Search Wizard

SEARCH WIZARD

Click here to go to Search Wizard Runtime Option

The Search Wizard button is located above many browse tables between the search bar and the Show All button. It is sometimes simply titled “Search,” but has the same binocular icon. It is a more advanced search tool that allows the application of multiple filters at one time.

Make sure any previous filters from the search bar are cleared before you run a Search Wizard query. If it seems like not all the information is coming up when trying to run a query, click or Show All to make sure the filter is cleared out. You should not have to rerun the wizard. If the previous filter was affecting the search wizard results, it will not be affecting the search wizard results after you click . You can combine the search bar query with a search wizard query. Using both filters will AND join the queries.

After you click the Search Wizard button, the Saved Queries window will pop up on your screen.

The left box is where all saved queries are listed. Once you have saved a query, you will be able to use that same one again without reentering all the filters.

Saved Queries Window Buttons

The New button opens the query wizard to create a new query.

The Copy button creates a duplicate of the highlighted saved query. The Adding a New Query window pops up where you can write a description for the query. By default the description will be Copy of copied query’s description, but you can name the query whatever you want. The Copy button is especially helpful when creating a query very similar to a saved query by modifying the copy.

The Modify button opens the highlighted query for review.

The Rename button allows you to change the description of the highlighted query.

The Delete button permanently removes the highlighted query from the list of saved queries. A window pops up asking for confirmation for deleting the query.

The Info button displays a window listing the properties of the highlighted query such as the Owner ID, the date the query was created, the date the query was last modified, and any notes for the query.

The Select button runs the highlighted saved query. The Saved Queries window closes and the results of the query will be listed in the browse table.

The Close button closes the Saved Queries window.

The Less button hides the notes section, which is at the bottom of the Saved Queries window. The notes section lists any available notes for the highlighted query. The Less button replaces the More button when the notes section is visible.

The More button displays the notes section and replaces the Less button when the notes are hidden.

Creating a New Query

Click to create a new query.

Parts of the Query Wizard

When creating a new query, the Query Wizard will start up and the window will be titled (New Query).

On the left in the blue section of the window is a list of the stages for creating a query. The stage you are in will be yellow. You begin in the Field Selection stage.

In the white section of the window is displayed the current stage’s information. In each stage you will need to complete the requirements listed at the top under the stage name.

On the bottom are buttons you may need to add notes or make the query public or private.

The Manual button is an optional method of using the Query Wizard. Clicking this button will cause a manual override of the Query Wizard process. The Manual Override option gives a dropdown list of the fields, an ellipsis button to open the Expression Builder, and a memo field for the query. Any unfinished filters will be disregarded once you begin the Manual Override. The information for completed filters will be listed in the memo field. When in Manual Override, the Cancel button will take you out of Manual Override and back to the Current Query list, where all the completed filters will be listed. If there are no completed filters that would be listed in the Current Query list, then the Cancel button will close the Query Wizard entirely.

The Notes button opens the memo field where you can enter additional information for the query. This information will be displayed in the Notes Section of the Saved Queries window, if the query is saved. You can enter up to 255 characters in this field. The Back button will take you back to whatever section of the Query Wizard you were working on before you clicked the Notes button. The notes will be saved with the query and are not required.

The Access button is for assigning access level to the query such as unassigned (everyone can use it) or Owner only and visibility Public or Private.

The Back and Next buttons are for navigating back and forth through the stages of the query wizard.

Field Selection

In the Field Selection stage, you will need to select from the list a field to evaluate. The field is a category of the records from the browse table and the basis for your filter. This is just the first of however many filters you would like to apply to your search, so this does not have to be the only field you evaluate.

For this example we’ll use the Customer Orders query wizard. If you have a specific customer you are looking into, you could select Customer as your first field to evaluate.

Click once you have highlighted a field to move on to the next stage.

Operation Selection

Next, select the operation for the field you chose. The operation specifies the relationship between the field and the value.

If you are narrowing your search to a specific customer, you would pick Is Equal To and your value would be the specific customer. If you want to select all customers besides one specific customer, you would pick Is NOT Equal To.

Different types of fields will list different sets of operations. With a date as the field, you can select a day of the week, a day of the month, a month, or a year. For the operation Is This Day of Week (n), the value entered will replace n. The day of the week will be represented by a number 1-7. Sunday is represented by 1; Saturday is 7. For operations with multiple n’s, such as Is This Day of Month (nn), you can type dates less than ten with or without a zero before the number.

For the example with customer as the field, we will pick Is Equal To for the operation.

Select an operation from the list and click .

