1238728 - compose autocomplete gives different results when using the results cache

Status: NEW

(MailNews Core :: Address Book, defect)

Description

[:aceman]

Noticed in bug 118624 comment 93, but not caused by that bug.

The autocomplete in compose recipient fields gives different results when the results cache is used.

scenario 1:
1. type "word" directly (assuming "word" matches somebody's email address in the addressbook).
2. observe the returned list of results.

scenario 2:
1. type "wo"
2. observe results
3. type "rd"
4. observe results. It is not always the same as in scenario 1, step 2.

The results probably should be the same, but aren't.

This can be seen when the search term matches something in the email field of AB contacts, not in other fields.

My analysis:
1.When results are fetched directly from the AB, all returned cards are analyzed and all emails found in them (primary+secondary) are returned as matches (even if one of the emails did not contain the search term).

2.When there are some results in the cache (from previous autocomplete), the new search term is run on the results using a different algorithm, that also takes the email of the result into account. In there, non-matching results are removed. So it can happen only one of the user's emails prevails and the results differ from 1.

Comment 1

[:aceman]

Attachment: proof of concept test

This patch adds a new test that shows the problem. The test runs the same input data through autocomplete, once using the cache and once not. The expected result set is the same, but the test fails, because the real results differ.

Comment 2

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Comment on attachment 8706577 [details] [diff] [review]
proof of concept test

Review of attachment 8706577 [details] [diff] [review]:
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Not sure what you want feedback on. Yes ideally the should not change, but in reality not likely a huge deal