Searches which include non-numeric or alphabetic characters?

[Webmaster - Dave's Discou]

I'm having a bit of difficulty configuring my store search the way I'd like
it.
Using SS 8 Pro - all possible fields are checked as indexed for search, and
indexing for numbers is turned on also.

The trouble: searches for numbers and alphabetic characters all work
properly, but searches for words which START with a special character do not
return results properly.

For example, a search for ".04" finds a product where .04 is included in a
word in the product description (but the word does not begin with . - 3.04)
http://www.davesmotors.com/store/product1088.html
However, that search does not return results for this product, which should
be found because it includes .04 in the item title (but here, the word
begins with . - .040)
http://www.davesmotors.com/store/product37.html

Is this a bug in the search?

http://www.davesmotors.com/store/index.html

[Webmaster - Dave's Discou]

No response? Can no one duplicate on their installs? At the very least, one
of the SS reps could follow the links I posted and point me in the right
direction


"Webmaster - Dave's Discount Motors" <webmaster@davesmotors.com> wrote in
message news:dvmo64$pdu$1@eval.shopsite.com...

I'm having a bit of difficulty configuring my store search the way I'd
like it.
Using SS 8 Pro - all possible fields are checked as indexed for search,
and indexing for numbers is turned on also.

The trouble: searches for numbers and alphabetic characters all work
properly, but searches for words which START with a special character do
not return results properly.

For example, a search for ".04" finds a product where .04 is included in a
word in the product description (but the word does not begin with . -
3.04)
http://www.davesmotors.com/store/product1088.html
However, that search does not return results for this product, which
should be found because it includes .04 in the item title (but here, the
word begins with . - .040)
http://www.davesmotors.com/store/product37.html

Is this a bug in the search?

http://www.davesmotors.com/store/index.html

[jim]

What search settings do you have configured under Preferences > Search
Settings > Search Layout in the Advanced Search section? Especially
the Search Terms Are: section?

The ShopSite search is a "word" search and not a "string" search and
some characters are designated as word separators. I would think that
characters such as . , ; etc would be word separators and aren't
actually indexed. So when you search for .04 it is probably ignoring the
.. and just searching for 04.

Jim

Webmaster - Dave's Discount Motors wrote:

No response? Can no one duplicate on their installs? At the very least, one
of the SS reps could follow the links I posted and point me in the right
direction


"Webmaster - Dave's Discount Motors" <webmaster@davesmotors.com> wrote in
message news:dvmo64$pdu$1@eval.shopsite.com...
I'm having a bit of difficulty configuring my store search the way I'd
like it.
Using SS 8 Pro - all possible fields are checked as indexed for search,
and indexing for numbers is turned on also.

The trouble: searches for numbers and alphabetic characters all work
properly, but searches for words which START with a special character do
not return results properly.

For example, a search for ".04" finds a product where .04 is included in a
word in the product description (but the word does not begin with . -
3.04)
http://www.davesmotors.com/store/product1088.html
However, that search does not return results for this product, which
should be found because it includes .04 in the item title (but here, the
word begins with . - .040)
http://www.davesmotors.com/store/product37.html

Is this a bug in the search?

http://www.davesmotors.com/store/index.html

[Webmaster - Dave's Discou]

I'm using the following settings:
Search terms are: STEMS, with the check boxes checked for stems on both
sides.

When the search terms are: WORDS, the problem does not manifest itself (i.e.
a search for ".040" properly returns a product with this in the title.). A
search for 040 also returns the desired result, because the initial search
comes up empty and an auto-re-search with stems is performed. I cannot use
this option, however, becase this often a WORD search will hit at least one
result (though not the desired one) and in these cases the auto-re-search
with stems is not performed.

I MUST use STEMS searching (i.e. I need my customers to be able to find the
product in question by searching for 04, and .04, and 40, etc - which they
cannot do with WORDS searching.)

For STEMS searching:
When the wildcard check boxes (*STEM* on the search layout page) are both
cleared:
A basic search for .040 returns nothing.
A search for .040 with the advanced search checkbox filled returns the
product in question.
A basic search for 040 returns two products, including the product in
question.
A search for 040 with the advanced search checkbox filled returns the
product in question

When only the trailing wildcard check box is filled:
A basic search for .040 returns nothing.
A search for .040 with the advanced search checkbox filled returns the
product in question.
A basic search for 040 returns two products, including the product in
question.
A search for 040 with the advanced search checkbox filled returns the
product in question

When only the leading wildcard check box is filled:
A basic search for .040 returns nothing.
A search for .040 with the advanced search checkbox filled returns the
product in question.
A basic search for 040 returns three products, including the product in
question.
A search for 040 with the advanced search checkbox filled returns the
product in question

When both check boxes are filled:
A basic search for .040 returns nothing.
A search for .040 with the advanced search checkbox filled returns the
product in question.
A basic search for 040 returns four products, including the product in
question.
A search for 040 with the advanced search checkbox filled returns the
product in question

So, it appears the problem manifests itself when using basic searching with
stems, when the product has a special character at the beginning of the
desired search phrase. (Clearly, SS is not ignoring the special character
and just searching for the remainder of the search string. It would be nice
if it did, though, because then a search for .040 would actually be a search
for 040, and would return the desired product.)

In the meantime, to mitigate the problem, I've set Advanced Search to
'ALWAYS', and Default Advanced Search Field to 'ADVANCED'.

Can anyone shed some light on the difference between advanced and basic
searching? The SS documentation gives no indication as to why .040 would be
a match in advanced, and not in basic...

"jim" <jstavast@xmission.com> wrote in message
news:dvqkvd$5g0$1@eval.shopsite.com...

What search settings do you have configured under Preferences > Search
Settings > Search Layout in the Advanced Search section? Especially the
Search Terms Are: section?

The ShopSite search is a "word" search and not a "string" search and some
characters are designated as word separators. I would think that
characters such as . , ; etc would be word separators and aren't actually
indexed. So when you search for .04 it is probably ignoring the . and just
searching for 04.

Jim