Routes and collections

I am working on a inventory system that allows duplicate PartNumbers.
Different vendors can use the same part number. I know I can make them
unique by using the vendor as part of teh number but that would
require the end user to know that id also. Also I do not have much
control over the DB it is pre-existing.

I had several choices as to URL I wanted to use but so far have
settled on /search/:item_number but would rather have
had /:item_number. When I specify the url as previously, is it
actually /search/1234 or /search?item_number=1234

I have set up a couple of routes to test these things. Will any of
them work? Draw backs on each and what would the internal path name be
for use in a form_tag?

map.resources :items , :collection => {:lost => :get}
map.find “/search/:item_number”, :controller => “public”, :action
=> “search”, :method => ‘get’
map.resources :public, :collection => {:search => :get} #on this one
how do I specify that it requires a value

I know GETs are to either return a collection with out any parameters
or return one resource. In this case I am returning a collection based
upon a parameter.

Any ideas?

Don F.

Any Ideas?