[ic] search results problem (WAS: gdbm bug?)

[Richard Seymour]

Mike Heins wrote:
> 
> Quoting Richard Seymour (rseymour@anarchysoftware.com):
> > > [item-field title] returns titles from rows 2,3,4 (not 1,2,3).
> > > [item-field type] returns nothing for rows 1,3. And the correct result for row 2.
> > > [item-field description] returns what [item-field type] should for rows 1,3. And the correct results for row 2.
> 
> [item-data poster title], unless that is the only match in multiple
> product files.

Thanks. That does seem to be the problem.

> If that is the problem, this is one of the oldest FAQs
> in Interchange/Minivend, and is covered at least 5 times in the FAQ
> and the docs.

I have read (and re-read) the documentation, and would *greatly*
appreciate any links to a good FAQ, because I have not seen this issue
spelled out explicitly anywhere. I did come across the following, which
is what led me to believe that, by specifying "fi=posters", my search
would be limited to the posters database. (It is previously stated that
"fi" is equivalent to "item_mv_search_file"):

From
http://ic.redhat.com/cgi-bin/ic/docfly?mv_arg=icdatabase05.11#item_mv_search_file
:

> mv_search_file
>
> In the text search, set this variable to the file(s) to be scanned 
> for a match. The default, if not set, is to scan the default 
> ProductFiles (i.e., products.txt). If set multiple times in a form 
> (for a text search), will cause a search all the files. One file 
> name per instance. 

Since I'm explicitly setting fi=posters, then the above indicates that
posters (not everything else) would be searched. (That's not how it
actually works, though.)

Any pointer to a good FAQ that covers this (and other issues), will help
me tremendously, and generate a lot less noise on this list. (I've got
five PDF docs printed out, and have read them over multiple times in the
last 8 weeks, but finding the answer to this ate up six hours of my
time, plus a few posts here.)

-- 
Richard Seymour : Anarchy Software, Inc.
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