10.2.2. Specifying Search Criteria

Engineering Knowledge Manager

User's Guide | Chapter 10: Searching a Repository | 10.2. Performing an Advanced Search |

10.2.1. Starting an Advanced Search |  | 10.3. Searching for an Object by its Path
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### 10.2.2. Specifying Search Criteria

There are three things that you can specify in the Advanced Search dialog box:

- The folder(s) that you want to search in

- The object type that you want to search for

- The object property that you want to search by

The figure below shows the components of the Advanced Search dialog box.

Figure 10.2: Search Expression Components

To specify advanced search criteria:

1. Specify the folder(s) in which you want to search. By default, both Shared Data and My Data will be searched. You can specify additional folders to be searched or remove folders from the list by clicking Edit next to the Folder(s) to search in option. A panel will appear enabling you to add and remove folders:

   Figure 10.3: Specifying Folders to Search

   To add a folder, click Add to display the EKM file system. All users will have access to the Data and Home sections. Members of the `admin` group can also search the folders contained in the Administration section, including the personal folders of other users.

   Select the desired folder or enter its path in the edit box, then click OK. The folder will be added to the list of folders to be searched.

   To remove a folder from the list, select it in the list and then click Remove.

2. From the Select object type drop box, select the object type that you want to search for, or choose `Any Type` to search all object types. The properties for the selected object type will be displayed in the Property pane. Some properties are common to most object types, such as `Name` and `Modified By`, while other properties are specific to certain object types. For example, if `Fluent Case` is selected as the object type, then you will see properties such as `Fluent Version`, `Solver`, and `Viscous Model` in the properties list. You can reduce the number of properties that are displayed for this session and future sessions by clicking the filter icon . See Filtering Types and Properties in the Advanced Search Dialog Box for details.

3. To expand the properties list to include child properties of the selected object type (if they exist), check the Show child properties box. For example, the `Workbench Project Archive File` (.wbpz) object type has a simulation details report as a child object. You can choose to search on those child report properties as well.

4. Select a property to add to the expression. The property will appear in the Expression panel on the right along with appropriate condition and value options. Select the desired condition and value for the property. For more information see Creating Search Expressions.

   Note:

   - If you are searching on the property `--Any Keyword--` and it is contained in a report for a CAE file, then the CAE file will be returned in the search results.

   - Keyword searches are case-sensitive, and there are limitations on the way certain characters can be used. For a complete list of limitations see Rules and Restrictions for Keyword Searches.

   - If you are searching on any keyword based on its file extension (for example, .txt or txt), then you will need to include the asterisk wildcard * in your keyword before the file extension (for example, *.txt) for the search to be successful.

   - If the object type that you are searching is a `Workbench Project Archive File`, and you want to use a Mechanical model to build an expression, choose a property as follows:

     - To search Workbench archives added in EKM R15 or earlier, use `Workbench Project Archive File` > `Mechanical Model`.

     - To search Workbench archives added in EKM R16 or later, use `Workbench Project Archive File` > `Mechanical Database` > `Mechanical Model`.

   You can add more properties to the expression by clicking on properties in the Property pane. Each time you click on a property, a new row will be added to the expression. To remove a property from the expression, click the Remove link next to the property.

5. Specify the Matches criteria for the expression. If Matches all of the following is selected, all property conditions must be met in order for an object to appear in the search results. If Matches any of the following is selected, then only one of the conditions must be met.

6. To add one or more sub-expressions to the search criteria, check the Allow sub-expression box. A sub-expression is an expression that is nested within another expression. When Allow sub-expression is selected, the View search expression option becomes available.

7. Review the expression by clicking View search expression (shown only when Allow sub-expression is selected). You can click View search expression at any time to view the updated search expression.

   Figure 10.4: Search Expression Pop-up

8. Click OK to execute the search. The search results will be displayed on the List tab of the file list window. You can switch to the Tree view for easier navigation if a large number of objects are returned. See Displaying Search Results for more details.

You can act on search results directly from the view. See Managing Queries and Search Results for details on saving and editing the query, and clearing search results. See Searching Results for Report Content to further refine your search by filtering the results you obtain for report content.

#### 10.2.2.1. Filtering Types and Properties in the Advanced Search Dialog Box

The number of object types you can select from in the Advanced Search dialog box may be too lengthy for your preference. As a convenience, you can click the filter icon to the right of the Select object type drop-down list to hide types that you do not want to display in the list. A drop-down list opens (Figure 10.5: Filtering Types). Select one or more items you want to hide and click Apply to apply the change to this instance of the advanced search. Selecting Apply & Save will save the setting so that the next time you open the Advanced Search dialog box your type preference will be automatically applied.

Figure 10.5: Filtering Types

Similarly, the number of properties you can select from in the Advanced Search dialog box may be too lengthy for your preference. As a convenience, you can click the filter icon in the Property pane to hide properties that you do not want to display. A drop-down list opens (Figure 10.6: Filtering Properties). Select one or more items you want to hide and click Apply to apply the change to this instance of the advanced search. Selecting Apply & Save will save the setting so that the next time you open the Advanced Search dialog box, your property preference will be automatically applied.

