how does Indexing work ?

nirali

If I want to index a branch then I configure extended attributes in FieldMapping.xml and then write a query. I can store this query in any folder and execute this query at command prompt, right ?

What does indexing do ? I mean on what criteria will it index the content ?
will it be alphabatically or something else ? Lets say, I want to index content of a particular branch and no other criteria is specified. So how will the content be indexed ?

Secondly, I read in PDF that if indexing is scheduled at say 10 pm. If I issue a search query before 10 pm then content created before issuing query which is not yet indexed will not show up in query result. How come only indexed content is searched. I was thinking that indexing is just an internal process which helps make search faster and even if content is not indexed, it will still show up i search result but will take longer.

Pls explain