Search feature in list box

[murugaprabum]

I have almost 8000 items in a list box, from which the user can select one. I have used CAknSearchField component for the user to search from the list. The search functionality is very slow. So, I would like to perform the search operation myself. How do I override the default search method. ? Or are there any articles which describes how to optimize search in list box ??

[symbianyucca]

Basically you would simply make a text box for search string, and then do your own logic to set the list box items.. You could indeed have a full array separately, and replace the array shown in list box with your own search results.

[wizard_hu_]

CAknSearchField seems to be created for unsorted lists. So it checks and compares every single list element as part of the filtering process. For 8000 elements it is probably slow indeed.
Even if your list is a sorted one, I do not see a way for telling it to the search field. You will probably have to implement a custom mechanism as suggested by Jukka.

[vineet.jain]

Btw i utilized CAknListQueryDialog to display the list of elements(mine has ~5k list items) & its not that slow.

[murugaprabum]

I was able to add a find pane to the list box. What I found in it is, it uses string matching to suggest items as the user types in. Is it possible to have more sophisticated search like partial string matching/fuzzy string matching. I have a list of 8000 city names, from which the user has to select one. The users type in the city name, and mispelling of a city name is a common scenario. What happens by the current implementation is, no city name is displayed if the user types in the wrong spelling. I would like to override this and show atleast some close suggestions to the typed in text. Nokia does this in the messaging application. It suggests very closely matched words, when user types in a misspelled word in sms. Can I use that functionality here ???

[wizard_hu_]

The predictive input (what you see when typing messages) is one thing. What listboxes and their search fields do is completely different. It is not configurable, that is why Jukka suggested implementing your own search field at the very beginning.

[murugaprabum]

Can't I use PTI Engine API to get the predictive text functionality ????

[wizard_hu_]

You can, but it will not become a list.

[murugaprabum]

Okay. I will custom implement it. I have some doubts regarding PTI Engine. I ran a sample code of it to find out the input modes supported by English language in my e63. It doesn't have EPtiEnginePredictive and EPtiEngineMultiTapping. Is there any option to load these modules in the run time ???

[Devnull]

This could be a good template for a custom implementation.