diff --git a/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_sql.inc.php b/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_sql.inc.php
index 9908fe65d9..c7053c3762 100644
--- a/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_sql.inc.php
+++ b/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_sql.inc.php
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ class addressbook_sql extends so_sql_cf
 	/**
 	 * join to show only active account (and not already expired ones)
 	 */
-	const ACOUNT_ACTIVE_JOIN = ' LEFT JOIN egw_accounts ON egw_addressbook.account_id=egw_accounts.account_id';
+	const ACCOUNT_ACTIVE_JOIN = ' LEFT JOIN egw_accounts ON egw_addressbook.account_id=egw_accounts.account_id';
 	/**
 	 * filter to show only active account (and not already expired ones)
 	 * UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW()) gets replaced with value of time() in the code!
@@ -328,7 +328,14 @@ class addressbook_sql extends so_sql_cf
 			$join .= " JOIN $this->ab2list_table ON $this->table_name.contact_id=$this->ab2list_table.contact_id AND list_id=".(int)$filter['list'];
 			unset($filter['list']);
 		}
-		if ($join)
+		// add join to show only active accounts (only if accounts are shown and in sql and we not already join the accounts table, eg. used by admin)
+		if (!$owner && substr($this->account_repository,0,3) == 'sql' &&
+			strpos($join,$GLOBALS['egw']->accounts->backend->table) === false && !array_key_exists('account_id',$filter))
+		{
+			$join .= self::ACCOUNT_ACTIVE_JOIN;
+			$filter[] = str_replace('UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW())',time(),self::ACOUNT_ACTIVE_FILTER);
+		}
+		if ($join || $criteria && is_string($criteria))	// search also adds a join for custom fields!
 		{
 			switch(gettype($only_keys))
 			{
@@ -368,13 +375,6 @@ class addressbook_sql extends so_sql_cf
 				//_debug_array($order_by);
 			}
 		}
-		// add join to show only active accounts (only if accounts are shown and in sql and we not already join the accounts table, eg. used by admin)
-		if (!$owner && substr($this->account_repository,0,3) == 'sql' &&
-			strpos($join,$GLOBALS['egw']->accounts->backend->table) === false && !array_key_exists('account_id',$filter))
-		{
-			$join .= self::ACOUNT_ACTIVE_JOIN;
-			$filter[] = str_replace('UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW())',time(),self::ACOUNT_ACTIVE_FILTER);
-		}
 		$rows =& parent::search($criteria,$only_keys,$order_by,$extra_cols,$wildcard,$empty,$op,$start,$filter,$join,$need_full_no_count);
 
 		if ($start === false) $this->total = is_array($rows) ? count($rows) : 0;	// so_sql sets total only for $start !== false!
diff --git a/etemplate/inc/class.so_sql.inc.php b/etemplate/inc/class.so_sql.inc.php
index 471dce91ab..043a4367c0 100644
--- a/etemplate/inc/class.so_sql.inc.php
+++ b/etemplate/inc/class.so_sql.inc.php
@@ -1081,16 +1081,22 @@ class so_sql
 		{
 			return array();
 		}
-
 		// Concat all fields to be searched together, so the conditions operate across the whole record
 		foreach($search_cols as $col)
 		{
-			if($this->table_def['fd'][$col] && in_array($this->table_def['fd'][$col]['type'], $numeric_types))
+			$col_name = $col;
+			$table = $this->table_name;
+			if (strpos($col,'.') !== false)
+			{
+				list($table,$col_name) = explode('.',$col);
+			}
+			$table_def = $table == $this->table_name ? $this->table_def : $this->db->get_table_definitions(true,$table);
+			if ($table_def['fd'][$col_name] && in_array($table_def['fd'][$col_name]['type'], $numeric_types))
 			{
 				$numeric_columns[] = $col;
 				continue;
 			}
-			$columns[] = "CAST(COALESCE($col,'') AS char)";
+			$columns[] = sprintf($this->db->capabilities[egw_db::CAPABILITY_CAST_AS_VARCHAR],"COALESCE($col,'')");
 		}
 		if($columns)
 		{
@@ -1165,7 +1171,8 @@ class so_sql
 					if($wildcard == '')
 					{
 						// Token has a wildcard from user, use LIKE
-						$numeric_filter[] = "($col IS NOT NULL AND CAST($col AS CHAR) LIKE " .
+						$numeric_filter[] = "($col IS NOT NULL AND CAST($col AS CHAR) " .
+							$this->db->capabilities['case_insensitive_like'] . ' ' .
 							$GLOBALS['egw']->db->quote(str_replace(array('%','_','*','?'),array('\\%','\\_','%','_'),$token)) . ')';
 					}
 					else
diff --git a/phpgwapi/inc/class.egw_db.inc.php b/phpgwapi/inc/class.egw_db.inc.php
index 78f6db8e8a..bfc34e42e3 100644
--- a/phpgwapi/inc/class.egw_db.inc.php
+++ b/phpgwapi/inc/class.egw_db.inc.php
@@ -222,6 +222,14 @@ class egw_db
 	 * DB requires varchar columns to be truncated to the max. size (eg. Postgres)
 	 */
 	const CAPABILITY_REQUIRE_TRUNCATE_VARCHAR = 'require_truncate_varchar';
+	/**
+	 * How to cast a column to varchar: CAST(%s AS varchar)
+	 *
+	 * MySQL requires to use CAST(%s AS char)!
+	 *
+	 * Use as: $sql = sprintf($GLOBALS['egw']->db->capabilities[egw_db::CAPABILITY_CAST_AS_VARCHAR],$expression);
+	 */
+	const CAPABILITY_CAST_AS_VARCHAR = 'cast_as_varchar';
 	/**
 	 * default capabilities will be changed by method set_capabilities($ado_driver,$db_version)
 	 *
@@ -240,6 +248,7 @@ class egw_db
 		self::CAPABILITY_CLIENT_ENCODING  => false,
 		self::CAPABILITY_CASE_INSENSITIV_LIKE => 'LIKE',
 		self::CAPABILITY_REQUIRE_TRUNCATE_VARCHAR => false,
+		self::CAPABILITY_CAST_AS_VARCHAR   => 'CAST(%s AS varchar)',
 	);
 
 	var $prepared_sql = array();	// sql is the index
@@ -348,6 +357,7 @@ class egw_db
 			switch($this->Type)	// convert to ADO db-type-names
 			{
 				case 'pgsql':
+$this->query_log = '/tmp/pgsql-query.log';
 					$type = 'postgres'; // name in ADOdb
 					// create our own pgsql connection-string, to allow unix domain soccets if !$Host
 					$Host = "dbname=$this->Database".($this->Host ? " host=$this->Host".($this->Port ? " port=$this->Port" : '') : '').
@@ -498,6 +508,7 @@ class egw_db
 				$this->capabilities[self::CAPABILITY_UNION] = (float) $db_version >= 4.0;
 				$this->capabilities[self::CAPABILITY_NAME_CASE] = 'preserv';
 				$this->capabilities[self::CAPABILITY_CLIENT_ENCODING] = (float) $db_version >= 4.1;
+				$this->capabilities[self::CAPABILITY_CAST_AS_VARCHAR] = 'CAST(%s AS char)';
 				break;
 
 			case 'postgres':