237 lines
8.7 KiB
ReStructuredText
237 lines
8.7 KiB
ReStructuredText
Search View
|
|
===========
|
|
|
|
OpenERP Web 6.2 implements a unified facets-based search view instead
|
|
of the previous form-like search view (composed of buttons and
|
|
multiple fields). The goal for this change is twofold:
|
|
|
|
* Avoid the common issue of users confusing the search view with a
|
|
form view and trying to create their records through it (or entering
|
|
all their data, hitting the ``Create`` button expecting their record
|
|
to be created and losing everything).
|
|
|
|
* Improve the looks and behaviors of the view, and the fit within
|
|
OpenERP Web's new design.
|
|
|
|
The faceted search is implemented through a monkey-patched
|
|
`VisualSearch <http://documentcloud.github.com/visualsearch/>`_
|
|
[#]_. VisualSearch is based on `Backbone
|
|
<http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/>`_ and makes significant
|
|
use of Backbone's models and views. As a result, understanding the
|
|
implementation of the OpenERP Web 6.2 search view also requires a
|
|
basic understanding of Backbone.
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
This document may mention *fetching* data. This is a shortcut for
|
|
"returning a deferred to [whatever is being fetched]". Unless
|
|
further noted, the function or method may opt to return nothing by
|
|
fetching ``null`` (which can easily be done by returning
|
|
``$.when(null)``, which simply wraps the ``null`` in a Deferred).
|
|
|
|
Interaction between the Search View and VisualSearch
|
|
----------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
The core data abstraction in VisualSearch is
|
|
:js:class:`VS.model.SearchQuery`, a backbone Collection holding
|
|
instances of the :js:class:`VS.model.SearchFacet` backbone Model.
|
|
|
|
Backbone models can hold any number of informal properties interacted
|
|
with through the :js:func:`~Backbone.Model.get` and
|
|
:js:func:`~Backbone.Model.set` methods. VisualSearch reserves three
|
|
such properties for its behavior, these properties *must* be correctly
|
|
set on all search facets created programmatically:
|
|
|
|
``app``
|
|
a reference to the VisualSearch instance using this facet. In the
|
|
search view, this instance is available as the
|
|
:js:attr:`~openerp.web.SearchView.vs` attribute to the searchview
|
|
instance.
|
|
|
|
``category``
|
|
the *name* of the facet, displayed in the first section of a facet
|
|
view. The category *may* be ``null``.
|
|
|
|
``value``
|
|
the *displayed value* of the facet, it is directly printed to the
|
|
right of the category.
|
|
|
|
The search view uses additional keys to store state and data it needs
|
|
to associate with facet objects:
|
|
|
|
``field``
|
|
the search field instance which created the facet, optional. May or
|
|
may not be inferrable from ``category``.
|
|
|
|
``json``
|
|
the "logical" value of the facet, can be absent if the logical and
|
|
"printable" values of the facet are the same (e.g. for a basic text
|
|
field).
|
|
|
|
This value may be a complex javascript object such as an array or an
|
|
object (the name stands for json-compatible value, it is not
|
|
JSON-encoded).
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
in order to simplify getting the logical value of a search facet
|
|
model, :js:class:`VS.model.SearchFacet` has been extended with a
|
|
:js:func:`~VS.model.SearchFacet.value` method
|
|
|
|
Extensions and patches to VisualSearch
|
|
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
|
|
.. js:function:: VS.model.SearchFacet.value()
|
|
|
|
Bundles the logic of selecting between ``json`` and ``value`` in
|
|
order to get the logical value of a facet.
|
|
|
|
.. js:attribute:: VS.options.callbacks.make_facet
|
|
|
|
Called by :js:class:`VS.ui.SearchBox` when it needs to create a
|
|
new search facet *view*. By default this is not supported by
|
|
VisualSearch, and requires monkey-patching
|
|
:js:func:`VS.ui.SearchBox.renderFacet`.
|
|
|
|
This patch should not alter any behavior if
|
|
:js:attr:`~VS.options.callbacks.make_facet` is not used.
|
|
|
|
.. js:attribute:: VS.options.callbacks.make_input
|
|
|
|
Similar to :js:attr:`~VS.options.callbacks.make_facet`, but called
|
|
when the :js:class:`~VS.ui.SearchBox` needs to create a search
|
|
input view. It requires monkey-patching
|
|
:js:func:`VS.ui.SearchBox.renderSearchInput`.
|
|
|
|
Finally, :js:func:`VS.ui.SearchBox.searchEvent` is monkey-patched to
|
|
get rid of its serialize/load round-tripping of facet data: the
|
|
additional attributes needed by the search view don't round-trip (at
|
|
all) so VisualSearch must not load any data from its (fairly
|
|
simplistic) text-serialization format.
