A question/problem on “Searching”

[John Hamill]

YouTube has changed one of their settings (the “start at time mark” setting/switch)…

From ‘&t=259s’
To ”#t=259s’

I want to find the records in Tapforms matching the old setting/switch. I have made a few attempts at this resulting in 250 records or thereabouts (clearly wrong), but I may not be using “escape special characters” in the correct way (see enclosed screenshots).

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards.

 

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[Daniel Leu]

If I run into issues with the search, I tend to write a field script:

function Match_T259S() {

var field_id = 'fld-xxxx';
var field = record.getFieldValue(field_id);

const regex = /\&t=259s/g;
const found = field.match(regex);

return found ? 1: 0;
}

Match_T259S();

Then I create a saved search on that field. You need to adjust the field_id for the field that contains your URL text. The return value of this field script is integer.

[John Hamill]

Thanks for the advice. Will try it and report back.

Regards.

[John Hamill]

Worked great, thanks.

 

One thing for any other users, quotes are required around the regex pattern:

const regex = “/\&t=259s/g”;

[Daniel Leu]

Great that it works!

Adding quotes around the regex makes it a string and it’s no longer a regex.

[John Hamill]

Hello Daniel,

I was a bit presumptuous above. I am still having a problem with your script. I have simplified the problem – it may be down to the Javascript ‘match’ function returning an array (true), otherwise returning null, null having its own “difficulties” in Javascript. I have excluded the field id for the present to simplify it. I am still unable to get it working however. Here is my test script:

function Test_Script() {

const regex = “/5bq/”;

var tstr = “ytube5bq891”;

const found = tstr.match(regex);

if (found === null)

console.log(‘No match’);

else

console.log(‘Match found’);

}

Test_Script();

// https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-check-for-null-in-javascript/

[JScottA]

Maybe this response from the ChatGPT Tap Forms 5 Assistant can help you. It is a bit long, but that is how this custom GPT works. I hope it helps:

It seems the user is facing an issue with JavaScript’s .match() method and handling null values. Here’s what I can suggest based on their code.

### Issues with the Provided Script:
1. **Incorrect Regex Format**: The regular expression is defined as a string ("/5bq/"). In JavaScript, regular expressions should not be placed inside quotes like that unless explicitly instantiated using the RegExp constructor. Alternatively, regular expressions can be directly written using the / delimiter without the need for quotes.

2. **Null Handling**: The user is correct that .match() returns an array when a match is found and null when no match is found. The current handling of null is fine with the if (found === null) check, but fixing the regex issue should resolve their problem.

### Suggested Fix:
Here’s a corrected version of their script:

`javascript
function Test_Script() {
const regex = /5bq/; // Corrected regex format
var tstr = “ytube5bq891”;
const found = tstr.match(regex);

if (found === null) {
console.log(‘No match’);
} else {
console.log(‘Match found’);
}
}

Test_Script();
`

### Explanation:
– **Regex without quotes**: The regular expression /5bq/ is now correctly formatted as a regex object, not a string. JavaScript will treat this as a valid regex pattern and search accordingly.
– **Null Check**: The rest of the code remains the same because the handling of null and matches with if (found === null) is already correct.

### Additional Notes:
– If you want to dynamically create a regex (e.g., from user input), you would use the RegExp constructor like this:
`javascript
const regex = new RegExp(‘5bq’);
`

This should fix the issue and allow the script to properly check for matches.

For further Tap Forms scripting assistance, you can refer to [Tap Forms Scripting 101](https://www.cattail.nu/tap_forms/tap_forms_scripting_101/index.html). You can also check the scripting section in the Tap Forms documentation around page 53 [oai_citation:1,1328_16794_en_1538683502.pdf](file-service://file-15C3MsaZPdU2JvfF2hiej31w).

You can check more about Tap Forms here: [Tap Forms Assistant](https://chatgpt.com/g/g-aGOEAlajR-tap-forms-5-assistant).

[John Hamill]

Well that’s me “looking like a right berk” :)

All working now. Thanks for your help.

[Author]

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