Figure 10.6: Filtering Properties

#### 10.2.2.2. Creating Search Expressions

The properties that you are presented with in the Property pane will depend on the object type that is selected. The options shown for condition and value depend on the data type that the property belongs to. Properties belong to one of the following data types:`String`, `Boolean`, `Date`, `Integer`, `Real Number`, and `Reference` and are defined below. See Example 10.1: Search Expression Examples for some examples.

Note: For multi-valued properties of any type, the only available conditions are `Contains` and `Doesn't Contain`. Also, wildcards `*` and `?` are not supported even if the property type is `String`.

- `String` properties can have the following conditions: `Equal To`, `Not Equal To`, `Matches`, and `Contains`.

  - The `Equal To` condition can be used to exactly match the specified value. No wild cards are supported. When a wildcard is used, it will be treated as a normal character.

    Note: You must use the `Equal to` condition over `Contains` if the value contains a drop-down list. The reason is that the `Contains` condition performs a full text search to find property values that match the specified keyword, and will not provide an exact match with the specified value.

  - The `Not Equal To` condition can be used when you do not want an exact match of the specified value. No wild cards are supported. When a wildcard is used, it will be treated as a normal character.

  - The `Matches` condition can be used to match a pattern in the specified value. Wild cards `%` and `_` are supported. `%` will match zero or more characters and `_` will match a single character. `Matches` is case-sensitive.

    Note: You must use `Matches` if the value contains non-Latin characters such as Chinese or Japanese characters.

  - The `Contains` condition can be used to search for a single word in a property that contains multiple words. Wild cards * and ? are supported. `*` will match zero or more characters and `_`? will match a single character. `Contains` is case-insensitive.

    Note: `Contains` works only for Latin characters.

  Important: Keyword searches are case-sensitive, and there are limitations on the way certain characters can be used. For a complete list of limitations see Rules and Restrictions for Keyword Searches.

- `Boolean` properties can have the `Equal To` condition. The value is shown as a check box. If you want to search for objects for which the value of the `Boolean` property is `true`, then select the check box. Otherwise, leave it unselected.

- `Date` properties can have the following conditions: `Equal To`, `Not Equal To`, `Less Than`, `Less Than or Equal To`, `Greater Than`, `Greater Than or Equal To`, and `Within`.

  - The `Within` condition can be used to set the number of days within which to perform the search. For example, to search for objects created in the past month, you would select the `Date Created` property and set the expression to `Within 30 Days`.

- `Integer` properties can have the following conditions: `Equal To`, `Not Equal To`, `Less Than`, `Less Than or Equal To`, `Greater Than`, and `Greater Than or Equal To`.

  Note: Wildcards `*` and `?` cannot be used when specifying `Integer` property values.

- `Real Number` properties can have the following conditions: `Equal To`, `Not Equal To`, `Less Than`, `Less Than or Equal To`, `Greater Than` and `Greater Than or Equal To`.

  Note: Wildcards `*` and `?` cannot be used when specifying `Real Number` property values.

- `Reference` property: `Equal To` and `Not Equal To`. You will need to supply the full path of the reference as the value. For example, if you want to search for all `Workbench Simulation` files whose `DesignModeler Database` property references a particular file, then give the full path of the file (for example, /Data/Shared Data/model.agdb) as the value.

Example 10.1: Search Expression Examples

Suppose there are three folders in `/Data/Shared Data`:

`word1`

`word2`

`word1 word2`

An Advanced search is conducted with `Any type` and the property `Name` is selected, which is of type `String`. An example of each condition for the `String` type is shown below.

Equal To

`Name` `Equal To` `word1` will return the following results:

`/Data/Shared Data/word1`

Not Equal To

`Name` `Not Equal To` `word1` will return the following results:

`/Data/Shared Data/word1`

`/Data/Shared Data/word1` `word2`

Matches

`Name Matches` `word1` will return the following results:

`/Data/Shared Data/word1`

`Name Matches` `Word1` will return the following results:

No results (case sensitive)

`Name Matches` `_ord2` will return the following results:

`/Data/Shared Data/word2`

`/Data/Shared Data/word1 word2`

Contains

`Name Contains` `Word1` will return the following results:

`/Data/Shared Data/word1`

`/Data/Shared Data/word1` `word2`

`Name Contains` `word1` will return the following results:

`/Data/Shared Data/word1`

`/Data/Shared Data/word1 word2`

`Name Contains` `?ord2` will return the following results:

`/Data/Shared Data/word2`

`/Data/Shared Data/word1 word2`

Contains or Matches

`Name Contains` `word`

or

`Name Matches` `word%`

will return the following results:

`/Data/Shared Data/word1`

`/Data/Shared Data/word2`

`/Data/Shared Data/word1 word2`

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