Searching - does it work?

[Paolo F Cantoni]

I was looking in the database to determine which diagram held a particular connector.

The DB told me the diagram was named: Item

I've got a pretty complex model - which I haven't been close to for some time, so I wasn't sure where it find it in the model.

I know, I thought; I'll use the new Search facility!

I entered:  Search term: Item  Search List: Extended

And while it found three pages of stuff, it did not find any diagrams containing the word Item.  

Should it have?  In other words, was it user error again?

TIA,
Paolo

[thomaskilian]

It does not search diagrams, just elements and such stuff.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

It does not search diagrams, just elements and such stuff.

Interestingly, the Search function on the browser DOES find it...

Consistency, Consistency, Consistency! ^TM

Paolo

[thomaskilian]

Ha! I never used that function but just found out that I quite often needed it. At least I'm a bit wiser now

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Further observations:

If the element in the browser has a stereotype, it will inhibit the finding of the search string (in the search project browser search function - as opposed to the other search functions)  Note: Searches are Exact (because I know what I'm looking for...)

Example:
Class: Counter
Search for: Counter
Found!      
Add stereotype «domain»
Search for: Counter
NOT Found!      
Search for: «domain» Counter
Found!      

Consistency, Consistency, Consistency! ^TM

Paolo

[thomaskilian]

Paolo, I suppose this is a bug. Probably you already sent this to Sparx...

[Eve]

If this behaviour is an issue you can turn off the display of stereotypes in the tree.  (Tools | Options | General | Project Browser | Show Stereotypes)

Note that if searching for operations in this manner you will need to include the parenthesis and any parameter types.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

If this behaviour is an issue you can turn off the display of stereotypes in the tree.  (Tools | Options | General | Project Browser | Show Stereotypes)

Note that if searching for operations in this manner you will need to include the parenthesis and any parameter types.

With respect, Simon, that isn't the point...

It's broken...

Paolo

[Eve]

I didn't comment about whether it should or shouldn't behave this way because I didn't want to get into an argument about it.

You're searching the tree for an element with exactly the text specified.  From that point of view it is working correctly.

So perhaps what you want is an option to exclude the stereotype.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

I didn't comment about whether it should or shouldn't behave this way because I didn't want to get into an argument about it.

You're searching the tree for an element with exactly the text specified.  From that point of view it is working correctly.

So perhaps what you want is an option to exclude the stereotype.

No, I THOUGHT I was searching for an element whose NAME was EXACTLY that... (If it's a method then I'm not interested in the parameters).

EA already appears to have at least 4 types of "SEARCHES" each with different mechanisms, scopes, triggers and outcomes.

In an application with structured data, finding and searching is NOT about looking in arbitrarily constructed strings...
It's BROKEN!

Now I agree at least two types of lookup is required...

• The FIND type - within a scope, search in a specified direction, if found goto the first occurrence.  FINDNEXT will find the next occurrence in the specified direction.
  
• The SEARCH type - provide a report of all the occurrences in a given scope.  Selecting a result entry should go there...

Both search types will also need depth criteria (similar to the field selections in the current Advanced Searching)

Paolo