IBM FileNet P8, Version 5.1.+            

Enter search criteria

To enter search criteria, click the Search Criteria tab. There are two tables (called grids) where you can enter search criteria. Drag the dividing bar between the grids to give more vertical space to one or the other grid.

Use the Current® View box to select an object type and its related search criteria settings. For example, if you select Folder, only search criteria applicable to folders are displayed. Only object types you specified on the Object Types tab are displayed in the Current View box.

Common is not an object type, but it can be displayed in the Current View box.

Note: If you select two object types that includes Document object type, such as Document and Folder, the content grid displays not only in Document view but also in Common view and Folder view.

You can enter content conditions in any view, but the content conditions only apply to Document objects.

The order in which you enter search criteria is:

  1. Select a current view from Common, Document, and Folder. The view is dependent on the object types you selected on the Object Types tab.
  2. Enter property and content conditions.
  3. For IBM® Legacy Content Search Engine only: Specify maximum results. This is applicable only when you apply the search templates user interface in a secondary page. For more information, see the Workplace XT secondary pages section of the Actions topic.

Identify search criteria

To select a current view:

To enter property conditions:

Value column

The Value column might have values you can choose, or you might need to enter data in a text field. If the property is a date, you can choose a date from a pop-up calendar.

Note:  If the property value is a user, you select a user from the Search Criteria - Select User dialog box. You do not have to enter a value for a user property if the view is Editable.

If you are designing a search template, the value can be blank (if View is Required or Editable). If you enter or select a value in a search template, it becomes a default that the user can change.

To enter content conditions:

Content searching is only supported with a Document object type, and available only if it has been enabled on the IBM® Legacy Content Search Engine. As long as Document is selected in the Object Types tab, the Content Search grid is viewable in any Current view. But content searching will only apply to a Document object type.

To enter maximum results:

Search elements

A search can consist of:

By default, the relationship between the two grids is set to AND. To change the relationship, choose the OR option from the drop-down menu between the two grids. AND means that a document must satisfy both kinds of criteria. If you select OR, documents will qualify if they satisfy either the content or the property criteria.

Note: If you are entering search conditions for your Common view, and then switch to another view, such as Folder, be aware the conditions you specified for the Common view is inserted as the default conditions for the other views to show their AND/OR combinations.

Use AND with content only searches

To search only with content criteria (bottom grid), make sure the operator that defines the relationship between grids is set to AND. When no properties are defined and this operator is set to OR, the search returns all documents in the selected object stores or folders. To understand why this happens, see Content only searches.

At the bottom of the window, the status message indicates "Ready" when search criteria are complete. Until the criteria are complete, this message displays "Criteria incomplete." The status message also confirms that searches have been successfully added, saved, checked in, etc.

Clearing search criteria

At any time you can clear all entries in all tabs by choosing New from the File menu. If your current search is complete, you will be invited to save it. Answer Yes to add the search to an object store, No to discard the criteria, or Cancel to continue as if you had not clicked the New button.

If the search is not complete, you can discard the search or keep working on it.

Starting a new search clears all entries, including selected object stores, and sets the logical operator between the property and content grids to AND.

About content searching

Content searching is an option only if the object stores you are searching have been configured for content searching. Ask your IBM FileNet® administrator which object stores have been so configured.

Content-only searches

When no criteria are specified in the property grid, all documents in the selected object store and folders will be returned. Selecting AND between the grids places additional restrictions on that full set of documents, requiring them to also have certain content.

The OR operator makes it easier for documents to qualify because either condition, property or content, can be true. When the property condition allows all documents to qualify, then it makes no difference what you enter as content criteria, since OR allows all documents to be returned. Design your searches carefully, as searches that return a large result set impact performance across the system.



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Last updated: July 2011


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