Wanted: exact syntax supported in the search box

[jschoofs]

Dear all,

Can anyone provide me with the exact syntax supported by the Alfresco web client search box? To my surprise it does not seem to support the full Lucene syntax as I found out when trying things such as proximity and fuzzy searches. This seems to downgrade the overall usefulness of the out-of-the-box full text search facility quite a bit doesn'i it  :cry:? One other remark: the online help on the level of the search facility is extremely un…helpful 

Thanks for your help!

Johan

PS We are currently using Alfresco 3  Labs - v3.0.0 (Stable 1526) but we will be moving to an Alfresco Enterprise … real soon now.

[jschoofs]

Is there really no-one that can provide some info on this? After all, this is one of the essential functionalities of the product!

Johan

[rehnla]

I'm experiencing similar problems when using Open Search, i.e. alfresco defined as a search provider in the browser window like Google. When for example trying to search for a phrase General +arrangement (which works in the Alfresco web client search field) there's an internal error saying

Message: Wrapped Exception (with status template): Failed to parse query: ( TYPE:"{http://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0}content" AND ( @\{http\://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0\}name:general @\{http\://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0\}name:+arrangement TEXT:general TEXT:+arrangement ) )
  
Exception: org.alfresco.repo.search.impl.lucene.ParseException - Encountered "+" at line 1, column 195. Was expecting one of: "(" … <QUOTED> … <TERM> … <PREFIXTERM> … <WILDTERM> … "[" … "{" … <NUMBER> … 

So what is the syntax to be used ??

Lars-Johan

[wmay]

I also would like to know which search syntax is supported and which features are supported. The API lists a long number of different search features and functions but there is no information which of these features are supported by the Alfresco Explorer simple or advanced search or by the Open Search function of the Alfresco Exporer.

The actual Community version 3.2 only supports search for words or wildcard search for words but there is no way to search for a "Quoted phrase - To find an exact phrase, surround your search term with quotation marks. For example, to find the phrase to be or not to be, type "to be or not to be" in the search box." (this is the information from the help). Or to use a combined search with "AND".

Does anyone knows

- which functions are supported by the simple search / advanced search / open search ?
- which syntax is supported ?

I tested the phrase search also with the Entrerprise Version 3.0 and there it works but with the 3.2 community edition it does not works and when i try to use AND for search it also does not works with the Enterprise version 3.0.

when i look to the new book - "Alfresco 3.0" from Pack Publishing  there is also no real information about the search syntax. There is written that "You can use the Google-style query syntax to search the content stored in the Alfresco repository" but this is also not true because when you use this syntax you will find out that the functions of Google are not supported or implemented ?

[wmay]

That is what i found out in the meantime - maybe somebody knows more….

"+" before a word and the word must be in the document - multiple words with "+" is the logic AND - but it is not possible to use "AND" only "+" can used.
"-" before a word and the word should not be in the document - this would be the NOT but "NOT" can not be used.
a list of words without "+" or "-" means a OR search
Phrase search is possible with "…… ….."

See also http://forums.alfresco.com/en/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20565#p67418

[chaser]

"+" before a word and the word must be in the document - multiple words with "+" is the logic AND - but it is not possible to use "AND" only "+" can used.
"-" before a word and the word should not be in the document - this would be the NOT but "NOT" can not be used.
a list of words without "+" or "-" means a OR search
Phrase search is possible with "…… ….."

There is 3.3g Alfresco Community Edition released…
There is article "Full Text Search Query Syntax" in wiki http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Full_Text_Search_Query_Syntax …
But I has same functional in simple and advansed search in Alfresco Explorer that wmay had one YEAR ago
Why ?

Does not work in Alfresco 3.3g Community Edition:
- Search for an exact term
- Term expansion
- Disjunctions
- Negation (works only throu "-")
- Wildcards (? = *)
- Grouping

Why ?

[chaser]

Wow !
Yesteday (28.06.2010) was resolved bug posted 1.5 YEAR AGO (28.01.2010) : "Lucene search not working properly" (http://issues.alfresco.com/jira/browse/ALF-3318).
So wait for 4 months when Alfresco 3.3SP3 will be released.

SEARCH! - one of the main features of Document Management system "not work properly" at least 1.5 YEAR !

A pair of students realizes a Document Management system with the advanced search per month.
I was shocked by Alfresco and very upset

Document Management with integration with Active Directory in Alfresco Explorer are poor and very buggy.
And there is no possibility use it in Alfresco Share.
So dont use Alfresco Community (at least present 3.3g release) for DM.

[wmay]

i think also with the enterprise edition this search was not working - and nobody asked for this or posted any information or help. i ask me how all the "big customers" uses this system ? there is only one way to use alfresco as repository and to write your own applications and clients. Also when you look to the share client - there are so much functions missing and now after 2 years they write that the version 3.3 has a new feature "google like search" wow impressive - after 2 years…. but what is about the advances search functionality ?

[chaser]

Wow !
Yesteday (28.06.2010) was resolved bug posted 1.5 YEAR AGO (28.01.2010) : "Lucene search not working properly" (http://issues.alfresco.com/jira/browse/ALF-3318).
So wait for 4 months when Alfresco 3.3SP3 will be released.

Bug NOT resolved or resolved outside source tree: in svn HEAD bug presents yet.
And there is no reply on bugtracker (jira) from developer that "resolved" this bug

[mrogers]

Perhaps this thread is a good example of why discussion threads and JIRA issues should stick to one specific issue only.

As for ALF-3318 my take of it is that it should have been rejected as "not a bug", but was left open for too long until recent cleanup of old JIRA issues.  There are no code changes associated with that issue.