{"id":959,"date":"2015-12-09T22:58:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T22:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wholetomato.com\/?p=959"},"modified":"2019-05-03T17:28:16","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T21:28:16","slug":"filter-using-logical-or","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.wholetomato.com\/blog\/filter-using-logical-or\/","title":{"rendered":"Filter using logical “or”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of the dialogs\u00c2\u00a0and drop-downs of Visual Assist allow\u00c2\u00a0efficient\u00c2\u00a0lookups via filtering. For example, filtering within Open File in Solution\u00e2\u20ac\u201da dialog with\u00c2\u00a0all files in a solution\u00e2\u20ac\u201dlets one\u00c2\u00a0find a file quickly\u00c2\u00a0if only portions of a\u00c2\u00a0name are\u00c2\u00a0known.\u00c2\u00a0This means one\u00c2\u00a0can find veryLongFilenameInProjectTomato.cpp if he\u00c2\u00a0knows only \u201clong\u201d and \u201ctoma\u201d.<\/p>\n

Filtering takes many shapes. Aside from substrings, one can filter\u00c2\u00a0using simple expressions.\u00c2\u00a0Our\u00c2\u00a0expression syntax isn\u2019t full regex but it is tailored to the content being searched.<\/p>\n

In this blog post, I introduce searching using logical \u201cor\u201d.<\/p>\n

Filtering using logical \u201cor\u201d is often applicable when\u00c2\u00a0searching VA Hashtags, where tags are created on-the-fly and often without standards. For example, developers might annotate code with VA Hashtags of the format\u00c2\u00a0\u201ctodo\u201d followed by\u00c2\u00a0the name of the teammate who needs to review or fix the code, but names are entered as\u00c2\u00a0first names, last names, or misspelled variants thereof.<\/p>\n

For tasks related to developer John Smith, we might find VA Hashtags\u00c2\u00a0in either\u00c2\u00a0of the following forms.<\/p>\n

\/\/ #todoJohnSmith
\n\/\/ #todoJSmith<\/code><\/p>\n

Filtering for\u00c2\u00a0\u201csmith\u201d in the VA Hashtags tool window easily finds both.<\/p>\n

\"logicalOrSmithDialog\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But a teammate\u00c2\u00a0might annotate code with only John\u2019s first name.<\/p>\n

\/\/ #todoJohn<\/code>
\n<\/code><\/p>\n

In this case, filtering for \u201csmith\u201d won\u2019t find the new hashtag. We\u00c2\u00a0need to search for \u201csmith or john\u201d, and we use a comma in our expression to do that.<\/p>\n

\"logicalOrSmithJohnDialog\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, our code might also include unrelated\u00c2\u00a0hashtags for John, e.g., a comment directed only at him.<\/p>\n

\/\/ #John, I fixed this for you.<\/code>
\n<\/code>
\nThe\u00c2\u00a0previous filtering for \u201csmith or john\u201d will include the unwanted\u00c2\u00a0entry.<\/p>\n

\"logicalOrSmithJohnDialog2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To omit the unwanted\u00c2\u00a0entry, we need to search for \u201ctodo and smith\u201d or \u201ctodo and John\u201d. We do that with multiple substrings and a\u00c2\u00a0comma.<\/p>\n

\"logicalOrSmithJohnDialog3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This final expression using\u00c2\u00a0logical \u201cor\u201d gives us exactly what\u00c2\u00a0we want.<\/p>\n

You can use\u00c2\u00a0expressions\u00c2\u00a0in all\u00c2\u00a0dialogs and drop-downs that support filtering, including the several\u00c2\u00a0that support\u00c2\u00a0logical \u201cor\u201d:<\/p>\n