Fix group filter to use OR semantics for space separated terms

[NishantDG-SST]

Related issues and pull requests

Closes #12721

PR Description

The group filter in the side pane previously required ALL typed words to appear in a group name, so typing machine learning would hide "Deep Learning" even though it contains "learning". This fix changes the behavior to OR-any matching word is enough. It reuses the existing Search.g4 ANTLR grammar for parsing So explicit AND, OR, NOT, and parentheses also work in the filter box.

Steps to test

1. Open any library in JabRef
2. Open the Groups pane (View → Groups)
3. Create these subgroups under "All Entries": "Machine Learning", "Deep Learning", "Neural Networks", "Computer Vision", "Reinforcement Learning"

4. Type "deep learning" in the Filter groups box → all three groups containing "Learning" should appear

Before

After

5. Type "machine vision" → "Machine Learning" and "Computer Vision" should appear

Before

After

6. Type "NOT learning" → subgroups with "Learning" should not appear

7. Type "machine AND learning" → only "Machine Learning" should appear

Checklist

• I own the copyright of the code submitted and I license it under the MIT license
• I manually tested my changes in running JabRef (always required)
• I added JUnit tests for changes (if applicable)
• I added screenshots in the PR description (if change is visible to the user)
• I added a screenshot in the PR description showing a library with a single entry with me as author and as title the issue number
• I described the change in CHANGELOG.md in a way that can be understood by the average user (if change is visible to the user)
• [/] I checked the user documentation for up to dateness and submitted a pull request to our user documentation repository

AI Usage

I used copilot suggesstion code (#15350 (comment)) in GroupNameFilterVisitor.java, I reviewed the suggested fix, tested it locally, and verified it solves the issue without side effects.
I used ai to write the steps to reciprocate the steps to test more clearly in pr description
I used Copilot for suggestions related to spaceImpliesOr,parenthesesWithNotWork,complexExpressionWithNotLearning test cases. I reviewed the suggested cases, and no code was generated by AI.

[qodo-free-for-open-source-projects]

Review Summary by Qodo

Implement OR semantics for group filter with advanced query support

✨ Enhancement 🧪 Tests

Walkthroughs

Description

• Implement OR semantics for space-separated group filter terms
• Reuse existing Search.g4 ANTLR grammar for advanced query support
• Support explicit AND, OR, NOT operators and parentheses
• Add comprehensive test coverage for filter behavior

Diagram

flowchart LR
  A["Group Filter Input"] --> B["SearchQuery Parser"]
  B --> C["GroupNameFilterVisitor"]
  C --> D["OR for space-separated terms"]
  C --> E["AND/OR/NOT operators"]
  C --> F["Parentheses support"]
  D --> G["Match Result"]
  E --> G
  F --> G

Loading

File Changes

1. jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModel.java ✨ Enhancement +14/-2

Integrate ANTLR-based group filter with OR semantics

• Import new GroupNameFilterVisitor and SearchQuery classes
• Replace simple containsIgnoreCase logic with ANTLR-based query parsing
• Implement fallback to plain contains matching for malformed queries
• Remove trailing comment from acceptableDrop method documentation

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModel.java

---

2. jabgui/src/test/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModelFilterTest.java 🧪 Tests +90/-0

Add comprehensive group filter matching tests

• Add 11 test cases covering space-separated OR semantics
• Test explicit AND, OR, NOT operators and parentheses
• Verify case-insensitive matching and blank query handling
• Test malformed query fallback and complex expressions

jabgui/src/test/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModelFilterTest.java

---

3. jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/GroupNameFilterVisitor.java ✨ Enhancement +73/-0

Create visitor for group name filter query evaluation

• Create new visitor class extending SearchBaseVisitor for parse tree evaluation
• Implement OR semantics in visitImplicitAndExpression using anyMatch for simple terms
• Support explicit AND/OR/NOT operators and parentheses expressions
• Use case-insensitive substring matching against group display name

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/GroupNameFilterVisitor.java

---

View more (1)

4. CHANGELOG.md 📝 Documentation +1/-0

Document group filter OR semantics fix

• Document fix for group filter OR semantics behavior
• Reference issue #12721 in changelog entry

CHANGELOG.md

---

[qodo-free-for-open-source-projects]

Code Review by Qodo

🐞 Bugs (0) 📘 Rule violations (0) 📎 Requirement gaps (0) 🎨 UX Issues (0)

1. Javadoc block in GroupNameFilterVisitor ☑ 📘 Rule violation ≡ Correctness

Description

The new GroupNameFilterVisitor introduces a multi-line Javadoc-style block comment (/** ... */)
instead of the preferred Markdown Javadoc triple-slash (///) format. This creates inconsistent
documentation style compared to the project’s stated convention.

