Searching in gtg

Abstract

Searching is, in a rough way, filtering the task tree to accommodate what the user what he desires to see

Implementation

Searches are implemented using the existing filter functionality of libarch. A View Tree of the main task tree usually has one or more filters applied. The main difference with the search filter is that is by far the one that requires more user interaction.

A different view is used for searches so that we can always alternate between both.

Interface

searching, after many attempts and scrapped ideas, was defined as instant filter applied as users are typing on the quickadd entry. when there is no text in the entry, the main task pane shows the 'active' view tree. typing text creates a new search object, filters the 'search' view tree based on the input and switches the main pane to that view tree.

as an added functionality, a valid search can be saved as a view, for quick custom filtering

notation used

@[text] - tags
#[text]# - task titles (although if the plaint ext inputted on the entry matches a task title, its treated as such, even without the #)
![text] - commands
"[text]" - literal searches (cans search for #, !, @, etc)
[text] - free text ant title search
dates - search for designated date, although the format of the dates is still not defined

functionality

search for:

specific tags
specific tasks
specific sequences of characters (through literals)
specific due dates
- now
- soon
- later
interval of due dates
states (active, done and dismissed)

Extending

translations

Each of the commands used for filtering can be translated. On search.py there is a set number of strings, two for each command. The first string is for the base English keyword, and the second one is for added translations. Overwriting the first would mean abandoning the original base English keywords and only use localized ones. Overwriting the translated keywords, would mean adding more keywords to the same kind of filter. In the end, it's a mater of preference.

Adding new Commands

it's highly recommended to use the command syntax (![keyword]) when extending, as using other notation would mean changing the regular expression that handles the input from the quickadd Entry

new commands can be added by following this steps:

adding the strings that represents the filter on search.py
passing that string to the keyword dictionary on _init_keywords
creating the condition on build_search_tokens that accepts that word as a valid command and inserts the data used for filtering on the paramsToFilter variable
creating the condition on the search filter that filters, search function on filteredtree.py