Re: [Announce] scout - search contacts, conversations and calendars
 

New version 0.1.0

The stop button didn't work in the calendar search.
Should work now, thank you for reporting this.

Actually this took some more time. I now changed how search words are used.
Prior to this change a search like this one:
hello girls
searches for the exact phrase "hello girls"
Now, it will search for the words "hello" OR "girls"

If you want to search for the exact phrase you have to quote
the term:
"hello girls"

In addition you have the possiblity to include or exclude some
words:
hello girls -boys
searches for text which includes the words "hello" OR "girls"
and NOT "boys".

And:
girls boys +hello
searches for text which includes the words "girls" OR "boys" AND
must include the word "hello"

Both, include and exclude, can have more words:
hello +boys +girls -friend
Searches for text which must include "boys" AND "girls", and can
include "hello" AND must not include "friend"

This changes were a bit more complicated. Please test
and feedback is welcome.

regards
Nicolai

Re: [Announce] scout - search contacts, conversations and calendars
 

Your improvements are endless!

Thanks!

Re: [Announce] scout - search contacts, conversations and calendars
 

Thanks for it.

I'd like to abuse of you even a little more... would it be possible to include searches in the phone calls log?

Re: [Announce] scout - search contacts, conversations and calendars
 

i second that

Re: [Announce] scout - search contacts, conversations and calendars
 

Why would you want to search the calls log?
Btw, you can filter the calls log entries, just
type name or number (live search).

Nicolai

Re: [Announce] scout - search contacts, conversations and calendars
 

Well, I've just found that I was looking for a contact with Scout and then I wanted to know when was the last call received from it. Not a very common use case btw.

Thanks anyway.

Re: [Announce] scout - search contacts, conversations and calendars
 

Jeje, did you second the abuse or the feature request?

Re: [Announce] scout - search contacts, conversations and calendars
 

Hi Nicolai,

I've been testing the new search feature. For this purpose I created two specific contacts:

First contact:
Name = Record t1
Last Name = Test 1
Note = This is the first note

Second record:
Name = Record t2
Last Name = Test 2
Note = This is the second note

The results of different queries are (S=Search, R=Result):

1) S = Record, R = OK, both records show up.
2) S = "Record t1", R = OK, the first record shows up.
3) S = Record +t1, R = OK, the first record shows up.
4) S = Record +t1 +first, R = WRONG. No records displayed when it should still show up the first record
5) S = Record +t1 -second, R = OK, the first record shows up
6) S = Record -test, R = WRONG, since the two arguments contradict each other, no results should show up, instead I get both records.
7) S = Record -first, R = WRONG, it should display only the second record but instead the two records are displayed.
7A) S = Record -t1, R = OK, only shows up the second record.
7B) S = Record -"Test 1", R = WRONG, should only display the second record but instead displays both of them.
7C) S = Record -"first note", R = WRONG, same as 7B
8) S = Record -first -second, R = WRONG, should not display any records but instead shows both of them.
9) S = Record -first +second, R = OK, only shows up the second record.

Looking at the results, I've the impression that there are two issues at hand: the chaining of inclusions/exclusions and the searches where the arguments are spread over various fields.

Re: [Announce] scout - search contacts, conversations and calendars
 

Hi bytebeam,

big thank you for this elaborate test. And from my point of
view all test results are correct :-)

The inclusion and exclusion only works for one text(-field).
So, the query matches a contact if one of the contact fields
matches the string query.

I must admit, as an use case for this search options I only
had the search for conversations text in mind. I didn't considered to use
it that way you did in you test cases.

nicolai

Re: [Announce] scout - search contacts, conversations and calendars
 

We live in an epoch where the amount of information we must carry at all times with us is increasing at an exponential rate. If I could identify a single point of failure common to all smartphones it would be the missing ability to provide accurate "Business Intelligence" at a fingertip regardless of connectivity, specially for high-profile travelers because at one moment or another roaming doesn't work as expected, open wifi spots might be fake, etc...

I sincerely believe that the N900 and maybe future devices of its kind could address this issue. On the N900 in particular, you can install Easy Debian, then LAMP, and then a CRM like Vtiger for example. That way you can provide the end user with an informational business capability regardless of connectivity that to my knowledge no other smartphone can actually offer. But this is not trivial to setup for the average user.

That's why Scout got my attention. Before, we had the old Palm devices which offered a unified search. This is now gone, none of the WebOS devices offer that capability. Ditto on Iphones, Android and BB's, and I'm not even talking about Symbian.

If Scout could handle multiple criteria searches combined across the full range of allowed fields in the Contact module, you could turn the N900 into an excellent business phone.

Do you think that this could be complicated to implement ?