Advanced Search Ideas

  • If I currently search all my rigs in Rig Manager for "Mesa", I get any profile with "Mesa" in any tag, including rig name, amp name, cab name, and even the comments tags. This means I can't limit my search to only amps, or only cabs, and I'll get things like "This amp sounds like a Mesa" in comments.


    1. So the first feature should be the ability to search on or exclude specific tags. This could be done via a larger dialog (click advanced to show this) and check the tags to search on, or by using keywords in the search field (tag:xxxxx or -tag:xxxxx). If we look at the tags in Rig Manager, they are all 1 word and categorized by sections. If manually selecting tags, it thus makes sense for our "tag:xxxxx" specifier to find 1 or 2 words - section then specific tag. So if I wanted only Mesa amps, I'd use "Mesa tag:Amp Name". But it would also make sense to use only one word and this would match on all tags in that section. For example, "Mesa tag:Amp" would search all the amp tags. If this is confusing/ambiguous, then "tag:" should be "tag:Section Tag" and we make another specifier called "section:xxxxx". Example: "Mesa section:Amp". It would be really nice if there was an autocomplete feature to assist users from accidentally typing tag names that don't exist.


    2. The second feature is to allow logical keywords in the search to either broaden or limit a search. For example, "Mesa" isn't going to find every rig for any Mesa/Boogie amp. I'd need to use "Mesa" OR "Boogie" OR "MB" OR "MeBo" and perhaps a few other terms based on how people have actually named the rigs. Similarly, maybe I'm looking for a Mesa Mark V profile, but there's a very slim chance I'll find it by searching "Mesa Mark V" because even if it has those exact words they are not necessarily exactly like that. For instance, if the profile's amp name tag is "Mesa/Boogie MarkV" my search would fail to find it. What I want to search for isn't that exact term but any profile with "Mesa", "Mark", and "V"


    3. Bonus points if we can allow these two features to be nested using ()'s. Example, "((Mesa OR Boogie OR MB OR MeBo) AND (Mark OR Mk) AND (V OR 5)) tag:Amp Name".


    4. Since this may make search become complex, allow saving searches from Rig Manager. What would be best would be to save them as simple text files, which can then be shared among the community. While any text editor already performs this function, it would streamline the process to be able to do this directly from RM rather than have to open a text editor and copy/paste in and out of RM.

  • I think a search field with some checkboxes or a drop-down menu would get us almost there (like "match all words", "match any word" etc), plus an "exclude" field.


    Or just use the google method:
    "-" to exclude
    "+" to show only results that includes this specific term
    and for no operators: results show all hits for any of the words.


    And then maybe stuff like "amp:mesa" for searching tags.


    So you want mesa boogie amps, but only "mark V"?
    write:
    amp:mesa amp:boogie +"mark V"


    or any mesa boogie amp OTHER than mark V:
    amp:mesa amp:boogie -"mark V"


    etc etc....



    I think it's a really good idea (and much needed), but the interface/methodology needs to be right (usable). Not may people are familiar with operators OR, AND and NOT, and nested parentheses can get complicated.

  • The simpler the better


    This.!
    Not everybody is fit for Bool-algebra. ;) (but if the function is well explained and documented it would be better than now.)
    A more effective search and/or filter function and maybe an additional comment field would be very welcomed.

  • @meambobbo
    I have been hoping for an improved search since the very first beta of RM. Good ideas!


    @Michael_dk
    I understand the need for "not becoming too complicated", but I never really liked these checkboxes and dropdown menues, because whenever I really needed a more complex search, they were too simple or too limiting.
    I like what you call the Google method. The whole tagging leads to strings (texts) so in essence we would only need a few logical operators and a subset of regular expressions to create powerful search statements.


    What I would find equally important though, is a way to save the search results (or at least the search statement). As soon as I know I have a perfect search statement for all jcm 800s with gain >4 from Sinmix, Andy or Pete, I could part with folders almost completely - or at least use them only for rigs that I modify for my own purposes

    90% of the game is half-mental.