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#1 2008-03-05 11:56:38
- redbot
- Plugin Author
- Registered: 2006-02-14
- Posts: 1,410
OR logic in custom_article
Hi,
I was wondering if it would make sense to add a new “logic= AND|OR” attribute to the “article_custom” tag.
I’ll try to explain it better: usually article_custom is called like this:
<txp:article_custom section="x" my_custom_field="y" />This way the tag returns a list of articles which belong to section “x” AND have the custom field “my_custom_field” equal to “y”.
BUT
Sometimes I’d find very useful to have the possibility to list all articles which belong to section “x” or have the custom field “my_custom_field” equal to “y” calling the article_custom tag this way:
<txp:article_custom section="x" my_custom_field="y" logic="or" />For a ‘real’ example suppose I want the home page to show a listing of updates to the site.
I want to include automatically all articles belonging to section “news” and – only when I want to – articles coming from another section.
So, in this scenario, when I want to include in the list an article not belonging to section “news” I could simply fill a certain custom field (or set a certain category).
I hope it makes some sense. Maybe there is already an easy way to do this but I wasn’t able to find it.
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Re: OR logic in custom_article
I think that would make the plugin code too complex, if we allow for all possible boolean combinations between various fields. Perhaps for the experienced users, we should offer an attribute “where”, that can contain part of the SQL query to restrict results. That’s more flexible, but also more error-prone, because users would have to be careful to supply a valid part of an SQL query.
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#3 2008-03-06 01:13:21
- redbot
- Plugin Author
- Registered: 2006-02-14
- Posts: 1,410
Re: OR logic in custom_article
Thanks for your answer ruud
though – probably due to my programming ignorance – I’m not sure I understood what you mean.
More specifically why you mention “all possible boolean combinations between various fields” ?
I thought I was referring only to two kind of boolean combinations between all fields
is there a great difference in terms of complexity between a query like this:
SELECT * FROM table WHERE a=b AND c=d AND e=f
and this:
SELECT * FROM table WHERE a=b OR c=d OR e=f?
Your “where” attribute idea seems interesting to me but, once again, I’m not sure I understood: I proposed an attribute to widen the results of the query, not to restrict it further.
Ok, for sure I misunderstood (OR I’m too ignorant to follow you;)) anyway thanks again for your answer
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Re: OR logic in custom_article
You’re asking for OR, some others will ask for a combination or AND + OR.
What I suggest is that the user can create the part of the SQL query that restricts the results all by himself and can supply it as an argument to the article tag. That way, people who know a bit of SQL can basically use any combination of AND / OR or whatever boolean operator they prefer.
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#5 2008-03-06 10:28:21
- redbot
- Plugin Author
- Registered: 2006-02-14
- Posts: 1,410
Re: OR logic in custom_article
Ok Ruud now I see, you were simply considerig a (lot) more advanced solution compared to the one I imagined.
Said that, your idea sounds great. Can I hope it will be some way implemented in the future?
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#6 2008-03-07 15:49:13
- Mary
- Sock Enthusiast
- Registered: 2004-06-27
- Posts: 6,236
Re: OR logic in custom_article
Actually, I’ve thought before that we could benefit from a tag that could show the results of any SQL query. That would help in a lot of situations.
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Re: OR logic in custom_article
>redbot
There’s a few powerful conditional plugins that might help. (and yes I know that last one wasn’t technically a conditional.)
Last edited by mrdale (2008-03-07 16:22:28)
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Re: OR logic in custom_article
I was thinking more about making article(_custom) more flexible so all those plugins that essentially do the same thing only with a customized query could be replaced.
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#9 2008-03-07 18:10:14
- redbot
- Plugin Author
- Registered: 2006-02-14
- Posts: 1,410
Re: OR logic in custom_article
mrdale wrote:
There’s a few powerful conditional plugins that might help. (and yes I know that last one wasn’t technically a conditional.)
Thanks mrdale I know and have used some of them (and of course I couldn’t live without asy_wondertag) nonetheless the possibility
offered by an OR option or – even better – by an “any SQL query” option, as Mary sais, would help and simplify things in a lot of situations.
Anyway I must admit I never heard of ptv_if, it seems interesting…
ruud wrote
I was thinking more about making article(_custom) more flexible so all those plugins that essentially do the same thing only with a customized query could be replaced.
I was thinking the same
Last edited by redbot (2008-03-07 19:21:11)
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#10 2008-06-04 15:58:57
- alice_c
- Plugin Author
- From: Karlsruhe, Germany
- Registered: 2004-07-03
- Posts: 33
Re: OR logic in custom_article
Hi,
what is the status about there where-condition in article_custom? I really think this would help in lots of cases,
where I have a huge workaround…
Example: show only articles where custom_field greater than today (useful if you use articles for events..).
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Re: OR logic in custom_article
redbot wrote:
or – even better – by an “any SQL query” option, as Mary sais, would help and simplify things in a lot of situations.
Anyway I must admit I never heard of ptv_if, it seems interesting…
Remember to thank your favorite Brit.
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#12 2008-06-04 23:48:51
- redbot
- Plugin Author
- Registered: 2006-02-14
- Posts: 1,410
Re: OR logic in custom_article
alice-c,
this is what you’re looking for
mrdale wrote:
Remember to thank your favorite Brit.
Yep I remembered, look for the first comment after the plugin was released ;)
Last edited by redbot (2008-06-04 23:50:49)
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