Submitted by Tom on 2010/08/17 08:26
 
I only use the date filter once a month or probably less even - I've never fully come to grips with it
The manual page Date Filter toolbar is clear but missing some info and doesnt really explain it properly for a true beginner (or to me at any rate)
 
I know I could check out the following by trial and error but I dont really have a suitable database for checking this stuff, &, as I say, I just getting addled by it all:
 
( prob not important but let's say the source is ItemCreated )
 
1) if I choose a date and 7 days does the 'Operator' change which 7 days are shown or is it always the 7 days after the selected date (as it is if I use '=')
[ bonus: answering this will possibly cover the next question ! ]
 
2) I'm wondering what the > operator means & how it works? It's not included in the manual page.
I presume it's more recent than the chosen date but not sure how it relates to say if you have 7 days selected - does it show 7 days from the selected date (which would be the same as '=') or does it ignore the 7 and show *all* items created since the selected date? or...
 
3) The '<' operator is included on the manual page but it is explained only in terms of ToDo's/Ticklers - is it not used in any other way? if not, I think that needs to be made clearer.
It would be great if we could include a link or a sample or a tutorial with more details of how to use it in this way - I hardly use the whole 'ToDo' aspect of IQ, so can probably only help with newbie questions - or maybe it's already here somewhere? (maybe people know all this stuff from other apps already?)
 
 
 
As someone who has little clue, if you can clarify this stuff and I'm then able to use it I could try write an introductory summary (just a couple sentences) *just* for people like me ;-)
 

Comments

 
>I only use the date filter once a month or probably less even - I've never fully come to grips with it
 
The date filter generally works but there are a couple things that don't work well so it makes the whole thing seem awkward.
 
 
> 1) if I choose a date and 7 days does the 'Operator' change which 7 days are shown or is it always the 7 days after the selected date (as it is if I use '=')
[ bonus: answering this will possibly cover the next question ! ]
 
7 days : it means week view. If you hover over the "7" icon, you'll see "Week View" as a tooltip. So if you select a date, let's say "2010 08 17"  it'll show you all dates in the week where "2010 08 17" can be found. À la Outlook and others.
 
e.g. :  15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
 

>2) I'm wondering what the > operator means & how it works? It's not included in the manual page.
I presume it's more recent than the chosen date but not sure how it relates to say if you have 7 days selected - does it show 7 days from the selected date (which would be the same as '=') or does it ignore the 7 and show *all* items created since the selected date? or...
 
the > (as the < ) doesn't work well with defined durations. This should be fixed. It believe it's a bug. It was in my list but I forgot about it.
 
 
>3) The '<' operator is included on the manual page but it is explained only in terms of ToDo's/Ticklers - is it not used in any other way? if not, I think that needs to be made clearer.
It would be great if we could include a link or a sample or a tutorial with more details of how to use it in this way - I hardly use the whole 'ToDo' aspect of IQ, so can probably only help with newbie questions - or maybe it's already here somewhere? (maybe people know all this stuff from other apps already?)
 
 
As you probably know, the < operator , like any other operator, can be used with any date field. It could be used to see all past done todos, appointments, created items, etc. It could be used to see all TaskActStart or all birthdays before a specific date, etc.
 
I don't use the date filter a lot myself as I still find it a bit unreliable... I write my own filters in the filter textbox :
 
Taskactstart >= #2010-08-20# AND TaskactStart < #2010-08-21#
 
Just to give you an idea of how you can mix different parameters, more complex ones could look like :
 
task AND ( ( Taskactstart >= #2010-08-20# AND TaskactStart < #2010-08-21# ) OR  ( ( Taskactstart < #2010-08-20# )  AND Taskactend > #2010-08-20# ) ) AND  check is null |
 
As it is now, it's easier for me to get exactly what I want this ways
 
============
 
Summary of
things not working well (bug) with the date filter toolbar :
 
- Negative numbers written in the "days" text box don't have any effect (maybe is this already in Mantis, will look later) [Suggestion : negative values could be useful to choose a precise duration value before a selected date. However, if others think it wouldn't be useful, it shouldn't be possible to select negative values ]
 
- The < or > operator don't play well with defined "durations". [Suggestion : If durations shouldn't be used with these, they should be greyed out]
 
If others noticed other things, maybe they could post it here.
 
 
[Edited to add suggestions]

Tom

2010/08/18 08:06

Permalink

OK now we're getting places - thanks Armando!
 
So, if I select the 5 day work week view or the month view or year view, I will see the week the selected day falls in.
You say this is as in Outlook, so most people will expect it to work this way.
 
Your suggestion sounds good:
[Suggestion : If durations shouldn't be used with these, they should be greyed out]
 
I might have another go at that page when I have a little time (it only needs minor additions I think)