DATA SET PREVIEW TECHNOLOGY

A mechanism for providing a preview of a data set. The search system finds a data set relevant to the search query. For any given data set, the search system extracts only a sample of elements from the data set. The sample of elements provided to the requestor includes elements for which there is a match on the search query, and elements that have no hit, but are proximate to an element that has a hit. The user obtains a view constructed of the sample of elements provided by the search system. The user is also provided with navigation controls that correspond to the most search-relevant portions of the view. Controls associated with those portion(s) may then be selected to thereby move the preview of the data set so that the portion or corresponding hit for that portion is in view.