Filters and Markers

Question

Hi Roger & all you other folks,
I just wanted to give you a little update on the Query/Filter issue, in
the hope that you can confirm my experimental findings ;-)
It seems that the use of Filter marks (FilterGroupMarker token), although
its whys and hows are rather badly documented, is crucial for complex
filter expressions. It obviously is not sufficient to just use nested
groups.
In my case I had to implement the following expression (the letters
represent tests on the From and To fields):
(a OR b OR c) OR ((d OR e OR f) AND (g OR h OR i))
My first attempt was to just use nested FilterGroupBegin and
FilterGroupEnd tokens, i.e. (abbreviated for clarity):
Begin/OR
Begin/OR
a
b
c
End
Begin/AND
Begin/OR
d
e
f
End
Begin/OR
g
h
i
End
End
End
This worked, but when I viewed the executed query in the GW client's
search dialog, it turned out that there were no parentheses anywhere in
the expression, so what was executed was in effect
a OR b OR c OR d OR e OR f AND g OR h OR i
which, of course, is not what was required.
When I inserted markers into the code, i.e.:
Begin/OR
Begin/OR
a
b
c
End
---> Marker/OR
Begin/AND
Begin/OR
d
e
f
End
---> Marker/AND
Begin/OR
g
h
i
End
End
End
the parentheses were set correctly in the resulting search expression. In
addition, when I opened the "Advanced query..." dialog in GroupWise, it
showed the distinct groups just as they were supposed to be.
Black and arcane art, indeed ;-)
Best regards,
Heinz

Answer 1

I'll try and get some input from Novell staff, as currently you
are the public expert, all I have done so far is re-direct you to
an API that I have still not got my head around.
Getting an answer from Novell may take sometime as the DevNet
team has to call on the resources of other teams in Novell and I
know that the GroupWise team are going to be focused on their
forthcomming sessions at BrainShare Euro and the GW technical
conference at the end of the month.
Roger Thomas, DevNet SysOp 22
<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Hi Roger & all you other folks,
>
> I just wanted to give you a little update on the Query/Filter issue, in
> the hope that you can confirm my experimental findings ;-)
>
> It seems that the use of Filter marks (FilterGroupMarker token), although
> its whys and hows are rather badly documented, is crucial for complex
> filter expressions. It obviously is not sufficient to just use nested
> groups.
>
> In my case I had to implement the following expression (the letters
> represent tests on the From and To fields):
>
> (a OR b OR c) OR ((d OR e OR f) AND (g OR h OR i))
>
> My first attempt was to just use nested FilterGroupBegin and
> FilterGroupEnd tokens, i.e. (abbreviated for clarity):
>
> Begin/OR
> Begin/OR
> a
> b
> c
> End
> Begin/AND
> Begin/OR
> d
> e
> f
> End
> Begin/OR
> g
> h
> i
> End
> End
> End
>
> This worked, but when I viewed the executed query in the GW client's
> search dialog, it turned out that there were no parentheses anywhere in
> the expression, so what was executed was in effect
>
> a OR b OR c OR d OR e OR f AND g OR h OR i
>
> which, of course, is not what was required.
>
> When I inserted markers into the code, i.e.:
>
> Begin/OR
> Begin/OR
> a
> b
> c
> End
>
> ---> Marker/OR
>
> Begin/AND
> Begin/OR
> d
> e
> f
> End
>
> ---> Marker/AND
>
> Begin/OR
> g
> h
> i
> End
> End
> End
>
> the parentheses were set correctly in the resulting search expression. In
> addition, when I opened the "Advanced query..." dialog in GroupWise, it
> showed the distinct groups just as they were supposed to be.
>
> Black and arcane art, indeed ;-)
>
> Best regards,
> Heinz