Is the search function broken on the forum?

[KK]

Whenever I try to do a serch on the forum it appears to me that only the last entry in every thread containing the search string is being displayed. A quick example:

Search for "Albert Hammond" and you will get one result each in Song Title Game (http://forum.atomclub.com/index.php/top ... l#msg53137) and Song Lyric Game (http://forum.atomclub.com/index.php/top ... l#msg45968. The behaviour is the same regardless of whether you put the search string in quotes (like "Albert Hammond") or use two adjacent words (like Albert Hammond) w/o quotes.

I however know that there's more of Albert Hammond in the Song Title Game as I myself have posted a few more songs. Some of the examples I would expect to get results for are (I guess even that's not a comptehensive list of all Albert Hammond songs posted so far):
http://forum.atomclub.com/index.php/top ... l#msg50538
http://forum.atomclub.com/index.php/top ... l#msg53137
http://forum.atomclub.com/index.php/top ... l#msg51559

The advanced search function allows some more options (like restricting the search to specific authors, message age, or boards amongst others), but works the same other than that.

Surely this can't be the expected behaviour of a search function. I would expect the result to contain every instance of the search string.

Any comments on what I would call a strange behaviour or is it me making mistakes here?

[ross]

I think this is simply the way the developers of the forum software have designed it to work.

Cheers, Ross.

[Alec]

I must admit I've found the search function very limited.

I think that's why we have so many threads repeating the same topics and asking the same questions.

[nickpoore]

Seems that SEARCH is a listed bug.

http://www.simplemachines.org/community ... c=134971.0

We're running v 1.0.9 and there is an upgrade available to 1.1.1

[KK]

[quote="nicpore"]
Seems that SEARCH is a listed bug.

http://www.simplemachines.org/community ... c=134971.0

We're running v 1.0.9 and there is an upgrade available to 1.1.1
[/quote]

I have already posted a query in the Simple Machines forum a few hours ago (http://www.simplemachines.org/community ... 08#p882608. The first answer which came through linked the problem to the spell checker:

[quote="Simple Machines Forum"]
I know this sounds crazy but do you have spell checking enabled?
Can you disable it if you do? I have seen issues with Spell Check and Search so see if that will fix it.
[/quote]

Ross any chance that you could try this out please?
I personally would much prefer a few typos in posts rather than the search function being of very limited benefit.

[Alec]

The spell check is not perfect either, at least not for "proper" English. 

[ross]

Okay, the spell checker is temporarily disabled.  Let me know if that makes any difference.

Cheers, Ross.

[KK]

[quote="Ross McWilliam"]
Okay, the spell checker is temporarily disabled. Let me know if that makes any difference.

Cheers, Ross.
[/quote]

Ross - no change so far, but I have reported the "no change status" back to the Simple Machines Forum (SMF). I you would not mind could you please leave the spell checker disabled for some more time so that the guys at the SMF get a chance to see themselves.

I will regularily check there and report any progress / new posts from the SMF back.

Thanks and best regards,

Klaus

[Driver]

Not going to do any good I'd think. SMF isn't going to troubleshoot an old version of software are they? We need to get up to 1.1.1 before they'll start "looking at it" and accepting responsibility for any bugs dontcha think? Particularly if it's a free upgrade. Wait, it is free. Open source so we at least need to get with it there.

[KK]

[quote="Driver"]
Not going to do any good I'd think. SMF isn't going to troubleshoot an old version of software are they?
[/quote]
So far I have not heard back that they refuse to look at it because it is not the latest version. And for sure so far there's been no harm in asking ...
Even a first answer / suggestion has already been provided.

[quote="Driver"]
We need to get up to 1.1.1 before they'll start "looking at it" and accepting responsibility for any bugs dontcha think? Particularly if it's a free upgrade. Wait, it is free. Open source so we at least need to get with it there.
[/quote]
It is not about accepting responsibility for bugs, but rather a quick fix / suggestion / hint that might be available to sort the issue out. It could turn our that there are only a few parameters to change ...
We all don't know yet, do we?
And BTW no suggestion / reply so far to install the latest version.

I did not want to put in a request to Ross to upgrade to the latest release if we can fix it any easier (this clearly remains to be seen). Release upgrades usually involve some work and somebody needs to do it ...
And also there is a danger that other stuff won't work after an upgrade, we are all painfully aware of that, aren't we?

But if you guys think an upgrade is the route to go - hey, I won't object, that's absolutely fine by me.

[KK]

Three new answers are here. The first one suggests to go back to an older version - as far as I understand pre 1.0.x unless the poster was not aware of our current release (probably my fault as I have not mentioned the current release in my earlier posts there):
[quote="Simple Machine Forum"]
If that has not fixed it some people have fixed search problems by reverting back to older version. You can't use the 1.0.x versions because of the great changes between the two versions. But you can use the RC versions. Look in Downloads -> Archives for this.
[/quote]

The second one confirms basically the problem which appears to be available in all 1.0.x versions (we seem to be running 1.0.9):
[quote="Simple Machines Forum"]
The 1.0.x versions have *exactly* the same problem with the Search function.  I'm currently running version 1.0.10, updated from 1.0.8 and 1.0.9, and that flawed Search function, just the way it's described above, has been present in all three 1.0 versions.
[/quote]

The third post, actually form a developer, suggests an upgrade to the latest release 1.1.1:
[quote="Simple Machines Forum"]
I know possibly not the most helpful reply but I would seriously recommend upgrading to 1.1.1. The search in SMF 1.0 was a little flawed in places and it could be related to this. The upgrade to 1.1.1 is relatively painless and search is so much faster in 1.1.1 you would not regret it.
[/quote]

Ross - I don't know whether upgrading to 1.1.1. is actually a feasable option? From my point of view a working search function would definitely be of big benefit to the forum.
By the looks of it, turning back on the spell checker should not really do any harm. Anyway, many thanks for giving it a try.

[ross]

No problem, I will plan to upgrade to the latest version at some point soon anyhow (for some reason the semi-automatic upgrader on our forum never works properly which makes this more tricky than it ought to be).

I'll re-enable the spell check now.

Cheers, Ross.