I just wanted to make everyone aware of the latest version of the search plugin, 1.0.5 is available for url=http://www.jivesoftware.org/messenger/plugins.jspdownload[/url]. If you’'re using an older version I would strongly encourage you to upgrade. There have been a number of enhancements since the 1.0.2 release including bug fixes for Psi and Exodus, as well as adding support for JAJC and Miranda (thanks to Baron Ng).
What I’'d really like to see is a readme or changelog
or similar which is separately available from the
plugins page.
That would be a good idea. There is a change log in the documentation directory, but that’'s only available if you download the source.
I’'m assuming that all I need to do to install the new
version over the old version is drop it into the
plugins directory?
I’'d recommend that you delete the existing version via the plugins admin page before deploying the new version, this way Messenger will be able to unload on the resources the plugin maybe using properly.
Hve you deleted it with Admin Console? I had no problem with “upgrading” to 1.0.5 version, just delete it in Admin Console, then copy new search.jar to plugins directory.
But wouldn’'t it be much more simple from a user kind of view if there would be just one single input field (and maybe some checkboxes to specify the query)?
I put a nickname into the name field because I thougth it was his real name but got nothing.
I guess some less technical people like my mother wouldn’'t do a second search because they got no response.
But wouldn’'t it be much more simple from a user kind
of view if there would be just one single input field
(and maybe some checkboxes to specify the query)?
I guess it would depends on what someone considers to be more simple. Part of the issue is that in order for someone to register an account on Messenger all that is required is a username, name and email are optional. As an example, if I’‘m looking for my friend “Joe Smith” and in the name search field I try entering “joe”, “smith” or even just “j” I won’‘t find him if his account was setup without a name, even if checkboxes were available. But, your point is well taken. A simple fix might be to expand the search instructions to include a note on what a user should do if they don’‘t find the person they’'re looking for.
Would it violate JEP 55 to have a single field with checkboxes? Having all the checkboxes checked by default would be a pretty decent default UI – it would mean search everything using my search term so would have a better chance of finding a result. The UserProvider implementations definitely support searching multiple fields at once, so it should be possible.
Yeah, the more I thought about it after my last post the checkbox idea seems like it could be a good way to go. JEP-55 is very flexible when it comes to using data forms for searches and as you pointed out the UserProvider implementations provide the needed functionality so it’‘s just a matter of wiring everything together. I’'ll mock up a sample and post a screen shot or two in a couple of days (or maybe sooner if we really do get a foot of snow by tomorrow evening like the local weather people are predicting ).
Yes, jfroehlich is correct, GAIM does not support user searches. Currently the search plugin is known to work with psi, exodus, jajc and miranda; other clients that support Jabber search, formally known as JEP-0055, should works as well. Pandion will be supported with next release of Messenger.