Added a search tag.

If you use either of the more advanced editors for composing, there is a new search tag that can be used to quickly create a search for a particular string on the forums.

To use, highlight with your mouse the text you want to create a search for, and click on the UBC BGCPR logo in the editor menu bar (the same one with B, I, U etc.)

Here's a search for [SEARCH]monkey puzzle[/SEARCH].

 

Is there a way to specify a phrase for the search? (e.g. "fungus gnats", instead of individual keywords fungus and gnats.)

 

Not yet. The forums are running on MySQL version 3.23, which only allows Natural Language searching. We'd need to upgrade to MySQL 4 or better to get Boolean Searching.

Unfortunately, the database server is shared and the DB admin has to deal with some legacy databases, so I think he is hesitant to upgrade the MySQL version. I could move the database to the garden's web server, but the cost is a hit in performance and not as frequent backups.

 

Perhaps it could become a wishlist item for when the database software is updated.

 

It's as simple as the figurative flick of a button, once the DB is upgraded.

 

Sounds like the database is going to be upgraded sometime in the next two weeks, so Boolean searching will become possible. I'll post a notice when I know the date.

 

Thanks for the update, Daniel. Will there be a change to the format of the search tag as a result of the database update or will it be unaffected?

 

It should remain the same.

 

So the new Google-style+ search is in place. You can try it out by searching for [SEARCH]"Oregon campus"[/SEARCH] (with the quotes) or [SEARCH]Oregon campus[/SEARCH] without the quotes ( Oregon campus ).

Here's the full list of search capabilities (I'll probably move this into a new thread sometime). It doesn't seem to be working 100% quite yet, or maybe I'm not understanding how some of the operators work. I'd appreciate feedback:

 

Which version of MySQL is now in place?

 

The very latest stable - 5.0.21

 

I found the explanation of the search operators (which precede the examples in the manual) useful. Perhaps it can be included in the new thread.

 

Agreed - it's not working as expected. Searching on:

The word [SEARCH]figo[/SEARCH] returns 9 entries;
The words [SEARCH]magnolia figo[/SEARCH] returns 207 entries;
The words [SEARCH]+magnolia +figo[/SEARCH] returns (the same?) 207 entries;
The phrase [SEARCH]"magnolia figo"[/SEARCH] also returns (the same?) 207 entries.​

The results seem to indicate the latter searches are being processed as 'magnolia OR figo'. The behavior appears to be the same using the standard search function (as opposed to using the wrapper).

 

My results for the same searches:

10 hits.
5 hits.
5 hits.
2 hits.

 

Strange - I'm not seeing the results you're getting. What could explain the difference?

 

Cached pages for search results, possibly, with a search term index in transition?

How many results do you get if you try this link?

Edited: link removed because clearing out the search index made it link to an invalid page.

 

I get 5 hits with this one. Does this suggest the search cache on the server has to be cleared?

 

I'd already cleared out the search indices once post-upgrade, but will do so again.

 

I'm not having any luck with this. Multi-word search results are still being ORed. Is there anything on the client side that would elict this behavior?

 

Not that I know of, re: client-side. Let's revisit this when the latest version of the software is released - that might clean it up. It should be out within a week or two.

 

Agreed. I look forward to it.

 

Aha, finally figured it out. Apparently, using Boolean search is a yes / no permission, which I had set to no for almost every usergroup (since the fulltext searching wasn't enabled). Give it a try now?

 

The change has made a difference. I tried various (non-exhaustive) combinations of search using the keywords 'michelia' and 'figo' and noted the following:

1. Searches using 'michelia figo' and '+michelia +figo' return the same number of entries. When the '+' operator is used it is not included in the search's keyword list. And so it appears '+' is the default. Is this true?
   
2. The search using '-michelia figo' does not work as expected. It returns four entries, three of which include the word 'michelia'.
   
3. The search using the phrase "michelia figo" works as expected. Yes!

 

For the first one, I do believe it is the default.

For the second one, it does work as intended. Each of those threads returned does indeed contain at least one post where the word figo is present, but not the word Michelia. They just also happen to have other posts where both Michelia and figo are present.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I was thinking in terms of the thread instead of the individual posts. Doh!