Sonny Software

I'm using smart groups in Bookends to sort my references into different categories depending on what their status is. In other words I have smart groups for items that are in my university library, items that are not in that library (and may need to be requested), journal items that have been received through interlibrary loan, journal items that have been cancelled by interlibrary loan, and so forth. I want all the different categories to be non-overlapping, so that as I locate items, they move from one group to another by adding the appropriate notation in the notes field. However, I've noticed that some items won't sort into any group, even though I have marked them (or not marked them) appropriately. And somehow the number of unsorted items, the number of items in all groups, and the total number of items will not add up to the same number (eg ALL REFS =/= ALL SMART GROUP REFS + UNSORTED, as well as ALL REFS=/= ALL SMART GROUP REFS) I think the problem may be with the "NOT" option in the drop-down menu in the smart group set-up field. In other words perhaps the multiple "NOTs" or "ORs" or "ANDs" create some kind of confusion with the category. Has anyone else tried to do this and had a similar problem or any success? Thanks!

Hi,

That's possible. The NOT is really an "AND NOT", if that makes a difference. I'd create a new database and populate it with only a few references, and then reconstruct some of your smart groups and see if you get the results you want.

Jon
Sonny Software

Jon, thanks for your reply. That clarifies it a little. Now I'm wondering if part of my problem is that I want "NOT" to be at times "AND NOT" and at other times "OR NOT." I've gone through my smart group criteria and found a couple of errors in my parameters, but some of them are still not appearing where they should be. But I still assume it's my fault one way or another.

Hi,

Bookends uses an SQL database engine, so the search logic is determined by it. Remember that the regular smart searches are not parenthetically grouped, so it might be something like

IF x in y AND a in b OR c in d (AND) NOT e in f THEN

in which case you have to know how SQL give precedence.

If you want more control over your searches, I suggest you look into smart SQL groups, in which you have all the control SQL allows. The User Guide has details on how these work in Bookends.

Jon
Sonny Software