Runtime Entry - See here

Value Entry

After you have selected the operation, you will need to enter a value or multiple values to complete the expression. The value is compared to the field and narrows down the field category based on the relationship between the two, using the operator. At the top of the Value Entry section of the Query Wizard is a radio button with the options Constant Value, Another Field, and Expression.

Constant Value is used when the user wants to enter a definite value, such as a specific number or word. If the field has a list from which you can select the value, an ellipsis buttonwill be displayed to the right of the entry field for the value. Dates will also have this button, but it will open a calendar instead of a list of values.

Another Field is used when the user wants to compare two fields. The second field becomes the value, filtering the first field. The items will be compared within each record. For example, you could use this option to compare the dates to find all records that have Sale Dates and Dates to Ship that are equal to one another within the record.

Expression is a more complex option. To use this option, click the to the right of the entry field when Expression is selected and the Expression Builder window will appear. Once you have completed a valid expression, click OK to use the expression as the value.

When the value being entered could include letters, the Compare Using Case Sensitive Matching checkbox will be available near the bottom of the window. Checking this box will compare the values exactly as entered in regards to whether each letter is uppercase or lowercase. If the box is left unchecked, then the case of the letters will be ignored.

When the value being entered is numeric, the Compare Using Absolute Values checkbox will be available near the bottom of the window. Checking this box will cause the program to use the positive values of each number, regardless of whether the number was listed as positive or negative in the database. If the box is left unchecked, then the numbers will be evaluated as they were entered.

In the case of our working expression Customer Is Equal To… the value entered will need to represent a customer and will be signified by a number for the expression. Make sure that the radio button Constant Value is selected near the top. To select a Customer by name from a list of entries, click to the right of the blank entry field. A browse table will pop up titled Customers. Once you have highlighted the customer you want to select, click . Alternatively, you can double-click the entry. A number value representing the customer will fill in the entry field. For this example we will use customer 379.

Once you have entered a value, click .

Review and Group

This completes the first filter in the query. The Review and Group stage of the Query Wizard lists out all the filters of the current query. Once the first filter is complete, there will be only one line of data in the Current Query box. If additional filters are joined to the query, each filter will be listed as its own line, joined to the other parts of the query by AND or OR. More filters can be added by clicking or .

The AND button initiates the creation of a new filter. The new filter will be AND joined to the last filter in the list, regardless of which filter is highlighted when AND is clicked.

The OR button initiates the creation of a new filter. The new filter will be OR joined to the last filter in the list, regardless of which filter is highlighted when OR is clicked.

The Change button is located under the Current Query list. Clicking this button when an AND is highlighted switches it to an OR, and vice versa. Clicking this button when a filter is highlighted will allow you to modify that filter by taking you back to the Field Selection stage for that filter. Any other filters in the list will remain unchanged while you modify the one.

The Delete button located under the Current Query list permanently removes the highlighted filter from the list. The AND or OR directly beneath the filter being removed will also be removed, if there is one. If the filter that is deleted is the only filter in the list, the Query Wizard will return to the Field Selection stage.

The Group button is located under the Current Query list. Clicking the Group button will create a bracket connecting two adjacent filters when the connecting AND or OR is highlighted.

The Ungroup button is ungrayed when an AND or OR between grouped filters is highlighted. Clicking the Ungroup button causes all filters in that group to be ungrouped, and the affected bracket will disappear.

The up and down arrows on either side of the group or ungroup button affect the size of the group as well as which filters are included in the group. They are only ungrayed when one of the end filters in a bracket is highlighted, and the bracket can be extended or shortened from that position. The arrows will move the end of the bracket to include the next filter in the list. If the upper end of the bracket is moved up, then an additional filter will be included. If the upper end of the bracket is moved down, then one less filter will be included. It is the opposite for the lower end of the bracket.

Combining Queries

There are two ways to combine queries: You can add filters to your query in the Review and Group section of the Query Wizard or you can run a query when the results of a different query are currently displayed in the browse table.

To add to the Customer Is Equal To 379 example, click . The wizard will start a new filter by asking you to select a field. Click Date Order Shipped and then click . In the Operation Selection, click Is This Day of Week (n). Click . In the Value Entry section, type 4 as the Constant Value and click . This will take you back to where your current query is listed, with all its filters. For the example, I chose Wednesday (day 4) as the day of the week. Click to run the query.

A window will pop up asking if you want to save the query. Saving the query will make it easy to run the query again in the future. Click Yes.

Next a window will pop up where you can enter in the description of the query. This is the name for the query that will be listed in the Saved Queries. This could be anything, but one suggestion could be a name that indicates exactly what the query searches, such as Customer Name Date Shipped Wednesday.

After you have typed in the name, click OK. The original browse table will list only the entries that fit within your filters. For this example, the records listed would have to include both the customer as 379 and the order shipped on a Wednesday.