Trying to do a keyword search but not sure how to use the contains method [modified]

[Dan Mos]

the .Contains() method is used to find items that Contain the specified "item". I would go for: 1) Predicate/Func or 2) A method like:

public bool MyContains(string tags, string user){
string[]separateWords = user.Split(" ");//just an example
foreach(var str in separateWords){
if(tags.Contains(str)){return true;}
}
return false;
}

If 2) change your where clause to something like this:

where MyContains(o.tags, usewrTags)

[tonyonlinux]

Thanks. I used method two and it works perfectly. I have one more question to ask. how would I I make it search where it contains both words? I see here it does a foreach on the split string and sees if it is inside the o.whatever and it works like it should if i enter say coke it finds everything that has coke in it. but if i specifically wanted the to display items containing where both the words exist in any sequence how would that be done ? Like if i have tags pizza coke drinker and another tag eggs coke and i enter in the search coke drinker. with the method you showed it would pull up both records. but i only want the one where BOTH words match? I'm sorry for all the questions this is really new to me. Thanks for your help.

[Dan Mos]

that's simple inverse the logic meaning

foreach(vat srt in words){
if (!tags.Contains(str)) {return false};
}
return true;//if it gets to this point means that it did not find a single word that is not
//contained in the tags so all of them were found

[tonyonlinux]

well duh :( I feel really dumb on that one cause like you say that was simple. Thanks again for your help I really appreciate it.

[Dan Mos]

no problem. And DONT feel dumb. I almost screw up my career some time ago because I felt dumb and did not have the patiance to read tones of documentation. But I didn't. Because other help me(not in here CP but you got the ideea) ;)

[tonyonlinux]

Thanks, I will take your advice. I read a lot but sometimes the examples are poor or simply wrong. Also, i have a hard time comprehending things (always have just a part of my life). Anyway, thanks for your kind words.

[tonyonlinux]

Hey I know we have talked on this before. Still have an issue with it a little bit. What is happening is if i type in say lifeskills i will get a result for that. and also the match all works where if i typed in lifeskills christmas. That works perfectly the problem is it checks for the "whole word". Is there a way to check for instance if you type in lifeskill instead of lifeskills it will find it or if you type in say bear instead of bears ? here is what i have so far thanks for your previous help by the way...

    public static IEnumerableGetbyKeywordLookup(string keywords)
    {
       
           var results = from o in BookProxy.Readall()
          //var results = from o in BookProxy.ReadallbyTags(keywords)
                      where MyContains(o.TagName,keywords.Trim())
                      
                      select new GridProxy
                      {
                          Author = string.Format("{0} {1}", o.AuthorFirstname, o.AuthorSurname),
                          AuthorID = o.AuthorID,
                          AuthorFirst = o.AuthorFirstname,
                          AuthorSurname = o.AuthorSurname,
                          TagID = o.TagID,
                          BookID = o.bookID,
                          ISBN = o.ISBN,
                          BookNumber = o.RefNumber,
                          BookTitle = o.Title,
                          Count = BookNumberProxy.getall().Count(c => c.BOOK\_ID == o.bookID)
                      };
           printerlist = results.ToList();
        var distinct = results.GroupBy(o => o.ISBN).Select(o => o.FirstOrDefault());
        return distinct.ToList();
    }

    public static IEnumerable GetbyKeywordLookupAll(string keywords)
    {
        
        var results = from o in BookProxy.Readall()
                      where MyContainsAll(o.TagName, keywords.Trim())

                      select new GridProxy
                      {
                          Author = string.Format("{0} {1}", o.AuthorFirstname, o.AuthorSurname),
                          AuthorID = o.AuthorID,
                          AuthorFirst = o.AuthorFirstname,
                          AuthorSurname = o.AuthorSurname,
                          TagID = o.TagID,
                          BookID = o.bookID,
                          ISBN = o.ISBN,

[Dan Mos]

Hy,

tonyonlinux wrote:

Is there a way to check for instance if you type in lifeskill instead of lifeskills it will find it or if you type in say bear instead of bears ?

