auth_level ^ (5,7,14)

instead of having to do

auth_level = 5 OR auth_level = 7 OR auth_level = 14

Same goes for:

first_name !^ ('chris', 'peter')

instead of having

first_name != 'chris' and  first_name != 'peter'

Except for the new feature we have one bug fixed in this release.

• When using external methods that returns an empty hash, incorrect SQL is generated

Many thanks to Ohad Levy for taking the time to report the bugs.

The release is available to download from rubygems.org . Sources can be found in github

Changes from last release(2.3.5):

• when external methods create an empty conditions string,  an invalid sql is produced.
• suggest value completion after operators without typing a space.
• safer code to prevent possible null pointer exception in the auto completer.

Many thanks to Brad Backingham and Steve Traylen for taking the time to report the bugs.

All the fixed bugs are related to the auto-completer component.

Changes from last release(2.3.4):

• value and key-name auto completer may produce abiguoes sql.
• fixed value auto-completer sql exception when single quote is used.
• fixed value completion after the first quotes.
• auto-completer fails when query starts with “or “

Many thanks to Brad Backingham,  Eric Helms  and Jeff Weiss  for taking the time to report the bugs.

Changes from last release(2.3.3):

• Fixed: Missing table name in the auto_completer distinct phrase may cause ambiguous sql query. Reported by Brad Backingham.
• Fixed: Null pointer exception on dot as a search string.  Reported by Eric Thomas (https://github.com/wvanbergen/scoped_search/issues/14)
• Fixed: Foreman bug #1181: Host searching returns duplicates (or-ed facts). Reported and fixed by Tim Speetjens (http://theforeman.org/issues/1181 )

Many thanks to Brad Backingham,  Eric Thomas and Tim Speetjens for taking the time to report bugs, and send patches.

2.3.2 was skipped by mistake. I made  an error when running the release script.

Changes from last release(2.3.1):

• Auto-completer results can now be filtered, For usage see:

permission-model-for-the-search

• Fixed issue with decimal columns

https://github.com/wvanbergen/scoped_search/issues/12

• Auto completer ajax controller can now pass a filter parameter to the auto-completer method in addition to the search string.

usage:

<%= auto_complete_field_tag_jquery(
:search,
params[:search],
{:placeholder => 'Type Space for Search Options'},
{:filter => 'new filter option'}) %>

The syntax to control the auto-completer suggested operator list is to add :operators => { ‘=’, ‘!=’ } to the scoped_search command.

Scoped search is able to expose multiplexed filed by specifying the offset and word size. In the common case of multiplexing booleans, the word size is 1.

scoped_search :on => :counters, :offset => 0 , :word_size => 6, :rename => :applied
scoped_search :on => :counters, :offset => 1 , :word_size => 6, :rename => :skipped

The search syntax will expose the multiplexed column as multiple columns.

The ajax auto-completer drop-down comes in two flavors one for JQuery and the other for Prototype. The code samples in this post will use the JQuery flavor.

Here is an example of the auto-completer ajax drop-down usage, in the view place the following form tag where you want the search box to show:

<%= form_tag books_path, :method => :get do %>
  <%= auto_complete_field_tag_jquery(:search, params[:search], {:placeholder => "Filter ..."}) %>
  <button id='submit_search'">Search</button>
<% end -%>

To control the look of the search box use the following css classes: ui-autocomplete-input, ui-autocomplete-loading and ui-autocomplete-error. The auto_complete_field_tag_jquery accepts additional options hash for further controlling it’s behavior such as delay and min_length.

Another useful helper method is the sort helper. The sort helper draws an arrow at the top of the sorted column pointing to the sort direction, it also adds order parameter to the url. Together with the ability of the scoped_search to add an order-by sql clause, it makes a complete sorting solution. The reason for sending a new request to the database instead of sorting in the client is that many applications uses pagination. When using pagination client side sort may cause wrong results. Here is an example of using the sort helper:

<table>
  <tr>
    <th><%= sort :name %></th>
    <th><%= sort :"author.last", :as => "Author" %></th>
  </tr>
  <% for book in @books %>
    <tr>
      <td><%= book.name %></td>
      <td><%= book.author %></td>
      <td><%= link_to "Show", book %></td>
      <td><%= link_to "Edit", edit_book_path(book) %></td>
      <td><%= link_to "Destroy", book, :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete %></td>
    </tr>
  <% end %>
</table>

For example:

 scope :my_hosts, lambda {
where("owner_id = ?", User.current.id)
}
Host.my_hosts.search_for(query)

In the above code :my_hosts is the RBAC scope (defined in lines 1 to 3). In line 4 the search is chained to the RBAC scope.

For the auto-completer there is a new way of filtering the results in a similar way. In the Model we can define a scope called :compelter_scope , this scope should accept an options hash. The options hash is a way to pass parameters from the controller, such as the current user.

For example:
Model code:

scope :completer_scope, lambda { |options|
  where('owner_id = ?', options[:owner_id])
}

Controller code:

def auto_complete_search
  @items = Host.complete_for(params[:search], {:owner_id => User.current.id})
  render :json => @items
end

To read more about named scopes, here is a link to a detailed post on the subject: Skinny on scopes