Data Filtering and Sorting

When managing large amounts of data, you can create filters to search for specific information, and make queries to receive only the information you are looking for. You can use various filter attributes and sort the received data.

The Tizen API is mandatory for Tizen Mobile, Wearable, and TV profiles, which means that it is supported on all mobile, wearable, and TV devices. All mandatory APIs are supported on the Tizen emulators.

The main data handling features of the Tizen API include:

Creating Attribute Filters

Learning how to create attribute filters allows you effectively incorporate query methods in your application:

  1. The AttributeFilter filter (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications) is used to filter the search results based on an attribute value. In this example, the filter finds contacts, with the first name Chris, from the default address book.

    Create the filter with the AttributeFilter constructor. You can specify attribute options, such as the attribute name, match flag, and match value.

    /* Use the firstName attribute with the EXACTLY match flag and the Chris value */
    var firstNameFilter = new tizen.AttributeFilter('name.firstName', 'EXACTLY', 'Chris');
    
  2. Call the find() method of the AddressBook interface (in mobile and wearable applications) to find contacts. The filter (firstNameFilter) you created is included as a parameter.

    tizen.contact.getDefaultAddressBook().find(successCB, errorCB, firstNameFilter);
    

Creating Attribute Range Filters

Learning how to use attribute range filters allows you effectively incorporate query methods in your application:

  1. The AttributeRangeFilter filter (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications)is used to search for results based on a range of attribute values. In this example, the filter finds all events starting on a defined day from the calendar.

    Create the filter with the AttributeRangeFilter constructor. Specify the attribute, and the start and end points of the value range.

    /* Use the startDate attribute with a range that starts today and ends in 1 day */
    /* (meaning that you search for all events occurring today) */
    var now = tizen.time.getCurrentDateTime();
    var today_begin = new tizen.TZDate(now.getFullYear(), now.getMonth(), now.getDate());
    var today_end = today_begin.addDuration(new tizen.TimeDuration(1, 'DAYS'));
    var dateRangeFilter = new tizen.AttributeRangeFilter('startDate', today_begin, today_end);
    
  2. Call the find() method of the Calendar interface (in mobile and wearable applications) to find events. The filter (dateRangeFilter) you created is included as a parameter.

    tizen.calendar.getDefaultCalendar('EVENT').find(successCB, errorCB, dateRangeFilter);
    

Creating Composite Filters

Learning how to use composite filters allows you effectively incorporate query methods in your application:

  1. The CompositeFilter filter (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications) is used to search for results based on a set of filters. In this example, the filter finds contacts, whose first name contains Chris and last name is Smith, from the default address book.

    Create the filter with the CompositeFilter constructor. You can specify multiple sub-filters for the filter set.

    /* Create an attribute filter based on the firstName attribute */
    var firstNameFilter = new tizen.AttributeFilter('name.firstName', 'CONTAINS', 'Chris');
    
    /* Create an attribute filter based on the lastName attribute */
    var lastNameFilter = new tizen.AttributeFilter('name.lastName', 'EXACTLY', 'Smith');
    
    /*
       Create a composite filter based on the intersection of these 2 filters
       (intersection means that both filters must match
       for the contact to be included in the results)
    */
    var nameCompositeFilter = new tizen.CompositeFilter('INTERSECTION', [firstNameFilter, lastNameFilter]);
    
  2. Call the find() method of the AddressBook interface (in mobile and wearable applications) to find matching contacts. The filter (nameCompositeFilter) you created is included as a parameter.

    tizen.contact.getDefaultAddressBook().find(successCB, errorCB, nameCompositeFilter);
    

Using Sorting Modes

The following sorting modes are supported:

  • 'ASC': Ascending sorting order
  • 'DESC': Descending sorting order

Learning how to use sorting modes allows you effectively incorporate query methods in your application:

  1. The SortMode interface (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications) is created to sort the search results. In this example, it is used to sort contacts in the device address book in ascending order by first name.

