> Was "nothing happens" a poor choice of words?

Eh yes, sorry, nothing ~different~ happens, so if I check off [x] HTML
only, I still see .doc and .pdf files in the search result. There is
no difference in the results for any of the 'extension' checkboxes.

> Just debug the script.
>
> - submit a form: was the parameter submitted?

URL when looking for "software architecture" with nothing limited (562 results):
http://netscanner.asml.com/cgi/search-2.4.3/swish.cgi?query=software+architecture&submit=Search&metaname=swishdefault&dr_o=12&dr_s_mon=12&dr_s_day=27&dr_s_year=2006&dr_e_mon=12&dr_e_day=27&dr_e_year=2006

URL when looking for "software architecture" with sector limited to
"017" (49 results):
http://netscanner.asml.com/cgi/search-2.4.3/swish.cgi?query=software+architecture&submit=Search&metaname=swishdefault&sbm=017&dr_o=12&dr_s_mon=12&dr_s_day=27&dr_s_year=2006&dr_e_mon=12&dr_e_day=27&dr_e_year=2006
sbm = sector variable

URL when looking for "software architecture" with extension limited to
html (562 results):
http://netscanner.asml.com/cgi/search-2.4.3/swish.cgi?query=software+architecture&submit=Search&metaname=swishdefault&sbme=html&dr_o=12&dr_s_mon=12&dr_s_day=27&dr_s_year=2006&dr_e_mon=12&dr_e_day=27&dr_e_year=2006
sbme = extension variable

URL when looking for "software architecture" with sector limited to
"017" and extension limited to html (49 results):
http://netscanner.asml.com/cgi/search-2.4.3/swish.cgi?query=software+architecture&submit=Search&metaname=swishdefault&sbm=017&sbme=html&dr_o=12&dr_s_mon=12&dr_s_day=27&dr_s_year=2006&dr_e_mon=12&dr_e_day=27&dr_e_year=2006

> - format the query: is it formatted correctly?

Syntactically nothing wrong with it, I think.

> - run swish: is swish passed the formatted query as you expect?

> - try the same query from the command line: does it return what you
> expect?  If not, are you indexing correctly?

It already works from the search box looking for "software
architecture ext=html" limited to sector "017" (just 3 results):
http://netscanner.asml.com/cgi/search-2.4.3/swish.cgi?query=software+architecture+ext%3Dhtml&submit=Search&metaname=swishdefault&sbm=017&sbme=html&dr_o=12&dr_s_mon=12&dr_s_day=27&dr_s_year=2006&dr_e_mon=12&dr_e_day=27&dr_e_year=2006

Searching for "software architecture ext=html or ext=pdf" limited to
sector "017" (82 results):
http://netscanner.asml.com/cgi/search-2.4.3/swish.cgi?query=software+architecture+ext%3Dhtml+or+ext%3Dpdf&submit=Search&metaname=swishdefault&sbm=017&dr_o=12&dr_s_mon=12&dr_s_day=27&dr_s_year=2006&dr_e_mon=12&dr_e_day=27&dr_e_year=2006
Mmmm, more than the unlimited result, so trying some ():

Searching for "software architecture and (ext=html or ext=pdf or
ext=doc or ext=ppt or ext=pps)" limited to sector "017" (45 results,
close enough to 49 again)
http://netscanner.asml.com/cgi/search-2.4.3/swish.cgi?query=software+architecture+and+%28ext%3Dhtml+or+ext%3Dpdf+or+ext%3Ddoc+or+ext%3Dppt+or+ext%3Dpps%29&submit=Search&metaname=swishdefault&sbm=017&dr_o=12&dr_s_mon=12&dr_s_day=27&dr_s_year=2006&dr_e_mon=12&dr_e_day=27&dr_e_year=2006

So apparently the Swish engine swish.cgi handles the limit OK when
entered in the search box, but not as a more userfriendly checkbox
item.

Should be something simple from here on?

Regards,

Cas