[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Development to support traditional Boolean operators

[Kathy Lussier]

Hi Rogan,

It's hard to say. Catalyst projects a fairly quick turnaround time on 
the development, but I haven't seen a potential date yet for 2.4 beta 
freeze. Also, it needs to be tested by the community, and it's hard to 
know if that could be done in time for feature freeze.

Kathy

Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
klussier at masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier

On 2/5/2013 7:44 PM, Rogan Hamby wrote:
> Hi Kathy,
>
> I'm curious, are you thinking this will be ready for 2.4?
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 4:32 PM, Kathy Lussier <klussier at masslnc.org 
> <mailto:klussier at masslnc.org>> wrote:
>
>     Hi all,
>
>     We've contracted with Catalyst IT Services to create an interface
>     to support traditional Boolean operators in tpac. I wanted to
>     share some of our plans on the list so that we can get feedback
>     from the community before proceeding.
>
>     This functionality was important to many of our libraries because,
>     even though the advanced search interface provides a graphical way
>     to do Boolean searches, there is no way to control the nesting of
>     searches, making it difficult to perform more complex searches.
>
>     For example, if a user were to enter the search terms in Advanced
>     Search as drugs AND teenagers OR adolescents, the resulting query
>     would be ((drugs && keyword:teenagers) || keyword:adolescents),
>     when the intended query is drugs && (teenagers || adolescents).
>     Performing a search with more complex nesting, something like
>     "((mouse or rat) and trap) or mousetrap", requires free-form entry
>     to get the nesting right. However, users are expected to know that
>     && means "and" and that || means "or." Our academics, in
>     particular, were concerned, because they often start their
>     instruction in Boolean searching with the library catalog before
>     moving on to full-text databases.
>
>     Attached is a mock-up of the interface we would like to include.
>     It would add a new Boolean search tab to the advanced search
>     interface. When searching from this interface, if any Boolean
>     operators are present based on the locale settings, the system
>     will replace them accordingly with the correct syntax (&& || -) to
>     perform the search. As part of the work, Catalyst will also
>     leverage the Evergreen locale settings so that operators can be
>     entered in other languages. After performing the search, clicking
>     the "Refine Search" link will return the user to the Boolean
>     search tab with their originally-entered search terms
>     auto-populating the boxes. There will be a configuration setting
>     to disable/enable this feature.
>
>     Let me know if you have any thoughts on this project!
>
>     Kathy
>
>     -- 
>     Kathy Lussier
>     Project Coordinator
>     Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
>     (508) 343-0128 <tel:%28508%29%20343-0128>
>     klussier at masslnc.org <mailto:klussier at masslnc.org>
>     Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
>
>
>
>
> -- 
>
> Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA
> Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services,
> York County Library System
>
> "You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to 
> suit me."
> -- C.S. Lewis <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://libmail.georgialibraries.org/pipermail/open-ils-general/attachments/20130208/04b56b51/attachment.htm>