RFC06: Add OCN to the SearchFieldDropDownPickList (SFDDPL).

Add OCN to the SearchFieldDropDownPickList (SFDDPL) between

As othercallnumber is user defined field, it would be used a lot more if OCN was added to the SearchFieldDropDownPickList (SFDDPL), possibly between Tags and Reviews.

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At the moment you can get round this limitation by doing the following:-

Add OCN to your columns display by going to Settings and dragging the Button into your lineup, so you can see what is happening.

Select “Your books” then “Search All Collections” then
“Search ALL fields” then the magic bit, enter the selection criteria into blank search field

Assuming your collection has Locations L for Lounge, K for Kitchen in the OCN Field then

Put “othercallnumber:K” this will return ALL books in the Kitchen

Put “othercallnumber:-K” this will return ALL books NOT in the Kitchen (NB minus sign)

Put “othercallnumber:K* this will return ALL books in ALL locations starting K

Put “othercallnumber:-K* this will return ALL books in ALL locations NOT starting K

Put “othercallnumber:??S* this will return ALL books in locations where third character is S

Put “othercallnumber:-??S* this will return ALL books in locations where third character is NOT S

Put “othercallnumber:* this will return ALL books in locations where OCN is NOT blank

Put “othercallnumber:-* this will return ALL books in locations where OCN is blank

Now to refine the filter
Put “othercallnumber:* this will return ALL books with a non-blank OCN field

Put “othercallnumber:K” this will return ALL books in the Kitchen say 20

Change the Collection criteria from All Collections to say Cooking and you now get
ALL Cooking Books in the Kitchen say 17. The 3 others will not be in the Cooking collection.

If you put othercallnumber:(K* OR L*) you will get
ALL cooking books in either the Kitchen or the Lounge or equally (K OR L).
“OR” must be in Caps.
othercallnumber:K* OR L*. works ok
othercallnumber:(K* OR L*) does not work. Raised as possible bug.

Finally if a book has more than one location e.g. both K and L, the filter will find either K or L depending on criteria i.e. both terms are checked not just the first. (Not sure if you need a comma i.e. K space L or K, space L)

NB: When using this make sure you have at least one “test” book that satisfies the criteria so you can check your filter is working as intended.

Thanks are due to SandraArdnas for letting me know OCN was a user field and to Abigail who has had the patience of a saint answering all my questions.

There is no field in LibraryThing called OCN.

Not yet.
I just got fed up typing OtherCallNumber, so please see my earlier suggestions today.
i.e. RFC02: Allow “ocn” as an alternative to “othercallnumber” (OCN)

The field is Other Call Number.

In the wiki, shortened forms are allowed
eg

dewey: Dewey Decimal / Melvil Decimal Classication (DDC/MDS), and schedule wording mds: or ddc:

where dewey: is the long form
and mds: or ddc: is the short form
Both point to the same field.

Ref: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/%22Your_books%22_Search

>3 JonathonL88: You don't need to type it. Just use the default search, which uses 'most fields'. I just tested it, it works perfectly fine. Unless your call numbers use words found elsewhere, rather than unique notation, default search will not bring any unwanted results.

There is a major difference between using regularly accepted abbreviations where the meaning is clear, and suddenly throwing in personal abbreviations that nobody else uses and are not clear in contaxt.

>1 JonathonL88:

I think it's reasonable ask for this in the drop-down, especially since it's not guaranteed to be a unique pattern. Could be single letters, who knows.

If it's a quick fix, too, if wouldn't need special time that would take away from the eventual LT2.0 revamp of the catalogue.

But please give it its proper name.

>6 SandraArdnas: You are correct. I was misled by the wiki only using callnumber and not othercallnumber. i.e. othercallnumber is an included field that is searched.

Wiki:
title, author, other authors, tags, summary, ISBN, date, lcc, publication, dewey, source, media, comments, isbn, callnumber, barcode, series, genre, awards, private comment*

BUT
if you are using othercallnumber for location e.g. L for Lounge and A for Attic, then putting "L" in the search field will return loads of entries, which is why you need to specify just search in the "othercallnumber" field.

The wiki is maintained by users not by LT staff and is often out of date. If you find something incorrect please correct it. But if you're adding suggestions for how a field could be used please make it clear that they are just one person's suggestions and not anything official.

>10 JonathonL88: Well, yes, if it is a single letter, I'm surprised you can search at all. I thought 3 is the minimum to do a search.

>12 SandraArdnas: If a single letter did not work e.g. L then L* certainly should.

>13 JonathonL88: The question is why would you make a notation consisting of one letter? Even if you're just indicating a room, which most of us are not, that is far too unhelpful unless you have one shelf in the toilet ;), why not make it Lng, Atc or some such. But suit yourself.

ETA: Just wanted to say that this RSI in my view is something that actually IS potentially useful to many members. I'm not sure why the choices in the dropdown menu are fairly few compared to fields that can be specified.