another lookup problem

[Daniel Karrenberg <]

  > Schmitz@localhost (Joachim Schmitz) writes:
  > ...
  >  I am just wondering now whether the database should give all information
  >  (all people named '.* Schaefer' regexp) if it has none (no 'U Schaefer'
  >  after removing the dot). The first approach is advantageuos if you are not
  >  sure about the complete name - you get all and just pick the one you reall
  > y
  >  want. However, this makes it more difficult to immediately decide whether
  >  there is actually NO entry fitting the search pattern.
  > 
  >  I would like to know how the working group people think about this.

Joachm, David,

I think that the query should not be 'generalised' automagically if an
object matching all the keys in the query cannot be found.  As Joachim
states correctly there is an important functionality in having a "not
found" result.  It should be up to the user to generalise the query by
dropping keys if they wish.  Automatic 'query modification' is not
needed with a database that has such a short response time. 

Daniel