Sorting results when autocomplete matches multiple columns in SQL - sql

I've run into an issue with an autocomplete field I'm working on. The field I'm working with is composed of the form "<NAME> (<CODE>)". When a user starts typing in text, I want to display any results that match either NAME or CODE.
For example, if this list contains items and their codes, like "Personal Computer (PC)", then I'd want the list to pop up that row if the user types "P", "PC", "Per", etc.
I've gotten this to work fine in SQLite with a query like this:
SELECT *
FROM table
WHERE name LIKE "?%" or code LIKE "?%"
However, the problem I'm running into now is how to best sort the results that come back from this. For example, If someone enters "PC", I want "Personal Computer (PC)" to be the first result. However, if there's another row (you'll have to bear with me as this is contrived) "PC Case (301)", then there's no simple ordering I can do on the results to ensure that the best match appears first. Ordering by name and code both returns PC Case first.
I want a query where it returns the best match first, rather than items in alphabetical order. Is there such a function I can use in SQLite to get this, or should I return the results and then mess with the order in the code?
If it helps any, I'm using this for FilterQueryProviders on Android.

Yes, you should implement FullTextSearch and the use MATCH in your queries.
Ref: http://dotnetperls.com/sqlite-fts3

This is a long time after the fact, but I've solved my dilemma without having to resort to crazy sorting tactics.
Basically, once an autocomplete gets complex enough, you need to implement your own CursorAdapter (implementing FilterQueryProvider) then override convertToString(). That way, you end up being able to do complex queries via runQuery(), but can then convert it to readable form in convertToString().

Related

How to execute a sql query in jscript/jscript.NET

First at all sorry for my English, this is not my native language. So.
I want to execute a SQL query in a script to get some data. I don't know if it's possible and if so, how to make it. To summarize :
The script add a button in M3 Smart Office (a ERP). I already done that.
When i select a row in a M3 function (like an article, or a client) i want to take and send his ID (and some other data) to a website.
They're is a lot of function in M3. In each function, they're are some field who contains a data. One of them contain the ID of the object (An article, a client,...). What i want to do, is to get this ID. The problem is that the field who contains the ID doesn't have the same name in all the function. So, i have two solutions :
Do a lot of if/elseif. Like "if it's such function, take such field". But if I (or somebody else) want to add a combination function/field later i (or somebody else ;) )need to do that in the script. It's not practical.
Create a sql table wich contain all the combination function/field. Then is the script, i do a sql query and i get all the data that the script need.
So here the situation. Maybe you have ideas to do that otherwise (without sql) and i take it !
Please see this in depth tutorial from the 4guysfromrolla site:
Server-Side JScript Objects

Create Search Function including AND OR vb .net

Hope you can help me out and inspire me here
I am looking to create a Search function that searches through a datagridview column looking for key words and then filtering based on the result. I have done this already and it works fine. However this is based on the user entering strings into the textbox separating their strings with a comma. So an example would be
A DataGridViewColumn with 3 values
ERROR_QUEUE_MAY05
ERROR_QUEUE_MAY06
ORDER_QUEUE_JAN01
The User then enters the search criteria
ORDER, 06
And the result would be
ERROR_QUEUE_MAY06
ORDER_QUEUE_JAN01
As you can see the filter has used an OR to filter the column
I want the user to be able to use brackets () and also AND statements like you would in a SQL statement so they could use for example
("ORDER" AND "MAY") OR "03"
This would filter the results to show anything with ORDER and MAY in the title or 03.
Has anyone done anything like this in the past or have any ideas of going about it?
Thanks All
One approach is to scan the string from left to right, then recursively call the evaluator every time parentheses are encountered. After a recursive call, replace the parenthesized expression with "true" or "false". If you intend to allow and a higher priority than or, you can treat that recursively as well.

