[ic] Tricky coordinated searches mixing broad and specific matches

[Ed LaFrance]

Hi All -

I've always had trouble composing coordinated searches which can 
successfully mix broad matches with very specific ones. To give an example:

[search-region search="
         fi=products
         st=db
         co=yes
         sf=description,comment,category
         se=coffee
         op=rm
         nu=0
         sf=inventory:quantity
         se=0
         op=>
         nu=1
         ml=99999
"]
...
[/search-region]

The idea is to find products that have something to do with coffee, that 
are in stock.  It does alright with the coffee part, but the stock 
filtering fails completely; out-of-stock items are right in there with 
in-stock ones.

Simplifying the search a bit:

search-region search="
         fi=products
         st=db
         co=yes
         sf=description
         se=coffee
         op=rm
         nu=0
         sf=inventory:quantity
         se=0
         op=>
         nu=1
         ml=99999
"]
...
[/search-region]

Now the stock filtering works, but the match is too specific - it finds 
items with 'coffee' in the description, but not 'coffees', for instance. 
This is not in accordance with how the rm operator is supposed to work, to 
my understanding.

What I really want is the first example, working the way I expect it to.  I 
guess an SQL query would be the best way to go, but this particular site 
uses the GDBM, and I'm not sure the an SQL dbms is even available to them.

I don't presume to be a search guru, anyone out there have any suggestions 
on a better way to tackle a situation like this?

Thanks in advance.

- Ed L.


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