WL#472 - Fuzzy Search

Cambiz · Post by **Cambiz** » 26 Jul 2012 20:37

I cleared all my wishlist votes and have started going through each wish again, carefully.

I've open up this particular one (and I didn't suggest it!) and I can see it has had very little attention - perhaps because of the description.

I feel the wish is valid and could probably be fulfilled by building an extension of Jane's Search All Possible Names plugin (which I'm always using).

The Search Loadsathings Plugin (I'm sure it could be more sensibly named) would include other search boxes for may other facts (life dates, places etc) and perhaps allow some user defined ones.

It would then work as a simple search engine for those times when building a query would not be worthwhile.

If you feel this is a good idea, I will re-spec the description.

I'm afraid I tried to start on the plugin but I have not even worked out how to get another search field on the selection form!

If you want to vote on it (even to shoot my idea down in flames) it is here

http://www.fhug.org.uk/wishlist/wldispl ... lwlref=472

ID:6414

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 27 Jul 2012 08:27

Chris have you looked at Search and Return Result set, that searches for text in any text based field.

Cambiz · Post by **Cambiz** » 27 Jul 2012 11:53

Jane,

That's not quite what I was thinking of

Here's a really rough mock-up of the sort of screen I was thinking of:

Obviously lot more fields with some kind of +1yr, +2yrs etc for dates

If it works the same way as your Search All Possible Names, the user could put in, say Smith, birth 1800 +/1 10 and get all those Smith* born 1790-1810 in the records. Or there could be a Place Of Birth so that the user could get everyone born in ROCKALL.

If it were a plug in the code could have internal instruction so that LUA illiterate users such as I could add simple searchable fields

Cambiz · Post by **Cambiz** » 27 Jul 2012 12:37

Actually WL#472 might be considered a duplicate of WL#41

RogerF · Post by **RogerF** » 27 Jul 2012 19:55

Chris, thank you for paying some serious attention to my wish for what I (obviously mistakenly) called Fuzzy Search. I think the key feature that you've maybe not picked up is the likeness to the Focus Window, in which three generations are displayed. The main point is not vagueness about one individual (though that's certainly a possibility) but about family context -- you have two or more related individuals, and you're looking for matches within or across generations. Your mockup focuses on one specific individual; that's not what I'm after. A mother with two daughters and a grandson; that's much more what I'd like to be able to match.

Post by **tatewise** » 28 Jul 2012 10:02

Roger ~ I know you have had a look at the Find Duplicate Individuals Plugin, and I wonder if it offers a solution to your request. Create a mini-tree for the Individuals you know about with their approximate or date range events, then run the Plugin with just these Individuals selected, and the Plugin will quickly search your data for the best matches.

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