Features/Plain Query Format
Summary
Provide simple string query format for Datastore find() method to cover all kinds of requests.
Owner
- Name: Aleksey Lim
- Email: send an email
Current status
- Targeted release: 0.86
- Last updated: Tue Aug 25 07:59:58 UTC 2009
- Percentage of completion: core part was implemented within Version support for datastore/Proposal
Detailed Description
Let users create complex queries with all possible terms(see Xapian glossary) including system ones. Users can use in query string system prefixes and predefined set of custom prefixes.
Prefixes in query string could look like
<prefix>:<one-word-value> <prefix>:"<multi-word-value>"
Values for system prefixes, sugar fills on its own i.e. if title metadata field is My activity, user can type title:"My activity" in query string.
Values for custom prefixes user should place to tags metadata field in the same form like in query string.
If value is multi worded, any of these word could be used in query e.g. title:My or title:activity.
System prefixes
| Datastore field | Flags/Parameters | Dublin Core | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| uid | identifier | ||
| bundle_id | postponed until we decide to use Journal to represent activities | ||
| mime_type | format | ||
| title | sorted | title | |
| activity | |||
| activity_id | |||
| timestamp | ranged sorted | ||
| keep | |||
| tags | see #Users predefined terms | ||
| filesize | ranged sorted | postponed for Features/Unified Browser for Objects | |
| participant | sorted | ||
| description | description |
Users predefined prefixes
| Datastore field | Flags/Parameters | Dublin Core | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| contributor | sorted | contributor | |
| coverage | sorted | coverage | |
| creator | sorted | creator | |
| date | ranged sorted | date | |
| language | sorted | language | |
| publisher | sorted | publisher | |
| relation | sorted | relation | |
| rights | sorted | rights | |
| source | sorted | source | |
| subject | sorted | subject | |
| type | sorted | type | |
| track | ranged sorted | ||
| disc | ranged sorted |
Result set control parameters
New find() method still has optional dictionary argument to control final result set.
| Dictionary key | Notes |
|---|---|
| offset | |
| limit | |
| order_by | |
| lang | to setup stemming |
Benefit to Sugar
- simple(plain string in comparing with existed API with dictionary find()'s argument) query format for dbus find() method
- simple and new-feature-proof way to implement find method for example in CLI tools(because this tool needs only to pass plain string to Datastore service)
- let experienced users use system terms in Journal search bar
- existed implementation has hard-coded logic for example in case of having several mime_types in query(all mime_types will be ORed despite what user wants).
Scope
- implementation in Datastore
How To Test
This does not need to be a full-fledged document. Describe the dimensions of tests that this feature is expected to pass when it is done. If it needs to be tested with different hardware or software configurations, indicate them. The more specific you can be, the better the community testing can be.
Remember that you are writing this how to for interested testers to use to check out your feature - documenting what you do for testing is OK, but it's much better to document what *I* can do to test your feature.
A good "how to test" should answer these four questions:
- What special hardware / data / etc. is needed (if any)?
- How do I prepare my system to test this feature? What packages need to be installed, config files edited, etc.?
- What specific actions do I perform to check that the feature is working like it's supposed to?
- What are the expected results of those actions?
User Experience
- In Journal search bar users can use system terms e.g. timestamp:<date1>..<date2> AND mime_type="text/plain" AND participant:me'
- use tags with prefixes to differentiate them from regular words e.g. having substring books:favorite in tags field, user can type books:favorite in search bar and differentiate word favorite with prefix books from other books words.
Dependencies
Just regular glucose dependencies.
Contingency Plan
None necessary, revert to previous release behaviour.
Documentation
Release Notes
The Sugar Release Notes inform end-users about what is new in the release. An Example is 0.84/Notes. The release notes also help users know how to deal with platform changes such as ABIs/APIs, configuration or data file formats, or upgrade concerns. If there are any such changes involved in this feature, indicate them here. You can also link to upstream documentation if it satisfies this need. This information forms the basis of the release notes edited by the release team and shipped with the release.