Profile Search Requires Wildcard

Goal: Search for profile "ChinaNews" (no spaces)
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Skin = Ninja - Mobile and Desktop test results:
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Search = "China" returns no profiles
Search = "China*" returns the ChinaNews profile
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We are concerned users would never understand the add * to their search
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Please Advise...

updated by @softdesigns: 09/20/17 07:38:37AM

The problem here is that "ChinaNews" is a very different word than "China". "China News" (with space) will be found or course, but without the space the full text index is not going to see "chinanews" as being the same as "china". Make sure in ACP -> Listing -> Search -> Global Config you have enabled the "Include Partial Matches" option.

In reality I think you'll find this to be a non issue when searching your site.

Let me know if that helps.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

Yes, you are mostly correct, In General, should not be a problem. However we have run into this issue when OneAll creates usernames, with Ning imported data, or Proxima created data. So we want to ensure search can included partial matches.
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We verified "Include Partial Matches" option = enabled
But still, JR search does not seem to be finding partial match?
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When "Include Partial Matches" is enabled, a search for "China" should return profile "ChinaNews" (no spaces) - is that correct?
updated by @softdesigns: 06/14/17 01:14:44PM

Only if there are ZERO results for "China" - then the search is re-run to get partial matches.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

@brian: Before we can go live on JR platform, we need to listen to and address the feedback from our test users. They set up the exact same search test on BuddyPress, and a search for "China" returned the profile "ChinaNews" (no spaces). On JR platform the same search does not return the existing "ChinaNews" (no spaces) profile.
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We have been investing in JR platform, and hope to continue, but the search is core functionality, so we need to make sure it works for searching profiles, and is simple and easy for our users to find each other.
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Our testers have responded that minimal requirements would include the following:
Search criteria returns both full word matches and partial word matches.
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Please Advise...

I would recommend reconsidering that - partial word matches are almost never a good solution for search. Think about Google - when I search for "music" do I want the first result to be for "musician"? That's not what the user searched for, nor is "musician" ever a good recommendation for someone search for "music", since they mean 2 different things. This is why I mentioned that in practice this likely will not be an issue for you.

Currently this is how Jamroom Search works - it returns results that it feels are most relevant. What you are recommending is strictly a string based search, which I guarantee will not get you the results you want. You don't want users searching for "china" and have an article about "brewing the best echinacea tea" be your top result.

Let me know if that helps.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

We cover basic search technique in our library inductions for all new students, although many new arrivals at university have already learned this whilst at school or from using Google. Most young people have been taught some information skills already.

If your users (possibly older users?) are unlikely to understand search you could help them by linking to "how to google" info:
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/134479?hl=en&ref_topic=3081620


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¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Education, learning resources, TEL, AR/VR/MR, CC licensed content, panoramas, interactive narrative, sectional modules (like jrDocs), lunch at Uni of Bristol. Get in touch if you share my current interests or can suggest better :)

@brian: Yes, you are absolutely correct. We do not want a "contains" search.
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The problem here is partially due to our testers. They are professionals, however their native language is not English. We believe that some of their testing results were "lost in translation". I have not looked deeper into this, but my guess is that BuddyPress is doing a "starts with" search, which may be what we are looking for.
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Next step is for our team to have a meeting so that I can get clearer on exactly what Search options they are looking for. We can then get back with you to see what our best options are.

JR can do "begins with" no problem, but it still may not be the results you're looking for - you would want to test that and see if it gets the results you want. Any type of sub string search is not going to return results that are sorted by relevance - just something to keep in mind.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

How can we setup JR to do "begins with" search that would return Profile "ChinaNews" (no spaces) - if we searched for only the word "China" ?

I believe brian is referring to Site Builder when he says use a "Begins With". (screenshot including jrCore_list structure)

How does this affect the primary JR Search?
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Users will assume one search powers the whole site, and will surely goto the primary JR Search.
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Not sure, but I think we need a "Begins With" option on the Primary JR built-in search located on the main menu. I see some options under ACP->Listing->Search, but under those options do not see an option for "Begins With".
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How can we setup "Begins With" option on the Primary JR built-in search?
updated by @softdesigns: 06/21/17 06:25:39AM

You can't- the Jamroom Search module doesn't work like that. If you have to have "begins with" for a global search it will require a custom module. My recommendation (again) would be to not do this - it's not going to get your users the results they are looking for, and overall would return much less relevant results - you would basically be sacrificing ALL your search results for the corner case of "begins with".

Right now the Jamroom Search module uses a special "full text" index that comprises it's own table which allows it to find all matching items in on query. Switching to a "begins with" search would require that the search module look into each individual data store to find matching results, which means potentially dozens of searches over your module data stores (depending on the number of searchable modules you are using), which is going to be slow.

If you feel this is something your site needs then open a ticket for us and we can check out the cost to build it as a custom module for you - we'd be more than happy to build it, but I want to be sure you know it's pros and cons before moving forward.

Let me know if that helps.

Thanks!


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

@brian: Thanks - our team needs more time for detailed testing on JR Search. We are still getting strange search results, which are confusing.
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Next Step: After we have time to test JR Search a bit more, we will submit a private ticket with our production test results...
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Great Support - In Progress...