    Create the sort order with the SortMode() method. Specify an attribute name to sort by and an order option.

    /* Use the firstName attribute with an ASC order */
    var sortMode = new tizen.SortMode('name.firstName', 'ASC');
    
  2. Call the find() method of the AddressBook interface (in mobile and wearable applications) to find matching contacts. In this example, the filter parameter in the find() method is defined as null, which means that the method retrieves all contacts in the address book.

    tizen.contact.getDefaultAddressBook().find(successCB, errorCB, null, sortMode);
    

Note
If you use a type attribute as a sort mode parameter, the sorting is not performed alphabetically since the attribute values are stored normally after the type conversion in the platform implementation.
For example, if the ContentType enumeration (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications) is the type attribute and the sorting order is "DESC", the sorting result is ordered according to the listed enumerator order:

  • Image
  • Video
  • Audio
  • Other

Making Complex Queries Using Filters

Learning how to use filters allows you effectively incorporate complex query methods in your application. You can create queries using AND and OR conditions, like in SQL queries. The following example shows how to make the following query:

"where ((type='VIDEO' OR type='IMAGE') AND title like '%special%')"

Basically, you search the content of the device for media items where the media type is video or image, and the title contains the word “special”.

  1. Create attribute filters to include all content whose media type is either video or image:

    function makeQueryAndFire() {
        /* Filter for the video media type */
        var typeVideoFilter = new tizen.AttributeFilter('type', 'EXACTLY', 'VIDEO');
    
        /* Filter for the image media type */
        var typeImageFilter = new tizen.AttributeFilter('type', 'EXACTLY', 'IMAGE');
    
  2. Create a composite filter that finds all content that matches one of the media type filters:

        var typeFilter =
            new tizen.CompositeFilter('UNION', [typeVideoFilter, typeImageFilter]);
    
  3. Create another attribute filter that includes content containing the word “special” in its title:

        var titleFilter = new tizen.AttributeFilter('title', 'CONTAINS', 'special');
    
  4. Create the final composite filter that finds all content that matches both the composite media type filter and the title filter:

        var finalFilter =
            new tizen.CompositeFilter('INTERSECTION', [typeFilter, titleFilter]);
    
  5. Call the find() method of the Content API’s ContentManager interface (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications) to retrieve the media items that match the final filter:

        tizen.content.find(findMediaContentsCallback, onError, null, finalFilter);
    }
    

    The findMediaContentsCallback() event handler returns the query result.

Calendar Filter Attributes

The following table lists the filter types you can use with specific calendar item attributes in the methods of the Calendar interface (in mobile and wearable applications).

Table: Calendar filter attributes

Attribute Attribute filter supported Attribute range filter supported
id Yes No
id.uid Yes No
description Yes No
summary Yes No
isAllDay Yes No
isDetached Yes No
startDate Yes Yes
location Yes No
geolocation.latitude Yes Yes
geolocation.longitude Yes Yes
organizer Yes No
visibility Yes No
status Yes No
priority Yes No
categories Yes No
dueDate Yes Yes
completedDate Yes Yes
progress Yes Yes
endDate Yes Yes
availability Yes No
lastModificationDate Yes Yes
alarms No* No
attendees No* No
recurrenceRule No* No

* The attribute filter is only supported with the EXISTS flag.

Call History Filter Attributes

The following table lists the filter types you can use with specific call history attributes in the methods of the CallHistory interface.

Table: Call History filter attributes

Attribute Attribute filter supported Attribute range filter supported
uid Yes Yes
type Yes No
features Yes No
remoteParties.remoteParty Yes Yes
remoteParties.personId Yes Yes
startTime Yes Yes
duration Yes Yes
direction Yes No

Contact Filter Attributes

The following table lists the filter types you can use with specific contact attributes in the methods of the AddressBook interface (in mobile and wearable applications).

