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Abstract

This paper presents a tool that enables non-technical end-users to use free-form queries in exploring relational databases with simple and direct technique, in a fashion similar to using search engines to search text files on the web. This allows web designers and database developers specially in small business sectors to publish their databases for web browsers exploring in practical way. We assume that each database to be processed in our approach is 'about' a particular type of object, where only certain tables and certain attributes will be the 'public' ones and likely to be searchable on the web. The proposed approach can be used for both Internet and Intranet application areas. Our technique has been borrowed from the similar techniques used for information retrieval (IR), mainly for text and document databases; it supports working smoothly with the structured information stored in relational databases.