more robust features of Item Query (boolean logic, date ranges)

[sylviachong]

Hi,

It seems like the selections you make for the Item Query for the Neatline Time plug-in for Omeka uses only AND logic -- so if you select a bunch of things (two tags, or a tag and a Collection name), it will only pull in items that contain both things. It would be useful to insert a few other options: an OR would be helpful (allowing for one query to pull in multiple tags or other identifiers).

Also, since we have to input properly formatted DATE data in our Omeka items to be able to use this timeline, it would be helpful to be able to input a date range for an inquiry (the most useful would be from X to Y dates, but many sites also offer options such as AFTER X, BEFORE X, etc.). Right now, under "Narrow by Specific Fields," looks like you'd have to insert an exact text match for the Date field, rather than treating the Date as a real date.

Not sure how you would implement the Boolean logic on the UI for the Item Query ... perhaps at the top of the page, where you list "The XXX timeline displays items that match the following query," when each search term is displayed, there could be a drop-down menu between each item where you could select AND/OR/NOT? Like this:
Cambodia [AND/OR/NOT] 1800s
(Although I guess this would run into problems of grouping and order of operations, but I'd be happy with just a rudimentary "All of these" or "Any of these" logic, that would be an improvement over "All of these" by default)

[erochest]

There are a variety of filters that we'll need to hook into for this:

• search_form_default_action
• search_query_types

I'd like to spend a couple of weeks figuring this out, since it's very compelling, but if we can't do it in that time, then we'll need to suggest a feature request to core Omeka.