Code

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/GroupNameFilterVisitor.java[R6-12]

+/**
+ * Evaluates a Search.g4 parse tree against a group display name string.
+ * Key behavioral difference from {@link SearchQueryVisitor}:
+ * {@code visitImplicitAndExpression} uses OR semantics (anyMatch) instead of AND,
+ * so space-separated bare terms like "machine learning" match any group containing
+ * either word. Explicit AND/OR/NOT and parentheses work as expected.
+ */

Evidence

PR Compliance ID 16 requires multi-line Javadoc-style documentation to use ///. The new file adds
a /** ... */ multi-line documentation comment at the referenced lines.

AGENTS.md
jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/GroupNameFilterVisitor.java[6-12]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

## Issue description
A new multi-line documentation comment uses `/** ... */` instead of the preferred Markdown Javadoc triple-slash (`///`) style.
## Issue Context
JabRef prefers `///` for multi-line Javadoc-style documentation to keep commenting consistent across the codebase.
## Fix Focus Areas
- jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/GroupNameFilterVisitor.java[6-12]

ⓘ Copy this prompt and use it to remediate the issue with your preferred AI generation tools

---

2. Repeated query parsing ☑ 🐞 Bug ➹ Performance

Description

GroupNodeViewModel.isMatchedBy parses the ANTLR query for every predicate evaluation, and
RecursiveTreeItem’s recursive filtering calls that predicate many times per node, which can cause UI
lag on large group trees while typing in the filter box.

Code

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModel.java[R341-344]

+        try {
+            SearchParser.StartContext ctx = SearchQuery.getStartContext(searchString);
+            GroupNameFilterVisitor visitor = new GroupNameFilterVisitor(getDisplayName());
+            return visitor.visit(ctx);

Evidence

The PR moved filtering from a single case-insensitive substring check to building a full ANTLR
lexer/parser per call to isMatchedBy. The filter predicate is bound as `group ->
group.isMatchedBy(text)` and RecursiveTreeItem evaluates it for every node and recursively for
children, amplifying the cost (repeated parsing per node).

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModel.java[337-348]
jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupTreeViewModel.java[107-113]
jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/util/RecursiveTreeItem.java[74-86]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

## Issue description
`GroupNodeViewModel.isMatchedBy` builds a new ANTLR lexer/parser for every evaluation. The group tree filtering logic evaluates the predicate for every node and recursively walks children, multiplying the parsing cost and potentially causing UI lag.
## Issue Context
The filter predicate is created in `GroupTreeViewModel` and applied by `RecursiveTreeItem.showNode`, which calls the predicate repeatedly per node.
## Fix Focus Areas
- jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModel.java[337-348]
- jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupTreeViewModel.java[107-113]
- jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/util/RecursiveTreeItem.java[74-86]
## Suggested approach
- Move `SearchQuery.getStartContext(text)` into the lambda created in `GroupTreeViewModel` (runs once per text change), not into `GroupNodeViewModel.isMatchedBy`.
- Have the bound predicate look like:
- if blank -> `group -> true`
- else try parse once -> capture `StartContext ctx`
- `group -> new GroupNameFilterVisitor(group.getDisplayName()).visit(ctx)`
- catch ParseCancellationException once -> capture fallback matcher (e.g., `group -> StringUtil.containsIgnoreCase(group.getDisplayName(), text)`)
- Optionally change `GroupNodeViewModel.isMatchedBy` to accept a pre-parsed context/predicate to avoid rebuilding objects.

ⓘ Copy this prompt and use it to remediate the issue with your preferred AI generation tools

---

3. Locale-dependent lowercasing ☑ 🐞 Bug ≡ Correctness

Description

GroupNameFilterVisitor uses String.toLowerCase() without Locale.ROOT for both the group name and
search term, which can produce incorrect matching under certain user locales (e.g., Turkish casing)
and is inconsistent with other search code paths.

Code

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/GroupNameFilterVisitor.java[R18-20]

+    public GroupNameFilterVisitor(String groupName) {
+        this.groupName = groupName.toLowerCase();
+    }

Evidence

The new visitor lowercases using the JVM default locale. Elsewhere in the codebase, deterministic
case-folding uses Locale.ROOT (e.g., SearchQueryVisitor lowercases field names with Locale.ROOT),
indicating the expected pattern for stable matching regardless of OS/user locale.

