.. meta::
   :description: Orange Textable documentation, merging and segmenting
   :keywords: Orange, Textable, documentation, merge, data, corpus

Merging and segmenting
==============================

Computerized text analysis often implies consolidating various text sources
into a single *corpus*. In the framework of Orange Textable, this amounts
to grouping segmentations together, and it is the purpose of the
:ref:`Merge` widget.

To try out this widget, create on the canvas two instances of
:ref:`Text Field`, an instance of :ref:`Merge` and an
instance of :ref:`Display` (see
:ref:`figure 1 <merging_segmentations_together_fig1>` below). Type
a different string in each :ref:`Text Field` instance (e.g.
*a simple example* and *another example*) and assign it a distinct label (e.g.
*text_string* and *text_string2*). Eventually, connect the instances as
shown on :ref:`figure 1 <merging_segmentations_together_fig1>`.

.. _merging_segmentations_together_fig1:

.. figure:: figures/merge_example_schema.png
    :align: center
    :alt: Schema illustrating the usage of widget Merge
    :scale: 75 %

    Figure 1: Grouping *a simple example* with *another example* using widget :ref:`Merge`.

The interface of widget :ref:`Merge` (see
:ref:`figure 2 <merging_segmentations_together_fig2>` below) features 4 options : 
2 annotation keys; the possibility of copying segment inputs annotations if any and the option of fusing segments that have the same adress.

.. _merging_segmentations_together_fig2:

.. figure:: figures/merge_example.png
    :align: center
    :alt: Interface of widget merge

    Figure 2: Interface of widget :ref:`Merge`.
    
We will return :doc:`later <annotating_merging>` to the purpose
of checkbox **Import labels with key**, as well as **Auto-number with key**. Leave them unchecked for now.

.. _merging_segmentations_together_fig3:

.. figure:: figures/display_merged_example.png
    :align: center
    :alt: Displaying a merged segmentation

    Figure 3: Merged segmentation.

:ref:`Figure 3 <merging_segmentations_together_fig3>` above shows the
resulting merged segmentation, as displayed by widget
:ref:`Display`. As can be seen, :ref:`Merge` makes it easy
to concatenate several strings into a single segmentation. If the incoming
segmentations contained several segments, each of them would appear in the
output segmentation, in the order they have been linked to the Merge widget.

.. _merging_segmentations_together_ex:

**Exercise:** Can you add a new instance of :ref:`Merge` to the
schema illustrated on :ref:`figure 1 <merging_segmentations_together_fig1>`
above and modify the connections (but not the configuration of existing
widgets) so that the segmentation given in
:ref:`figure 4 <merging_segmentations_together_fig4>` below appears in the
:ref:`Display` widget?
(:ref:`solution <solution_merging_segmentations_together_ex>`)

.. _merging_segmentations_together_fig4:

.. figure:: figures/goal_exercise_merge.png
    :align: center
    :alt: 3 segments: "a simple example", "another example", "another example"

    Figure 4: The segmentation requested in the :ref:`exercise <merging_segmentations_together_ex>`.

.. _solution_merging_segmentations_together_ex:

**Solution:** (:ref:`back to the exercise <merging_segmentations_together_ex>`)

.. figure:: figures/solution_exercise_merge.png
    :align: center
    :alt: New Merge widget takes input from old one and Text field, and sends output to Display
    :scale: 70 %

    Figure 5: Solution to the :ref:`exercise <merging_segmentations_together_ex>`.

See also
--------

* :ref:`Reference: Merge widget <Merge>`
* :doc:`Cookbook: Merge several texts <merge_several_texts>`