Select object stores

After checking that the Search Designer options are properly set and choosing between Search Template and Stored Search, the next step in creating a search is to specify which object stores the search will look in. Search Designer opens in the Object Stores tab. Object stores available at your site appear in the Available Object Stores list on the left. To select object stores for your search, you move one or more of them to the Selected Object Stores list on the right.

To specify which object stores to search

  • To select all available object stores, click the Add All icon.
  • To select some of the object stores, click on their names in the Available Object Stores box and click the Add One icon. Use your operating system's normal multiple-selection methods.
  • To remove some object stores, click on their names and click the Remove One icon.
  • To remove all object stores, click the Remove All icon.
  • To move an object store from one side to the other, double-click its name.

Changing object stores

Once you start entering search criteria, either for a new search or one you have checked out to modify, changing object store selections requires starting over. Search Designer informs you that your action will change the properties and clear the Search Designer, and asks if you would like to save.

  • Answer Yes to add or check in the search first. (It must be complete. If not, a message will indicate that the search is not complete and therefore cannot be saved.)
  • Answer No to cancel your current checkout or otherwise clear current choices.
  • Answer Cancel to clear your object store change and leave your choices unaffected.

Using multiple object stores

When you select more than one object store, the system compiles a list of properties you can use in search criteria. Several things interact to determine which properties you see.

  • In your search options, you can choose between union (all properties) or intersection (just the properties that are common to all selected object stores). See Search Designer options.
  • Your site's object stores might have identical properties, different properties, or some mix of these on each object store.
  • The names you see in a property list are display labels. The Content Engine looks at the internal property IDs to determine which properties are identical. Therefore, you might see duplicate property names in the list because the display names are the same but their internal names are different.

We suggest that your system administrator set up similar properties as aliases of each other so that you do not see duplicate names in the property list.

Search Designer initially lists all object stores at your site. If you select an object store to which you do not have access, a message displays and then the object store disappears from the list. This will also happen if the object store is offline for any reason.

If you plan on allowing users to change folders while executing a search, select one object store. Substituting folders is not supported for multiple object stores.

To select all object stores, Tab to the Add All icon and press the Spacebar.

To select one or more object stores, use the Down and Up Arrow keys to highlight an object store. You can select contiguous object stores by holding down Shift along with an Arrow key. Then tab to the Add One icon and press the Spacebar to move the selected object stores to the right. Use Shift+Tab to get back to the list of available object stores.

If you need to select object stores from the selected list on the right, tab through all of the buttons and then use Arrow keys to select object stores. Use Shift+Tab to get back to the buttons and additional Shift+Tabs to get back to the Available list. If an object store is surrounded by a rectangle, press Arrow keys to move away from and back to the object store to select it.