Django search functionality - bug with search query of length 2 - django

Question

As I am an impressed reader of Stack Overflow I want to ask my first question here. Since I encountered a problem with a snippet and I do not know whether I made a mistake or it's a bug in the code I'm using.
I adapted this code for my own site:
http://blog.tkbe.org/archive/django-admin-search-functionality/
It works fine and it's really a great snippet.
But if my search query has length 2, I think that the results are not correct.
So for example if I search for "re" in first name and last name, I get the following results:
Mr. Tom Krem
Ms. Su Ker
Which is pretty strange. For queries with length > 2 I do not encounter this problem.
So maybe this post read somebody who is using the snippet above and can tell me whether he/she encounters the same problem.
If nobody else encounters the problem I know at least that I have a bug somewhere in my code. Maybe in the form I'm using, or something is messed up in the request context.
How can I solve this problem?
Edit 1:
The inclusion tag:
from django import template
from crm.views import SEARCH_VAR
def my_search_form(context):
return {
'context': context,
'search_var': SEARCH_VAR
}
register = template.Library()
register.inclusion_tag('custom_utilities/my_search_form.html')(my_search_form)
The my_search_form.html:
<div id="toolbar"><form
id="changelist-search"
action=""
method="get">
<div><!-- DIV needed for valid HTML -->
<label
for="searchbar"><img src="{{ context.media_url }}/crm/img/search.png"
class="icon"
alt="Search" /></label>
<input
type="text"
size="40"
name="{{ search_var }}"
value="{{ context.query }}"
id="searchbar" />
<input type="submit" value="Search" />
</div>
</form>
</div>
<script
type="text/javascript">document.getElementById("searchbar").focus();
</script>
The view:
#login_required
def crm_contacts(request):
query = request.GET.get('q', '')
#pass additional params to the SortHeaders function
#the additional params will be part of the header <a href...>
#e.g. use it for pagination / use it to provide the query string
additional_params_dict = {'q': query}
foundContacts = search_contact(request,query)
sort_headers = SortHeaders(request, LIST_HEADERS, default_order_field=1, additional_params=additional_params_dict)
if foundContacts is not None:
contact_list = foundContacts.order_by(sort_headers.get_order_by())
else:
contact_list = Contact.objects.order_by(sort_headers.get_order_by())
context = {
'contact_list' : contact_list,
'headers': list(sort_headers.headers()),
'query' : query,
}
return render_to_response("crm/contact_list.html", context,
context_instance=RequestContext(request))
The contact search form:
#models
from crm.models import Contact
from django.db.models import Q
'''
A search form from
http://blog.tkbe.org/archive/django-admin-search-functionality/
adapted to search for contacts.
'''
def search_contact(request,terms=None):
if terms is None:
return Contact.objects.all()
query = Contact.objects
for term in terms:
query = query.filter(
Q(first_name__icontains=term)
| Q(last_name__icontains=term))
return query
Another edit:
I'm using this snippet to sort the table. Probably one should know this in order to understand the code posted above.
Since I can not post links (spam protection) I will try to explain where to find it. Go to Google. Type in: django snippet table sort
Then it should be the second hit. Sort table headers. snippet nr. 308.
Edit: Add the SortHeaders() function
ORDER_VAR = 'o'
ORDER_TYPE_VAR = 'ot'
class SortHeaders:
"""
Handles generation of an argument for the Django ORM's
``order_by`` method and generation of table headers which reflect
the currently selected sort, based on defined table headers with
matching sort criteria.
Based in part on the Django Admin application's ``ChangeList``
functionality.
"""
def __init__(self, request, headers, default_order_field=None,
default_order_type='asc', additional_params=None):
"""
request
The request currently being processed - the current sort
order field and type are determined based on GET
parameters.
headers
A list of two-tuples of header text and matching ordering
criteria for use with the Django ORM's ``order_by``
method. A criterion of ``None`` indicates that a header
is not sortable.
default_order_field
The index of the header definition to be used for default
ordering and when an invalid or non-sortable header is
specified in GET parameters. If not specified, the index
of the first sortable header will be used.
default_order_type
The default type of ordering used - must be one of
``'asc`` or ``'desc'``.
additional_params:
Query parameters which should always appear in sort links,
specified as a dictionary mapping parameter names to
values. For example, this might contain the current page
number if you're sorting a paginated list of items.
"""
if default_order_field is None:
for i, (header, query_lookup) in enumerate(headers):
if query_lookup is not None:
default_order_field = i
break
if default_order_field is None:
raise AttributeError('No default_order_field was specified and none of the header definitions given were sortable.')
if default_order_type not in ('asc', 'desc'):
raise AttributeError('If given, default_order_type must be one of \'asc\' or \'desc\'.')
if additional_params is None: additional_params = {}
self.header_defs = headers
self.additional_params = additional_params
self.order_field, self.order_type = default_order_field, default_order_type
# Determine order field and order type for the current request
params = dict(request.GET.items())
if ORDER_VAR in params:
try:
new_order_field = int(params[ORDER_VAR])
if headers[new_order_field][1] is not None:
self.order_field = new_order_field
except (IndexError, ValueError):
pass # Use the default
if ORDER_TYPE_VAR in params and params[ORDER_TYPE_VAR] in ('asc', 'desc'):
self.order_type = params[ORDER_TYPE_VAR]
def headers(self):
"""
Generates dicts containing header and sort link details for
all defined headers.
"""
for i, (header, order_criterion) in enumerate(self.header_defs):
th_classes = []
new_order_type = 'asc'
if i == self.order_field:
th_classes.append('sorted %sending' % self.order_type)
new_order_type = {'asc': 'desc', 'desc': 'asc'}[self.order_type]
yield {
'text': header,
'sortable': order_criterion is not None,
'url': self.get_query_string({ORDER_VAR: i, ORDER_TYPE_VAR: new_order_type}),
'class_attr': (th_classes and ' class="%s"' % ' '.join(th_classes) or ''),
}
def get_query_string(self, params):
"""
Creates a query string from the given dictionary of
parameters, including any additonal parameters which should
always be present.
"""
params.update(self.additional_params)
return '?%s' % '&'.join(['%s=%s' % (param, value) \
for param, value in params.items()])
def get_order_by(self):
"""
Creates an ordering criterion based on the current order
field and order type, for use with the Django ORM's
``order_by`` method.
"""
return '%s%s' % (
self.order_type == 'desc' and '-' or '',
self.header_defs[self.order_field][1],
)

Answer 1

If you run manage.py shell and then:
>>> from crm.models import Contact
>>> from django.db.models import Q
>>> list=Contact.objects.filter(Q(first_name__icontains='re')|Q(last_name__icontains='re'))
>>> print list
What is the output?
Edit: Right, so if you try:
>>> list=Contact.objects.filter(Q(first_name__icontains='mot')|Q(last_name__icontains='mot'))
>>> print list
(I'm trying to narrow down on the terms that are giving you problem and I saw your last comment)
What is the output?
Edit: If both of the above queries work in the shell, something else is modifying your queryset somewhere and adding some additional criteria...
Are you sure sort_headers() is not modifying the queryset with more than just an order by clause? Could you post sort_headers() to your question?