Mail Merge -> Standard Filter issues

users
#1

Hello everybody!

First of all, I would like to thank very warmly everyone involved with this great project. LibreOffice is amazing.

We are trying to setup a mail merge in my institution, based on LibreOffice, of course. And I would like to suggest 2 improvements:

1) Put more filter criterias in the Standard Filter window. We use 3 for a basic search. Yes, our database is complex. Doubling it to 6 would be good, using an dynamically extensible list of criterias (similar of what iTunes provide when creating a new smart playlist) would be great! Is there a simple hack to do it or do I need to fill a bug/feature report?

2) Also in the Standard Filter window, we got a logical problem. We wanted to filter criterias A AND (B OR C) but there is no way to do it. If you try to put 3 criterias 1 AND 2 OR 3 you will obtain the logic (1 AND 2) OR 3. Tried also the inverse without better luck: 1 OR 2 AND 3 is also resolved as 1 OR (2 AND 3).
As our or is on looking text in the same field, I also tried to put in a single criteria as "text" like 'this|that' but the Standard filter doesn't seem to use the | operator.
Any help on how I could do this logic?

I'm new here, please advice me if this kind of problem is better in a feature request than in the mailing list.

For the moment, the only workaround I see to my problem is making new views in my database anticipating the filters. I would like to avoid it and use Libreoffice to filter on the fly, as the number of cases we face is potentially big/not previsible.

Thanks for reading all of this, any help is welcome!

Best regards,

Vitorio Delage

01 42 34 57 89
Académie nationale de médecine
Gestion du parc informatique

#2

Hi Vitorio,

Hello everybody!

First of all, I would like to thank very warmly everyone involved
with this great project. LibreOffice is amazing.

Thanks a lot and it's nice to see the Académie using LibreOffice :slight_smile:

We are trying to setup a mail merge in my institution, based on
LibreOffice, of course. And I would like to suggest 2 improvements:

1) Put more filter criterias in the Standard Filter window. We use 3
for a basic search. Yes, our database is complex. Doubling it to 6
would be good, using an dynamically extensible list of criterias
(similar of what iTunes provide when creating a new smart playlist)
would be great! Is there a simple hack to do it or do I need to fill
a bug/feature report?

2) Also in the Standard Filter window, we got a logical problem. We
wanted to filter criterias A AND (B OR C) but there is no way to do
it. If you try to put 3 criterias 1 AND 2 OR 3 you will obtain the
logic (1 AND 2) OR 3. Tried also the inverse without better luck: 1
OR 2 AND 3 is also resolved as 1 OR (2 AND 3). As our or is on
looking text in the same field, I also tried to put in a single
criteria as "text" like 'this|that' but the Standard filter doesn't
seem to use the | operator. Any help on how I could do this logic?

I'm new here, please advice me if this kind of problem is better in a
feature request than in the mailing list.

It's more a feature request, yes

For the moment, the only workaround I see to my problem is making new
views in my database anticipating the filters. I would like to avoid
it and use Libreoffice to filter on the fly, as the number of cases
we face is potentially big/not previsible.

It's not a workaround and it's how it is designed. So you're doing right
regarding how LibreOffice handles mail merged. So the best is to request
an enhancement on our bug database. If you need help doing so, you can
also come to our French speaking QA list at qa@fr.libreoffice.org.

Kind regards
Sophie

#3

Hi Vitorio,

1) Put more filter criterias in the Standard Filter window. We use 3 for a basic search. Yes, our database is complex. Doubling it to 6 would be good, using an dynamically extensible list of criterias (similar of what iTunes provide when creating a new smart playlist) would be great! Is there a simple hack to do it or do I need to fill a bug/feature report?

Current limitation, as far as I'm aware ===> feature request on bugzilla

2) Also in the Standard Filter window, we got a logical problem. We wanted to filter criterias A AND (B OR C) but there is no way to do it. If you try to put 3 criterias 1 AND 2 OR 3 you will obtain the logic (1 AND 2) OR 3. Tried also the inverse without better luck: 1 OR 2 AND 3 is also resolved as 1 OR (2 AND 3).
As our or is on looking text in the same field, I also tried to put in a single criteria as "text" like 'this|that' but the Standard filter doesn't seem to use the | operator.
Any help on how I could do this logic?

Have you tried (B or C) AND A in that order ? Just a wild guess.

The standard filter is rather limited, so views would be better, but of
course, as you mentioned, relies on creating as many views as there are
scenarii, a subboptimal solution IMHO.

Alex

#4

Hi Vitorio,

Here one of the mails in the thread, so that you can step in :wink:

Regards,
Cor

Sophie wrote (03-06-14 09:15)

#5

Hello everybody!

First of all, I would like to thank very warmly everyone involved with this great project. LibreOffice is amazing.

We are trying to setup a mail merge in my institution, based on LibreOffice, of course. And I would like to suggest 2 improvements:

1) Put more filter criterias in the Standard Filter window. We use 3 for a basic search. Yes, our database is complex. Doubling it to 6 would be good, using an dynamically extensible list of criterias (similar of what iTunes provide when creating a new smart playlist) would be great! Is there a simple hack to do it or do I need to fill a bug/feature report?

2) Also in the Standard Filter window, we got a logical problem. We wanted to filter criterias A AND (B OR C) but there is no way to do it. If you try to put 3 criterias 1 AND 2 OR 3 you will obtain the logic (1 AND 2) OR 3. Tried also the inverse without better luck: 1 OR 2 AND 3 is also resolved as 1 OR (2 AND 3).
As our or is on looking text in the same field, I also tried to put in a single criteria as "text" like 'this|that' but the Standard filter doesn't seem to use the | operator.
Any help on how I could do this logic?

I'm new here, please advice me if this kind of problem is better in a feature request than in the mailing list.

For the moment, the only workaround I see to my problem is making new views in my database anticipating the filters. I would like to avoid it and use Libreoffice to filter on the fly, as the number of cases we face is potentially big/not previsible.

Thanks for reading all of this, any help is welcome!

Best regards,

Vitorio Delage

01 42 34 57 89
Académie nationale de médecine
Gestion du parc informatique

#6

Thanks about your answers!
For the anecdote, you did answer faster than the delay it took to activate my subscription to the list!

@Alex: B OR C AND A produces B or (C AND A), seems that the AND operator has priority, what is unfortunately not what I'm looking for.

I'll fill a feature request in bugzilla about this tomorrow.

Vitorio Delage

01 42 34 57 89
Académie nationale de médecine
Gestion du parc informatique