,".

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=main&D=medl&NEWS=n

skips the news page and sends users into the Advanced mode Main Search Page of the MEDLINE database.

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=main&D=medl&DBC=n&NEWS=n

skips the news page and sends users into the Advanced Mode Main Search page of the MEDLINE database without the Change Databases button available.

Accessing an Article

The following are examples of Jumpstart URLs that send users to specific articles.

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=fulltext&D=ovft&AN=00006024-199812100-00010&NEWS=n

sends users into the Journals@Ovid database and accesses the Ovid Fulltext article called "RhD Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn" that appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine.

For more information, see the section entitled "Full Text Display Page Element,".

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=reference&D=cbc&AN=00005083-200103150-00011&F=all&NEWS=n

sends users to the Journals@Ovid database and displays the complete reference for the article "Recommendations for Cancer Prevention Trials Using Potentially Ototoxic Test Agents."

For more information, see the section entitled "Complete Reference Display Page Element,".

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=reference&D=nursing&AN=1999022926&F=ftwarn&NEWS=n

sends users into the CINAHL database and displays the complete reference and bibliographic full text for the "The Oklahoma nursing practice act with rules and regulations."

For more information, see the values for the Fields parameter under the section entitled "Complete Reference Display Page Element,".

Automatically Log Out After Viewing

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=fulltext &D=cbc&AN=00005083-200103150-00011&LOGOUT=y&FIGS=full&NEWS=n

sends users to Journals@Ovid, displays the article "Risk Assessment of Hyperbilirubinemia in Near-term Newborns" from the journal Pediatrics, and then logs them out after one minute. The usual navigational buttons found in a fulltext articleósuch as Previous in Issue, Main Search Page, Table of Contents, Next in Issue, Full Text Manager, and Helpódo not appear. This function is useful to conserve license usage.

For more information, see the optional Logout parameter under the section entitled "Full Text Display Page Element,".

Tables of Contents and Issues Lists

The following Jumpstart URLs take users directly to a Table of Contents for a journal or list of issues.

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=toc&D=ovid_ovft&AN=00001610-200003000-00000&NEWS=n

sends users to Journals@Ovid Table of Contents Page for the March/April 2000 issue of Gastroenterology Nursing.

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=toc&D=ovid_ovft&AN=00043790-200104000-00000&NEWS=n

sends users to Journals@Ovid and to the issues list for the journal Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, & Endodontics.

For more information, see the section entitled "Table of Contents Page Element,".

Conduct a Simple Search

The following Jumpstart URLs automatically perform simple searches.

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=main&D=medl&SEARCH=blood.ti.&NEWS=n

sends users into the MEDLINE database, performs the search on blood.ti., and displays the results on the Main Search Page.

For more information, see the section entitled "Main Search Page Element,".

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=titles&D=eric&SEARCH=diversity.ti&DBC=n&NEWS=n

accesses the ERIC database, performs a title search on the term "diversity," and posts the results to a Titles Display Page. Although users can access the Main Search Page in this example, the Change Databases button does not appear.

http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid
&PAGE=titles&D=cbc&SEARCH=diversity.ti&DBC=n&NEWS=n

accesses Core Biomedical Collection, performs a title search on the term "diversity," and shows the Titles Display Page for the records found. Users can access the Ovid Full Text records from the Titles Display. Although users can access the Main Search Page, the Change Databases button does not appear.

Appendix C: Quick Jumpstart Element and Parameter Reference

®       Indicates a required parameter.

ď         Indicates a conditionally required parameter, always found in multiples. One or more of the parameters is required, but never all at the same time.

Troubleshooting

If your URL does not work, check the following.

• Element type case: All Jumpstart elements should be in capital letters, as in &PASSWORD. URLs using &Password, or &password will not work (see "Composing Jumpstart URLs,").
• Database shortnames: When using the &D parameter, make sure you are using the correct database shortname (see &D=shortname under "Main Search Page Element,"). This can also be a good thing to check if a Jumpstart URL stops working, since sometimes database shortnames change.
• Correct words and number strings: If you misspelled part of an element, the URL will not work. If you entered an &AN variable incorrectly, for example, or omitted numbers or hyphens, the URL will fail.
• Escape Characters: Certain characters used in Jumpstart text strings (for instance, in &SEARCH or &ACCT parameters) have specific meanings when used in URLs. Therefore, you must substitute escape characters for these characters in the URLs. For example, if you are searching a journal title, the spaces in the journal title must be indicated with plus signs ( + ). See "Escape Characters in Text Strings" for a list of these characters.
• Linking with ampersands: Each element and parameter after the first required element (which is http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS) must begin with an ampersand.
• Blank spaces: No spaces are allowed in Jumpstart commands. All items after the space are lost and can cause abnormal results and failures. For example, this URL will fail because there is a space before the database name:
  
  http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&MODE=ovid&ID=jdoe
  &PASSWORD=eudoraEW13&PAGE=main&D= medl

• Missing parameters: Often, malfunctioning URLs are missing a required parameter. If you are missing a required parameter, Jumpstart returns a meaningful error message that pinpoints what is missing in the URL.

Appendix D - Email Jumpstarts

Link to Email Jumpstarts FAQs

Email Jumpstarts enable you to create shortcuts into the Ovid Web OvidSP interface "on the fly". These can be created and easily e-mailed for later use. Examples include the ability to create jumpstarts from the interface to:

• Saved Search/SDIs (it runs last search in search history and takes you directly to search results - and retains entire history)
• Journal List (e.g., create a link to Browse by Name or Browse by Category)
• Issue List
• Journal TOC
• Full Text Article
• Graphic/Image

Certain settings are configurable. Settings include:

• Jumpstart available to end users
• Ability to embed login information into jumpstart
• Site prefix (e.g., EZ Proxy)
• Logoff
• News
• Ability to embed PIN information into jumpstart

User Scenario
Uses of Email Jumpstarts for an end user might include the following:

• Creation of a "reading list" or syllabus (e.g., professors wanting to provide URLs into Journal TOCs or an Issue list for their students) that is static and is NOT automatically expired.
• Creation of search examples to be distributed to colleagues or students.
• Creation of bookmarks for later use within browser (e.g., through cutting/pasting into browser favorites.