Hi Gar,

I *never* try to explain ANDs/ORs/NOTs to clients -- for that exact reason.

I've had good luck instead with using "BOTH" and "ONLY" in my UI's. Sales in BOTH Texas and California (translates to AND) versus Sales in ONLY Texas and California (translates to OR).

It's not perfect, and it can still cause problems, but a lot less than trying to explain the vagarities of OR/AND/NOT to a client.

Just my $.02 ...

>We had recommended to a client what we thought was an extremely user friendly third party querying tool -- until the following conversation.
>
>Customer)
> What's wrong with our latest campaign? I just checked. We have had no sale in Texas and California for the last three days!
>
>Support)
>No -- sales are UP in those regions.
>
>Customer)
>Well then something is wrong with this damn query thingie you suggested. It keeps tell me we have no sales for California and Texas!
>
>Support)
>Hmm what exactly did you ask it"
>
>Customers)
>Sales In Texas AND California
>
>
>Support)
>Try sales in Texas OR California
>
>Customer)
>No, I want sales in Texas and California
>
>Support)
>Well you know computers aren't that bright and if you put it that way they think you mean sales that occurred in Texas and California at the same time. If you tell it sales in Texas OR California it will understand what you mean.
>
>Customer)
>You mean I have to enter OR when I mean AND? That is a pretty serious bug. Are they going to fix it?
>
>Support)
>Probably not any time soon...
>
>How would you design a query interface friendly enough for this customer?

Evan Pauley, MCP
Positronic Technology Systems LLC
Knoxville, TN

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?