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.
The basics
You can enter a word/number or an expression, e.g. 'Miller', '> 500' or '>=
Smith', and then
| • click on a column header to search objects
with matching value(s) in that particular attribute (all objects are
searched regardless of currently set filters and already existing search
results will be lost) |
New Search
 |
| • click on the [+] button to search objects with
matching value(s) in that particular attribute (only objects contained
in the previous search or filter are
searched, i.e. 'adding' this search will return a more restricted result
set) |
Add Condition
 |
Operators
The following operators are supported (please note, however,
that some database systems do not support all operators):
- sounds like (*)
- like (%), default operator for string searches
- equal (=), default operator for boolean, number, and code
searches
- not equal (<>, !=)
- less (<)
- less or equal (<=)
- greater (>)
- greater or equal (>=)
"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), just type: '>500 & <1000'
"OR" Searches
To retrieve objects that include
either word A or word 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)!