Some Geocoder issues

Question

Hello all;

The Geocoder is a great component, we just have a few issues with it. We have published a service using our own data, it is a composite all in one service. Here are the issues:

1. The geocoder doesnt find a result until the complete street name is entered. For example, this building is located on a four name street name. So in the geocoder if you type "339 Raed Tayar Hassan" it doesn't find the result, until you type the last name of the street like this "339 Raed Tayar Hassan Ahmed" and then it finds it. Any ideas? You can test this here:
http://www.digitaleg.com/Digital_Egypt/EGIPA/Map_En.html

2. In the directions component, I cant seem to assign a maximum result count for the gecoder. It throws a runtime error. 
landmarkDirectionComponent = new Directions; landmarkDirectionComponent.url = "http://tela.roktech.net/arcgis/rest/services/DigitalEgypt/EGIPA_NetworkStreet/NAServer/Route";
 landmarkDirectionComponent.locatorURL = "http://arcgis4.roktech.net/arcgis/rest/services/DigitalEgypt/AllInOne/GeocodeServer";
landmarkDirectionComponent.geocoderOptions.maxLocations = 20;

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.

3. How can I assign custom actions to the geocoder based on a few things. I want users to be able to use the geocoder for short cut actions, for example if you type "p" and hit enter, then the map zooms to the previous view. So how can one cache specific input determined in the application, and if the input is none of them, then the standard geocoder functionality takes over.

4. The geocoder here :http://arcgis4.roktech.net/arcgis/rest/services/DigitalEgypt/AllInOne/GeocodeServer/findAddressCandidates
returns a field "Loc_name: " which I can use in Flex to make the application display a popup with info when a landmark is selected from the geocoder results, or something else for example if it is another layer. How can one go about doing that? Sort of like a result event, and if ("Loc_name == "something", then do this)

Thanks

raffia · Answer

Raffi,
For issues related specifically to the underlying geocoding service, you might want to ask at the Geocoding forum - http://forums.arcgis.com/forums/94-Geocoding

Thanks Bjorn;

I will do that. If you have time, can you take a stab at number 1 or 2?

BjornSvensson · Answer

Raffi,
For issues related specifically to the underlying geocoding service, you might want to ask at the Geocoding forum - http://forums.arcgis.com/forums/94-Geocoding

raffia · Answer

Maybe your service has changed since you posted, but neither "339 Raed Tayar Hassan" nor "339 Raed Tayar Hassan Ahmed" returns any results when I try directly on the REST page - http://arcgis4.roktech.net/arcgis/rest/services/DigitalEgypt/AllInOne/GeocodeServer/findAddressCandidates

Thanks BJorn for the reply.
Yeah somehow it is not recognizing that address anymore even though we didn't republish the service. You can try it with this on the REST page in the singleLine field
1. 54 kamal el din (no results)
2. 54 kamal el din sameh (brings the intended result)

The geocoder also in flex acts weirdly sometimes and the auto search doesn't get triggered automatically.