Advanced Search Made Easy
You can increase the accuracy of your searches by adding
operators that fine-tune your keywords and numbers. All the options
listed on this page can be entered directly into the search box(es).
The basics of Searching
Click on the
icon to unhide the search form. Then you enter a word/number or an expression, e.g.
Miller,
> 500 or
>=
Smith, into the respective search field(s) and click the [OK] button.
The basics of Sorting
If an attribute is sortable you can click on the respective column header to change to sort order (ascending - descending - unsorted).
Operators
The following operators are supported (please note, however,
that some database systems do not support all operators):
- like (%), default operator for string searches
- not like (!%), default operator for string searches
- sounds like (*)
- not sounds like (!*)
- equal to (=), default operator for boolean, number, and code
searches
- not equal to (<>, !=)
- less than (<)
- less than or equal to (<=)
- greater than (>)
- greater than or equal to (>=)
"AND" Searches
To retrieve objects that match more than one condition at the same time,
use an ampersand & between conditions. For example, to search for objects
with values between 500 and 1000 (i.e. greater than 500 and less than 1000), enter: >500 & <1000
"OR" Searches
To retrieve objects that include
either term A or term B, use a semicolon ; between terms. For example,
to search for contacts named 'Smith' OR 'Miller', just type: Smith; Miller
Combining Searches
You can combine searches virtually without limits. For example, to search
for objects with
values less than '1000', but different from '500' and different from '600',
just
type: <>500; 600 & <1000
The parsing rules for combined searches are as follows:
- searchExpr ::= filterValue { & filterValue }
(--> string tokenizer with & as separator)
- filterValue ::= [operator] value { ; value }
(--> string tokenizer with ; as separator)
Wildcard Searches
Some DBs allow you to initiate wildcard searches. If supported, you can for example search for all contacts with names containing 'ller' (e.g. Miller, Mueller, etc.) by typing: %ller
WARNING: wildcard searches can be very time-consuming if the DB is not tuned (full table scans)!