Configuring the Project

The main project configuration screen lists the sources that the project is able to use as its source of information, and how that information is displayed to the user. To bring in your own search collection, click the edit button to the right of Sources (default). This displays a text field that dynamically assists you in finding matching sources as you type. You may use a single source, a source bundle, or a comma or space delimited list of either.

The Sources (default) option defines the set of sources that a user will be accessing through that project by default. The Sources (advanced) attribute defines the set of sources that a user will be accessing when additional options are set in that project's display.

The Display option enables you to associate a custom look and feel and custom search capabilities with the project that defines your big data optimization application. This is an extremely flexible system that allows the application developer to truly customize the way information is searched for and delivered to the user.

In a simple project, sources and a custom display are the only Watson™ Explorer Engine components that need to be configured. However, there are many options associated with creating a project, all of which have sensible default settings accessible via the Simple and Advanced tabs located at the top of the Project configuration workspace.

To test the new project, click the Project link in the left menu bar. Note that this takes you to the Display currently associated with that project (which may be the default display or may be one that you have created yourself), and allows the user to search for a term within all the sources you have listed as accessible via that particular project.

The next section explains how to customize the Display in order to modify the look and feel of your big data app.