Implement Query/Analyze Feature

[tomschr]

The current syntax is a bit strange. We would like to have a more compact syntax.

Let's say, we would like to have all files with have the following conditions:

• maintainer who is tux or wilber,
• in status edited,
• but not with priority 2

The following are possible options:

1. With --include/-I and --exclude/-E options (this was how DM2 did it)

   --include "maintainer=tux,wilber" --include "status=edited" --exclude "priority=2"

2. With --query/-q (as one quoted string)

   -q "maintainer=tux,wilber;status=edited;-priority=2"

3. With our standard options like --maintainer/-M

   --maintainer tux,wilber --status edited --not-priority 2

Which one should we prefer?

[tomschr]

[tomschr]

Frank's Solution

Ok, after discussing with Frank, we found a fourth solution. The query/analyze subcommand is divided into two passes:

First pass (retrieving):

• The option --filter/-F passes a single statement (like maintainer=tux)
• The option -F can be used many times
• The argument for -F has the syntax: [+|-]PROPERTY=VALUE
• Additionally, a --sort=[+|-]PROPERTY option can be used to sort it against a given property. The direction is set by + or -: + means ascending sort order, - means descending sort order

Second pass (output formatting):

The output can be influenced with the -q/--queryformat. The querystring has the following properties:

• Each placeholder is written between { and }, for example {maintainer}
• Anything else is written to the output as it is.

For example:

--queryformat "{filename} {maintainer} [{deadline}]\n"

The placeholders are in curely brackets which are replaced during output. A good(?) idea is to use syntax from the format specification used by the .format method.

See

• https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#formatspec
• http://pyformat.info/

Examples

1. Return all files which are maintained by tux and are not in status "editing":

   docmanager query --filter "maintainer=tux" --filter "-status=editing"

2. Same as (1), but sort it in descending filename order:

   docmanager query --filter "maintainer=tux" --filter "-status=editing" --sort="-filename"

[mschnitzer]

OK, I added the feature in https://github.com/openSUSE/docmanager/commit/de13116d96b32b965970b9c316bc446152ab0d96.

That is still missing:

• Update man page
• Update --help
• Implement default query support (in combination with our config files, see issue #27)

[mschnitzer]

Fully implemented