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
a second issue is that — as of `commit 3fca87101d`_ — VisualSearch
|
|
correctly serializes facet categories containing spaces but is
|
|
unable to load them back in. It also does not handle facets with
|
|
*empty* categories correctly.
|
|
|
|
Loading Defaults
|
|
----------------
|
|
|
|
After loading the view data, the SearchView will call
|
|
:js:func:`openerp.web.search.Input.facet_for_defaults` with the
|
|
``defaults`` mapping of key:values (where each key corresponds to an
|
|
input). This method should look into the ``defaults`` mapping and
|
|
fetch the field's default value as a
|
|
:js:class:`~VS.models.SearchFacet` if applicable.
|
|
|
|
The default implementation is to check if there is a default value for
|
|
the current input's name (via
|
|
:js:attr:`openerp.web.search.Input.attrs.name`) and if there is to
|
|
convert this value to a :js:class:`~VS.models.SearchFacet` by calling
|
|
:js:func:`openerp.web.search.Input.facet_for`.
|
|
|
|
There is no built-in (default) implementation of
|
|
:js:func:`openerp.web.search.Input.facet_for`. This method should
|
|
fetch the :js:class:`~VS.models.SearchFacet` corresponding to the
|
|
"raw" value passed as argument.
|
|
|
|
Providing auto-completion
|
|
-------------------------
|
|
|
|
An important component of the unified search view is the faceted
|
|
autocompletion pane. In order to provide good user and developer
|
|
experiences, this pane is pluggable (value-wise): each and every
|
|
control of the search view can check for (and provide) categorized
|
|
auto-completions for a given value being typed by the user.
|
|
|
|
This is done by implementing
|
|
:js:func:`openerp.web.search.Input.complete`: the method is provided
|
|
with a value to complete, and should fetch an ``Array`` of completion
|
|
values. These completion values will then be provided to the global
|
|
autocompletion list, implemented via `jquery-ui autocomplete
|
|
<http://jqueryui.com/demos/autocomplete/>`_.
|
|
|
|
Because the search view uses a custom renderer for its completion, it
|
|
was possible to fix some incompatibilities between the attributes of
|
|
completion items and VisualSearch's facet model:
|
|
|
|
Actual completion items
|
|
+++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
|
|
These are selectable items, and upon selection are turned into actual
|
|
search facet objects. They should have all the properties of a search
|
|
facet (as described above) and can have one more optional property:
|
|
``label``.
|
|
|
|
When rendering an item in the list, the renderer will first try to use
|
|
the ``label`` property if it exists (``label`` can contain HTML and
|
|
will be inserted as-is, so it can bold or emphasize some of its
|
|
elements), if it does not it'll use the ``value`` property.
|
|
|
|
.. note:: the ``app`` key should not be specified on completion item,
|
|
it will be set automatically when the search view creates
|
|
the facet from the item.
|
|
|
|
Section titles
|
|
++++++++++++++
|
|
|
|
A second option is to use section titles. Section titles are similar
|
|
to completion items but only have a ``category`` property. They will
|
|
be rendered in a different style and can not be selected in the
|
|
auto-completion (they will be skipped).
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
Technically, section title items can have any property they want
|
|
*as long as they do not have a value property*. A ``value``
|
|
property set to ``false``, ``null`` or ``undefined`` is **not**
|
|
equivalent to not having a ``value`` property.
|
|
|
|
If an input *may* fetch more than one completion item, it *should*
|
|
prepend a section title (using its own name) to the completion items.
|
|
|
|
Converting to and from facet objects
|
|
------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Changes
|
|
-------
|
|
|
|
.. todo:: merge in changelog instead
|
|
|
|
The displaying of the search view was significantly altered from
|
|
OpenERP Web 6.1 to OpenERP Web 6.2.
|
|
|
|
As a result, while the external API used to interact with the search
|
|
view does not change the internal details — including the interaction
|
|
between the search view and its widgets — is significantly altered:
|
|
|
|
Widgets API
|
|
+++++++++++
|
|
|
|
* :js:func:`openerp.web.search.Widget.render` has been removed
|
|
|
|
* Search field objects are not openerp widgets anymore, their
|
|
``start`` is not generally called
|
|
|
|
Filters
|
|
+++++++
|
|
|
|
* :js:func:`openerp.web.search.Filter.is_enabled` has been removed
|
|
|
|
Many To One
|
|
+++++++++++
|
|
|
|
* Because the autocompletion service is now provided by the search
|
|
view itself,
|
|
:js:func:`openerp.web.search.ManyToOneField.setup_autocomplete` has
|
|
been removed.
|
|
|
|
.. [#] the library code is untouched, all patching is performed in the
|
|
Search view's implementation module. Changes to the
|
|
VisualSearch code should only update the library to new
|
|
revisions or releases.
|
|
.. _commit 3fca87101d:
|
|
https://github.com/documentcloud/visualsearch/commit/3fca87101d
|