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/GroupNameFilterVisitor.java[18-21]
jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/GroupNameFilterVisitor.java[68-72]
jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/SearchQueryVisitor.java[85-87]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

## Issue description
`GroupNameFilterVisitor` lowercases strings using the default locale, which can break case-insensitive matching in locales with special casing rules.
## Issue Context
Other search-related code (e.g., `SearchQueryVisitor`) uses `Locale.ROOT` for deterministic casing.
## Fix Focus Areas
- jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/GroupNameFilterVisitor.java[18-21]
- jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/GroupNameFilterVisitor.java[68-72]
- jabgui/src/test/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModelFilterTest.java[13-23]
## Suggested approach
- Import `java.util.Locale` and change:
- `groupName.toLowerCase()` -> `groupName.toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT)`
- `...toLowerCase()` for `term` -> `...toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT)`
- In the test fallback branch, also use `toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT)` to mirror production behavior.

ⓘ Copy this prompt and use it to remediate the issue with your preferred AI generation tools

---

4. Misnamed fallback test ☑ 🐞 Bug ≡ Correctness

Description

The test method malformedQueryFallsBackToContains uses a valid query ("test"), so its name implies
it covers the parse-failure fallback when it does not, which can mislead future maintenance of the
fallback behavior.

Code

jabgui/src/test/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModelFilterTest.java[R71-74]

+    @Test
+    void malformedQueryFallsBackToContains() {
+        assertTrue(matches("test group", "test"));
+    }

Evidence

Search.g4 allows a bare searchValue as a complete expression, so "test" parses successfully and
will not trigger the ParseCancellationException catch branch in matches(). Thus the test name is
misleading relative to what it exercises.

jabgui/src/test/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModelFilterTest.java[13-23]
jabgui/src/test/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModelFilterTest.java[71-74]
jablib/src/main/antlr/org/jabref/search/Search.g4[63-66]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

## Issue description
A test name claims to validate malformed-query fallback, but the provided query is well-formed.
## Issue Context
The fallback branch in `matches()` only runs when `SearchQuery.getStartContext(query)` throws `ParseCancellationException`.
## Fix Focus Areas
- jabgui/src/test/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModelFilterTest.java[71-74]
## Suggested approach
- Option A (simplest): rename the test to `simpleQueryMatches()`.
- Option B: keep the test and add another test that triggers parse failure, e.g. query `"test AND"` (incomplete), and assert the fallback result against a group name that contains the literal substring (e.g., `"my test AND group"`) so the fallback path is demonstrably exercised.

ⓘ Copy this prompt and use it to remediate the issue with your preferred AI generation tools

---

ⓘ The new review experience is currently in Beta. Learn more

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR updates JabRef’s Groups side-pane filter to treat space-separated terms as an OR search (matching any typed word), while leveraging the existing Search.g4 grammar so that explicit boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and parentheses can be used in the filter input.

Changes:

• Added GroupNameFilterVisitor to evaluate Search.g4 parse trees against group display names with OR semantics for implicit whitespace-separated terms.
• Updated GroupNodeViewModel#isMatchedBy to parse and evaluate filter input via SearchQuery.getStartContext(...), with a fallback to plain containsIgnoreCase on parse errors.
• Added GUI-level JUnit tests covering OR/AND/OR/NOT/parentheses behavior and updated CHANGELOG.md.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

File	Description
jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/search/query/GroupNameFilterVisitor.java	New visitor implementing group-name matching based on Search.g4, with modified implicit-whitespace behavior.
jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModel.java	Routes group filter matching through the new ANTLR-based parser/visitor with a malformed-query fallback.
jabgui/src/test/java/org/jabref/gui/groups/GroupNodeViewModelFilterTest.java	Adds tests for the new filter semantics and operator handling.
CHANGELOG.md	Documents the user-visible change in group filtering behavior.

---

You can also share your feedback on Copilot code review. Take the survey.

[subhramit]

Please add disclosures on wherever AI has been used in this PR.

[testlens-app]

✅ All tests passed ✅

🏷️ Commit: 1ad23ed
▶️ Tests: 10234 executed
⚪️ Checks: 50/50 completed

---

Learn more about TestLens at testlens.app.

Comments addressed