How-to Configure “or” type Search

Allow any matching field.

The following change will match any field. For example, it will match both the OWNER_NAME field and the OWN_ADD_L1 field if they both contain search terms.

In the app.js configuration after:

app.registerService('search', SearchService, {
    fields: [
        {type: 'text', label: 'Owner Name', name: 'OWNER_NAME'},
        {type: 'text', label: 'Street/Address', name: 'OWN_ADD_L1'},
        {type: 'text', label: 'City/State/ZIP', name: 'OWN_ADD_L3'}
    ],

Add the following:

prepareFields: function (fields) {
    // reformat the fields for the query engine,
    //  "*stuff*" will do a case-ignored "contains" query.
    var query = ['or'];
    for(var i = 0, ii = fields.length; i < ii; i++) {
        if(fields[i].value !== '' && fields[i].value !== undefined) {
            query.push({
                comparitor: 'ilike',
                name: fields[i].name,
                value: '%' + fields[i].value + '%'
            });
        }
    }
    return [query];
},

Testing in the demo

Use ‘Little’ in the ‘Owner Name’ field and ‘Blaine’ in the ‘Street/Address’ field. This should return both parcels with ‘Little’ in the ‘Owner Name’ and who live on ‘Blaine’.

Use a single field to search many

Many users are accustomed to search utilities which allow for a single search term to search multiple fields. GeoMoose supports that with the follow change:

app.registerService('search', SearchService, {
    // The input fields are defined only using one field
    fields: [
        {type: 'text', label: 'Search', name: 'TERM'},
    ],
    prepareFields: function (fields) {
        // this pulls out the term from the search
        const searchTerm = fields[0].value;
        // this is the list of fields in the layer which will be searched.
        const searchFields = ['OWNER_NAME', 'OWN_ADD_L1', 'OWN_ADD_L2'];
        // this switched to matching any field
        var query = ['or'];
        for(var i = 0, ii = searchFields.length; i < ii; i++) {
            query.push({
                comparitor: 'ilike',
                name: searchFields[i],
                value: '%' + searchTerm + '%'
            });
        }
        return [query];
    },
    searchLayers: ['vector-parcels/parcels'],
    validateFieldValues: function (fields) {
         let nonEmpty = 0;
         const validateFieldValuesResult = {
             valid: true,
             message: null
            };

            if (fields['TERM'] !== undefined && fields['TERM'] !== '') {
                    nonEmpty++;
            }

            if (nonEmpty === 0) {
                validateFieldValuesResult.valid = false;
                validateFieldValuesResult.message = 'Please complete at least one field.'
            }
            return validateFieldValuesResult;
        }
});

Testing in the demo

Search using the term ‘ant’. There will be owners with ‘ant’ in their name and streets which include ‘ant’ in the street name.

Search with a list

There are cases in which using a list of features is easier than using terms. For example, getting a list of parcels from an external application and searching for that list of parcels.

app.registerService('search', SearchService, {
    fields: [
        {type: 'text', label: 'PINs', name: 'TERM'},
    ],
    prepareFields: function (fields) {
        const searchTerm = fields[0].value;
        // The replace will clean up any whitespace
        // The split converts the list to an array.
        const pinList = searchTerm.replace(' ', '').split(',');

        // this is the list of fields in the layer which will be searched.
        // Warning! Adding a list of fields here can make the search very slow!
        const searchFields = ['PIN'];
        var query = ['or'];
        // search each field with the list of pins.
        for (var f = 0, ff = searchFields.length; f < ff; f++) {
            for(var i = 0, ii = pinList.length; i < ii; i++) {
                query.push({
                    comparitor: 'eq',
                    name: searchFields[f],
                    value: pinList[i]
                });
            }
        }
        return [query];
    },
    searchLayers: ['vector-parcels/parcels']
});

Testing in the demo

Search using the following list: 350010001079, 070030004077, 163030001000, 160050008003.

Searching the kitchen sink

The user is presented with a single input box to enter search terms. The search then looks for those terms from a list of attributes using the “ilike” method (which ignores case and matches partial matches).

The code!

app.registerService('search', SearchService, {
    fields: [
        {type: 'text', label: 'Search', name: 'TERM'},
    ],
    prepareFields: function (fields) {
        const searchTerm = fields[0].value;
        // The replace will clean up any whitespace
        // The split converts the list to an array.
        const termList = searchTerm.replace(' ', '').split(',');

        // this is the list of fields in the layer which will be searched.
        // Warning! Adding a list of fields here can make the search very slow!
        const searchFields = ['PIN', 'OWNER_NAME', 'OWN_ADD_L1', 'OWN_ADD_L2'];
        var query = ['or'];
        // search each field with the list of pins.
        for (var f = 0, ff = searchFields.length; f < ff; f++) {
            for(var i = 0, ii = termList.length; i < ii; i++) {
                query.push({
                    comparitor: 'ilike',
                    name: searchFields[f],
                    value: '%' + termList[i] + '%'
                });
            }
        }
        return [query];
    },
    searchLayers: ['vector-parcels/parcels']
});

Testing in the demo

This is implemented in the demo as the “Single field search” tool. The following search terms can be used to test the functionality:

• peters

• peters, 237

• thoma, lakevill, hamb