Offline query formulation

Since the book was conceived new front-ends such as STN Express (26,55), MOLKICK (26,34) and DARC CHEMLINK (26) have appeared on the market. All are IBM PC based graphics packages which allow offline query formulation followed by connection to a host computer and uploading of the query for online searching. Offline query formulation means that an end-user can avoid the so-... 

With in-house data bases, the financial advantages of offline query formulation are less obvious, but there is still a business need for uploading structures from a PC to a corporate data base or downloading from the mainframe to the PC. MDL s CPSS package supplies such a front-end to data bases under MDL s MACCS software. 

DARC CHEMLINK (from Telesystemes) is a program which allows offline formulation of queries for submission to DARC data bases. Its structure drawing interface is intentionally very similar to that of the DARC system online. 

STN Express (the Chemical Abstracts Service approved front-end to CAS ONLINE) is touched upon in Chapters 6 and 7. It, also, allows the user to formulate queries offline and provides help with special difflculties such as tautomerism. In addition it has a Guided Search module for novices in the STN Command Language and Boolean logic. Structure drawing is compatible with PsiGen. 

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