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Item1908: Experiments with System.WebSearchAdvanced

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Priority: Normal
Current State: No Action Required
Released In: n/a
Target Release: n/a
Applies To: Engine
Component: SEARCH, WebSearchAdvanced
Branches:
Reported By: WolfgangRaus
Waiting For:
Last Change By: GeorgeClark
I have experienced a few curious effects in WebSearchAdvanced.

(Besides the fact that the radiobutton "Literal search" at "Make search" is translated to "Wort suche" in german and this is near to type="word",)

if you call this topic the first time and search, you get results. If you click on the Search-button again, you get more results. If you choose "literal", you get other results.

Demonstration:

I created three topics:

The first one I called Test1SOAP, the content is
SOAP WSDL "web service"

The second one I called Test2Soapsud, the content is
soapsud WSDL "web service"

The third one I called Test3Shampoo, the content is
SOAP soapsud WSDL "web service" shampoo 

Further there is an old WebSearchTagsPlugin topic, remained from tests, and my docu named WebSearchAdvancedBugs.

The preferences for SEARCH are:
  • SEARCHDEFAULTTTYPE: Default search type for search forms which calls the search script
    • Currently keyword
  • SEARCHVARDEFAULTTYPE: Default search type for %SEARCH{} macro
    • Currenty literal
  • SEARCHSTOPWORDS: List of stop words (common words and characters to exclude from a keyword search)
    • Currently a, all, am, an, and, any, as, at, b, be, by, c, d, e, for, from, g, h, how, i, i'm, i.e., in, is, isn't, it, it's, its, j, k, l, m, n, o, of, on, or, p, q, r, s, t, that, that's, the, this, to, u, v, w, was, wasn't, what, what's, when, where, who, who's, will, with, x, y, z

The foswiki version is Foswiki-1.0.6, Sun, 21 Jun 2009, build 4272.

I go to AdvancedWebSearch by selecting "Advanced search" in the topic WebSearch without entering any data in the form.

Searching for
soap wsdl "web service" -shampoo
I get the following result:

  • Screenshot 1: searching for the first time:
    BildschirmfotoWebSearchAdvanced1.png

While the %SEARCH-macro helper displays
%SEARCH{
   "soap wsdl \"web service\" -shampoo"
   type="word"
   order="topic"
   limit="all"
   zeroresults="on"
}%
and the URL is expanded by ?search=soap+wsdl+"web+service"+-shampoo&order=topic&type=word&limit=all .

I simply click again on the Search-button and get the following result:
  • Screenshot 2: searching the second time:
    BildschirmfotoWebSearchAdvanced2.png

While the %SEARCH-macro helper displays
%SEARCH{
   "soap wsdl \"web service\" -shampoo"
   type="word"
   scope="all"
   order="topic"
   limit="all"
   zeroresults="on"
}%
and the URL is expanded by ?search=soap+wsdl+"web+service"+-shampoo&scope=all&order=topic&type=word&limit=all .

I select "Literal search" and get:

  • Screenshot 3: searching with literal search ("Wort Suche"):
    BildschirmfotoWebSearchAdvanced3.png

While the %SEARCH-macro helper displays
%SEARCH{
   "soap wsdl \"web service\" -shampoo"
   type="literal"
   scope="all"
   order="topic"
   limit="all"
   zeroresults="on"
}%
and the URL is expanded by ?search=soap+wsdl+"web+service"+-shampoo&scope=all&order=topic&type=literal&limit=all .

Questions and answers

First search

Obviously the scope is not set, the default is "text" - and with the word search you do not find "soapsud" if you search for "SOAP". But in VarSEARCH I find the sentence to word search: "word: identical to keyword but searches whole words: topics with "soapsuds" will not be found, and topics with "shampoos" will not be excluded." (I note the plural form "shampoos" - if this is intention, it's confusing.)

Why I got the topic Test3Shampoo not in the search hits? What is with the search parameter -shampoo at type="word"?

Second search

The scope is set to "all", but it is a word search. "soapsud" cannot be the search hit. I renamed the topic Test2Soapsud to Test2Sud, and the effect was not reproduceable.

That means, a type="word"-Search includes a type="keyword"-Search on topic names if scope="all" is set. This is a practical implication, but not documented. I renamed Test2Sud to Test2SudsoapXXX, and there it is in the search hits again.

Third search

If you search for the exact string "soap wsdl "web service" -shampoo", then it will only appear in this docu and in the test-topic. All ok, just confusing for the intermediate user. ("There is a minus sign, it has to exclude topics with shampoo..." - training, training, training....).

This type searches not for whole words, but for the existence of the exact string in the topic, therefore the name "literal" is a little misleading if one is focused on words - but this I cannot estimate, I am not a naturally english speaker. I suggest to have the translation for "literal search" to "exakte Suche nach einer Zeichenfolge" in german, this would help a bit wink

Also the name "Topic name" for type="word" is misleading, so is the german translation ("Topic Name"). I f would like to search only the topic name, then I will select scope="topic" ("Topic title"). I propose to change the label to "Word search" and to document the section "Make search" in SearchHelp.

There is no possibility to select type="keyword", what we will use most (we will customize this topic and have backups smile ). Excluding the checkbox for bookview="on" was a good decision, but the type parameter "keyword" would be not too expensive to implement and completes the range.

-- WolfgangRaus - 09 Aug 2009

Closing this. Search has been very significantly rewritten over the years. No activity on this task and it probably doesn't apply.

-- GeorgeClark - 08 Jan 2015

ItemTemplate edit

Summary Experiments with WebSearchAdvanced
ReportedBy WolfgangRaus
Codebase 1.0.6
SVN Range Foswiki-1.0.0, Thu, 08 Jan 2009, build 1878
AppliesTo Engine
Component SEARCH, WebSearchAdvanced
Priority Normal
CurrentState No Action Required
WaitingFor
Checkins
TargetRelease n/a
ReleasedIn n/a
CheckinsOnBranches
trunkCheckins
masterCheckins
ItemBranchCheckins
Release01x01Checkins
I Attachment Action Size Date Who Comment
BildschirmfotoWebSearchAdvanced1.pngpng BildschirmfotoWebSearchAdvanced1.png manage 19 K 09 Aug 2009 - 06:17 WolfgangRaus Screenshot 1: searching for the first time
BildschirmfotoWebSearchAdvanced2.pngpng BildschirmfotoWebSearchAdvanced2.png manage 22 K 09 Aug 2009 - 06:17 WolfgangRaus Screenshot 2: searching the second time
BildschirmfotoWebSearchAdvanced3.pngpng BildschirmfotoWebSearchAdvanced3.png manage 28 K 09 Aug 2009 - 06:18 WolfgangRaus Screenshot 3: searching with literal search ("Wort Suche")
Topic revision: r2 - 08 Jan 2015, GeorgeClark
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