Your methods are [Edit] NOT [/Edit] OK. [Edit] Don't split the tag(s) If you use List.Contains(item) it will call the Equals Method of the underling type in this case string. Ex:

"Apples Oranges".Contains("Apple")=>true
"Apples Oranges".Contains("Orange")=>true

But myList.Add("Apples");
myList.Add("Oranges");

and then call myList.Contains("Apple") =>false

[/Edit] Anyway: Suppose we have a tag of "My lions are eating lots of food". And user input "lion lot"; Well this code will find both of them and as a bonus return the hole word from tag => eg lions for lion and lots for lot.

string tag = "My lions are eating lots of food";
string user = "lion lot";

List<String> matches = new List<string>();

string[] words = user.Split(' ');
foreach (var item in words)
{
if (tag.Contains(item))//it finds 'lion' in 'lions' and 'lot' in 'lots'
{
matches.Add(GetFullItem(tag, item));//returns the full word from the tags
//eg lions for lion...
}
}

//and here's a GetFullItem
private string GetFullItem(string tag, string item)
{
//get start of the word (the location/index)
int idxStrat = tag.IndexOf(item);
//get the First Index of space after the start location for the current word
//=>the idxEnd
int idxEnd = tag.IndexOf(" ", idxStrat);
//now get the length
int length = idxEnd-idxStrat;
//finally return the hole string( eg lions instead of lion and lots instead of lot
return tag.Substring(idxStart,length);
}

modified on Sunday, March 7, 2010 10:36 AM

[tonyonlinux]

so your are saying do this ?

private static bool MyContains(string tags, string user)
{

        List seperatewords = new List(user.Split(' ').ToList());
        List seperateTags = new List(tags.Split(' ').ToList());
        //new
        List matches = new List();
        foreach (var str in seperatewords)
        {
            string stringvalue = str.ToString();
            //new 
            if (tags.Contains(str))
            {
                matches.Add(GetfullText(tags, str));
                
            }

            //end new
            //original  if (seperateTags.Contains(str, StringComparer.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase)) { return true; }
            if (tags.Contains(matches.ToString(), StringComparer.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase)) { return true; }
        }
        return false;
    }

    private static string GetfullText(string tags, string str)
    {
        //get start of the word (the location/index)
        int idxStrat = tags.IndexOf(str);
        //get the First Index of space after the start location for the current word
        //=>the idxEnd
        int idxEnd = tags.IndexOf(" ", idxStrat);
        //now get the length
        int length = idxEnd - idxStrat;
        //finally return the hole string( eg lions instead of lion and lots instead of lot
        return tags.ToString().Substring(idxStrat, length); ;
    }

:( i'm confused still sorry

[Dan Mos]

No I, saying to do this:

private static bool MyContains(string tags, string user)
{
List seperatewords = new List(user.Split(' ').ToList());
//List seperateTags = new List(tags.Split(' ').ToList());//get rid of this
foreach (var str in seperatewords)
{
string stringvalue = str.ToString();
if (tags.Contains(str))
{
//matches.Add(...) this is optional just an example but you don't really need it
return true;
}
}
return false;

[tonyonlinux]

thanks for your help but it is still not working. I tried what you posted above. but i get no results what so ever now. I think it has something to do with not having the stringcomparer.cultureignorecase in there. I tried to put it back in there but it doesn't like the fact that tags is not that of a list :(

[tonyonlinux]

nevermind i think i got it it looks like i did anyway when i ran some test. I simply took and did the following on the if statement.

if (tags.toUpper().Contains(str.ToUpper))
{
return true;
}

thanks again

[Dan Mos]

OK. Maybe I understood you wrong. Here's what I think you need to acomplish => correct me if I'm wrong. So, you need to get like all the data about books based on the book keywords/tags and the keywords introduced by user. If that's what you need then this is a working solution: (feel free to create a new windows app, add 2 buttons and paste the code to check):

/// <summary>
/// check if contains any keywords
/// </summary>
/// <param name="sender"></param>
/// <param name="e"></param>
private void btnContainsAny_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string tags = "science fiction futurist 1024 cores 25 GHz";
string user = "fiction core";
if (MyContainsAny(tags, user))
{
string message =
String.Format("At least one keyword form \"{0}\" was found in \r\n" +
"\"{1}\"", user, tags);
MessageBox.Show(message);
}
}

    /// <summary>
    /// check if contains all keywords
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="sender"></param>
    /// <param name="e"></param>
    private void btnContainsAll\_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        string tags = "science fiction futurist 1024 cores 25 GHz";
        string user = "fiction core";
        if (MyContainsAll(tags, user))
        {
            string message =
                String.Format("All the keywords form \\"{0}\\" were found in \\r\\n" +
                "\\"{1}\\"", user, tags);
            MessageBox.Show(message);//as you can see it finds core in cores
        }
    }        


    /// <summary>
    /// used to see if the tag contains ANY of the keywords introduced by user
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="tag"></param>
    /// <param name="userData"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    private bool MyContainsAny(string tag, string userData)
    {
        string\[\] words = userData.Trim().Split(" ");
        foreach (var item in words)
        {
            if (tag.Contains(item)) { return true; }
        }
        return false;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// used to see if the tag contains ALL of the keywords introduced by user
    /// </