Table: Contact filter attributes

Attribute Attribute filter supported Attribute range filter supported
id Yes Yes
personId Yes Yes
lastUpdated Yes Yes
isFavorite Yes Yes
birthday Yes Yes
photoURI Yes No
ringtoneURI Yes No
name.prefix Yes No
name.suffix Yes No
name.firstName Yes No
name.middleName Yes No
name.lastName Yes No
name.nicknames Yes No
name.phoneticFirstName Yes No
name.phoneticLastName Yes No
name.displayName Yes No
addresses.country Yes No
addresses.region Yes No
addresses.city Yes No
addresses.streetAddress Yes No
addresses.additionalInformation Yes No
addresses.postalCode Yes No
addresses.isDefault Yes No
addresses.types No No
phoneNumbers.number Yes No
phoneNumbers.isDefault Yes No
phoneNumbers.types No No
emails.email Yes No
emails.isDefault Yes No
emails.types No No
anniversaries.date Yes Yes
anniversaries.label Yes No
organizations.name Yes No
organizations.department Yes No
organizations.title Yes No
organizations.role Yes No
organizations.logoUri Yes No
urls.url Yes No
urls.type No No
groupIds Yes Yes

The following table lists the filter types you can use with specific person attributes in the methods of the ContactManager interface (in mobile and wearable applications).

Table: Person filter attributes

Attribute Attribute filter supported Attribute range filter supported
id Yes No
displayName Yes No
contactCount Yes Yes
hasPhoneNumber Yes No
hasEmail Yes No
isFavorite Yes No
photoURI Yes No
ringtoneURI Yes No
displayContactId Yes No

Content Filter Attributes

The following table lists the filter types you can use with specific content attributes in the methods of the ContentManager interface (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications).

Table: Content filter attributes

Attribute Attribute filter supported Attribute range filter supported
id Yes No
type Yes No
mimeType No No
name Yes No
title Yes No
contentURI Yes No
thumbnailURIs Yes No
releaseDate Yes Yes
modifiedDate Yes Yes
size No No
description No since 5.5 No
rating No since 5.5 No since 5.5
geolocation.latitude Yes Yes
geolocation.longitude Yes Yes
album Yes No
genres Yes No
artists Yes No
composers No No
lyrics No No
copyright No No
bitrate No No
trackNumber No No
duration No No
orientation No No

Messaging Filter Attributes

The following tables list the filter types you can use with specific message attributes in the methods of the MessageStorage interface.

The following table lists the filter attributes related to the findMessage() method.

Table: Filter attributes for finding messages

Attribute Attribute filter supported Attribute range filter supported
id Yes No
serviceId Yes No
conversationId No No
folderId Yes No
type Yes No
timestamp No Yes
from Yes No
to Yes No
cc Yes No
bcc Yes No
body.plainBody Yes No
isRead Yes No
hasAttachment Yes No
isHighPriority Yes No
subject Yes No
isResponseTo No No
messageStatus No No
attachments No No

The following table lists the filter attributes related to the findConversations() method.

Table: Filter attributes for finding conversations

Attribute Attribute filter supported Attribute range filter supported
id Yes No
type Yes No
timestamp No Yes
messageCount Yes No
unreadMessages Yes No
preview Yes No
subject No No
isRead No No
from Yes No
to Yes No
cc No No
bcc No No
lastMessageId No No

The following table lists the filter attributes related to the findFolders() method.

Table: Filter attributes for finding message folders

Attribute Attribute filter supported Attribute range filter supported
id No No
parentId No No
serviceId Yes No
contentType No No
name No No
path No No
type No No
synchronizable No No

Note
The FULLSTRING value of the FilterMatchFlag enumerator (in mobile, wearable, and TV applications) is not supported and returns an error callback.

  • Dependencies
    • Tizen 2.4 and Higher for Mobile
    • Tizen 2.3.1 and Higher for Wearable
    • Tizen 3.0 and Higher for TV