[KPhotoAlbum] Idea for quick search feature

[Heinz Kohl]

Am Mittwoch 25 April 2007 17:10 schrieb Shawn Willden:
> One comment about this query:  It's consistent with my initial
> specification, but I'm questioning the value of searching for strings
> within tags.  The current search bar always matches prefixes.  Description
> and label searches should probably be full-text, but I think a search for
> "m" should match a tag "mary" but not "sam".

I've implemented your idea in my javascript prototype, and I think, it's 
working fine.
But restrictions like the one above, which may indeed work fine in some cases, 
are, as I think, not so good in general. They are directed against the 
simplicity and straightness of your idea making it less simple to understand.
In the moment I'm searching through all specifications; just to search in 
md5sum seems to be an overkill, but there may even be good reasons to search 
for "-1",  or e.g. for "270" in an angle.
If there's too much unexpected noise, this could be reduced by subsequent 
restrictions using the first result (using quick or standard search).

Indeed, in my implementation it's also possible to use regular expressions 
with quick search, and so the it would be possible to make a difference 
between then "m" in "mary" and in "sam" - but I don't expect this would be 
used frequently.

In my "real data" I've in fact used e.g. name abbreviations like M even in the 
middle of a "name" at different positions, reflecting a group of persons. 
It's not completely impossible, that other people are doing in such a manner, 
despite the question, if there are better ideas.

Your idea is nice because of its simplicity, working fine in most cases,
promising some additional unexpected side effect usability, and the 
nonchalance resulting in at a first glance unexpected results is balanced by 
an obvious simplicity of the idea.
I think, your idea would be weakened by further restrictions.
And, you may not find a barrier against further complications of the rule
(e.g. "don't find the '0' in angle", "don't find the '/' in file names").