Endeca search query on multiple fields

How to create an Endeca query on combination of multiple fields [just like where clause in sql query]. Suppose we have three fields indexed are -
empId
empName
empGender
Now, I need a query like "where empName like 's%' AND empGender=male"
Thanks.
Firstly,
Checkout Record Filters in the Advanced Development Guide.
If you are trying to use a Record Filter on a property, you will need to enable it explicitly in Developer Studio for that property, while your Dimensions will automatically have the ability to apply a Record Filter. This will help when you have explicit values to filter on, for example empGender.
Your Record Filter can then look as follow:
Nr=AND(empGender:male)
You can further use the Ntk parameter to specify fields to search on so assuming your empName field is enabled for wildcard searching (configure this in Developer Studio) searching this field will look as follow:
Ntk=empName&Ntt=s*
So assuming your properties have been configured correctly, your example above will probably end up looking as follow:
Nr=AND(empGender:male)&Ntk=empName&Ntt=s*
To take this one step further, you can specify Search Filters (ie. Ntk + Ntt parameters) together. I haven't tried this for wildcards so you'll need to confirm that yourself but to combine Search Filters you delimit them with |
Ntk=empName|empId&Ntt=s*|1234*
I suggest you manually build up queries in the Reference Application to confirm you get your expected results and then start to code this up in your application.
radimbe, the problem with record filters for this use case is that they need to be precise. This means you don't get pelling correction, thesaurus expansion, case insensitivity or stemming. It's very unlikely that a user will input precise information like this.
Saraubh, you can do a boolean search to do OR text search queries. You can also use the Endeca Query Language to specify a complex set of boolean logic that goes beyond boolean search and which would incorporate spelling correction, stemming, etc.
In general though, I think for an application like this, you should move away from searching specific individual fields simultaneously and make use of the faceting capabilities of dimensions to guide the user. Additionally, a search box that searches many fields in combination simultaneously in order of importance is really the way to go for a simplified user interface for this sort of application.

API: Issue with exact match in deep queries

I'm querying for test results which are associated with any test set that has a particular tag.
However, this query does not work:
(TestSet.Tags.Name = "foo")
What does work is:
(TestSet.Tags.Name contains "foo")
I would think the first query should work if the second one returns matches with the tag "foo". I presume this is a bug?
I can get around this problem by using the second query, but of course the problem is that this can match a tag named "foo2" as well, so my query can have extra results (potentially many more) and I have to filter them out. Additionally, now I need to have my query fetch the "Tags" as well, so every result I get back is larger because of it.
Yes, as user1195996 suggested this feels like a bug. Your same queries work as expected against defect or user stories. Please work with Rally Support on this issue so we can work to correct it.

Need Pattern for dynamic search of multiple sql tables

I'm looking for a pattern for performing a dynamic search on multiple tables.
I have no control over the legacy (and poorly designed) database table structure.
Consider a scenario similar to a resume search where a user may want to perform a search against any of the data in the resume and get back a list of resumes that match their search criteria. Any field can be searched at anytime and in combination with one or more other fields.
The actual sql query gets created dynamically depending on which fields are searched. Most solutions I've found involve complicated if blocks, but I can't help but think there must be a more elegant solution since this must be a solved problem by now.
Yeah, so I've started down the path of dynamically building the sql in code. Seems godawful. If I really try to support the requested ability to query any combination of any field in any table this is going to be one MASSIVE set of if statements. shiver
I believe I read that COALESCE only works if your data does not contain NULLs. Is that correct? If so, no go, since I have NULL values all over the place.
As far as I understand (and I'm also someone who has written against a horrible legacy database), there is no such thing as dynamic WHERE clauses. It has NOT been solved.
Personally, I prefer to generate my dynamic searches in code. Makes testing convenient. Note, when you create your sql queries in code, don't concatenate in user input. Use your #variables!
The only alternative is to use the COALESCE operator. Let's say you have the following table:
Users
-----------
Name nvarchar(20)
Nickname nvarchar(10)
and you want to search optionally for name or nickname. The following query will do this:
SELECT Name, Nickname
FROM Users
WHERE
Name = COALESCE(#name, Name) AND
Nickname = COALESCE(#nick, Nickname)
If you don't want to search for something, just pass in a null. For example, passing in "brian" for #name and null for #nick results in the following query being evaluated:
SELECT Name, Nickname
FROM Users
WHERE
Name = 'brian' AND
Nickname = Nickname
The coalesce operator turns the null into an identity evaluation, which is always true and doesn't affect the where clause.
Search and normalization can be at odds with each other. So probably first thing would be to get some kind of "view" that shows all the fields that can be searched as a single row with a single key getting you the resume. then you can throw something like Lucene in front of that to give you a full text index of those rows, the way that works is, you ask it for "x" in this view and it returns to you the key. Its a great solution and come recommended by joel himself on the podcast within the first 2 months IIRC.
What you need is something like SphinxSearch (for MySQL) or Apache Lucene.
As you said in your example lets imagine a Resume that will composed of several fields:
List item
Name,
Adreess,
Education (this could be a table on its own) or
Work experience (this could grow to its own table where each row represents a previous job)
So searching for a word in all those fields with WHERE rapidly becomes a very long query with several JOINS.
Instead you could change your framework of reference and think of the Whole resume as what it is a Single Document and you just want to search said document.
This is where tools like Sphinx Search do. They create a FULL TEXT index of your 'document' and then you can query sphinx and it will give you back where in the Database that record was found.
Really good search results.
Don't worry about this tools not being part of your RDBMS it will save you a lot of headaches to use the appropriate model "Documents" vs the incorrect one "TABLES" for this application.