How can I make CONTAINS query work for a date range

Question

In either 9i or 10g (eventual). I have a CONTEXT index that contains multiple columns from multiple tables and using a USER_DATASTORE. E.g., I have names that come from 3 different table locations and dates that come from 4. I can index them fine but how can I perform a single consolidated CONTAINS query against the single CONTEXT index to do the following:
smith WITHIN lname AND john WITHIN fname AND dob BETWEEN '19870315' and '19970315'
I know that I can use a mixed query but this is inefficient (esp since I have birth dates in multiple tables). Is there any algorithm for a range operator (>, <, between?) within the CONTAINS operator?
CTXCAT index is not an option, as I have many text columns I am searching.
Thanks!

Answer 1

When you run the cdstore.sql, in addition to creating the ctx_cd package, it also creates the friedman package that contains the algorithm that the ctx_cd package uses. You could use the functions from that friedman package in your procedure for your user_datastore and in the creation of your query string, as demonstrated below.
SCOTT@orcl_11g> CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE my_proc
  2    (p_rowid IN           ROWID,
  3       p_clob     IN OUT NOCOPY CLOB)
  4  AS
  5  BEGIN
  6    FOR r IN
  7        (SELECT emp.ename, emp.job, emp.hiredate, dept.dname
  8         FROM      emp, dept
  9         WHERE  emp.deptno = dept.deptno
10         AND      emp.ROWID = p_rowid)
11    LOOP
12        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND (p_clob, 7, '<ename>');
13        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND (p_clob, LENGTH (r.ename), r.ename);
14        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND (p_clob, 8, '</ename>');
15        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND (p_clob, 5, '<job>');
16        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND (p_clob, LENGTH (r.job), r.job);
17        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND (p_clob, 6, '</job>');
18        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND (p_clob, 7, '<dname>');
19        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND (p_clob, LENGTH (r.dname), r.dname);
20        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND (p_clob, 8, '</dname>');
21        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND (p_clob, 10, '<hiredate>');
22        -- apply friedman algorithm to date column ------------------
23        friedman.init
24          (TO_NUMBER (TO_CHAR (TO_DATE (19000101, 'YYYYMMDD'), 'J')),
25           TO_NUMBER (TO_CHAR (TO_DATE (21001231, 'YYYYMMDD'), 'J')));
26        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND
27          (p_clob,
28           LENGTH (friedman.encodedate (r.hiredate)),
29           friedman.encodedate (r.hiredate));
30        --------------------------------------------------------------
31        DBMS_LOB.WRITEAPPEND (p_clob, 11, '</hiredate>');
32    END LOOP;
33  END my_proc;
34  /
Procedure created.
SCOTT@orcl_11g> SHOW ERRORS
No errors.
SCOTT@orcl_11g> BEGIN
  2    CTX_DDL.CREATE_PREFERENCE ('my_datastore', 'USER_DATASTORE');
  3    CTX_DDL.SET_ATTRIBUTE      ('my_datastore', 'PROCEDURE', 'my_proc');
  4  END;
  5  /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SCOTT@orcl_11g> CREATE INDEX my_index ON emp (ename)
  2  INDEXTYPE IS CTXSYS.CONTEXT
  3  PARAMETERS
  4    ('DATASTORE     my_datastore
  5        SECTION GROUP CTXSYS.AUTO_SECTION_GROUP')
  6  /
Index created.
SCOTT@orcl_11g> EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS (USER, 'DEPT')
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SCOTT@orcl_11g> EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS (USER, 'EMP')
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SCOTT@orcl_11g> VARIABLE cstring VARCHAR2(4000)
SCOTT@orcl_11g> BEGIN
  2    :cstring := 'smith WITHIN ename';
  3    :cstring := :cstring || ' AND ' || 'clerk WITHIN job';
  4    :cstring := :cstring || ' AND ' || 'research WITHIN dname';
  5    -- apply friedman algorithm to search criteria ---------------------------
  6    friedman.init
  7        (TO_NUMBER (TO_CHAR (TO_DATE (19000101, 'YYYYMMDD'), 'J')),
  8         TO_NUMBER (TO_CHAR (TO_DATE (21001231, 'YYYYMMDD'), 'J')));
  9    :cstring := :cstring || ' AND ((' ||
10               friedman.integercontainscriteria
11                 (TO_NUMBER (TO_CHAR (TO_DATE ('19800315', 'YYYYMMDD'), 'J')),
12                  TO_NUMBER (TO_CHAR (TO_DATE ('19810315', 'YYYYMMDD'), 'J')),
13                  'B')
14               || ') WITHIN hiredate)';
15    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
16  END;
17  /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SCOTT@orcl_11g> SET AUTOTRACE ON EXPLAIN
SCOTT@orcl_11g> SELECT *
  2  FROM   emp
  3  WHERE  CONTAINS (ename, :cstring) > 0
  4  /
     EMPNO ENAME      JOB              MGR HIREDATE         SAL       COMM     DEPTNO
      7369 SMITH      CLERK           7902 17-DEC-80        800                    20
Execution Plan
Plan hash value: 1887222286
| Id  | Operation                   | Name     | Rows  | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time     |
|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT            |          |     1 |    37 |     4   (0)| 00:00:01 |
|   1 |  TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| EMP      |     1 |    37 |     4   (0)| 00:00:01 |
|*  2 |   DOMAIN INDEX              | MY_INDEX |       |       |     4   (0)| 00:00:01 |
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
   2 - access("CTXSYS"."CONTAINS"("ENAME",:CSTRING)>0)
SCOTT@orcl_11g>