[BillCN]

Hello:

The app I’m creating is a text-based app. I’d like to build in a search function for items in the app. How does one go about starting to create such functionality?

Thanks

[BillCN]

Octavio
It is a native app. No web connectivity at all. The text items are placed on a panel component using the text widget. This solves the problem of the text being editable at run-time (see previous posts), but it makes me wonder how a person would be able to search for a word or phrase (say, “India Pale Ale”) and have the app return valid results – or any results at all, for that matter.

[support-michael]

@BillCN

We don’t have an automated solution for searching text of an app or webapp. We have been in discussion with the dev team on techniques that can be applied to the current app architecture but don’t have anything definite yet.

Question: is your search requirement to find text within a screen or across screens?

For in-screen searching we have bounced an idea around where every every text-based widget can have property to include/exclude from search. Then a search widget would be available to find and highlight hits in the screen. For searching across screens then a more elaborate form of result presentation and navigation is required.

Thoughts?

[BillCN]

Octavio:

That’s a very good idea. Anything that increases the functionality of an app is a good thing.

To answer your other question, I would like to build in the search capability both on one screen as well as across screens.

This brings up a previous question I have asked: What kinds of databases are available with MobiOne? MySQL? Some other RDBMS? Whatever the database options may be, are they available ON the iPhone or do they have to have WiFi connectivity and thus a web server somewhere (which implies a whole infrastructure)?

Bill Colby-Newton

Follow-up on Tuesday, July 10th, 2012:

Still wondering about any databases that might be used with MobiOne. I have no burning need for such a thing at the moment, but down the road having a database behind my apps will doubtless be a requirement. Just from using my iPhone, it is clear to me that databases are being used – the contacts app comes immediately to mind – so I’d like to know what that database is and how to use it, as well as what other database implementations might be available. Finally, I’d like to know what the memory and storage space requirements might be for the database software before any records are stored to it – in other words, what is the “footprint” of such a tool?

Thanks,

Bill Colby-Newton

[Author]

Posts