• Registered: 2015-11-16
  • Posts: 158

Topic: Search Button with "Contained Within"

Hello,
I have a database which has a SEARCH button above the TableGrid that uses a couple of drop down Comboxes and it works well as expected. The records have a couple of fields which contain free form text that the user would like to include these in the search. I have tested this and it works fine if the exact text is entered into the search box as it appears in a record or records.
Say a field has 'QWERTY' in it, entering QWERTY into the search field would show relevant records. But the user will not always know the exact text in the database field so is there some way that we can have it so if the user entered for example 'RT' it will show records with 'QWERTY' as a field entry because 'RT' is contained within 'QWERTY'.
With all the search fields the user would like, there are now two Combo Boxes, three free form fields, and two date fields.
Thanks for any ideas,
David

  • Registered: 2015-11-16
  • Posts: 158

Re: Search Button with "Contained Within"

Hello,
I just found the solution on page 60 of the new manual that Dmitry has provided and I tried putting %s% into the filter setting and it works.
Please feel free to add any other information if there is more I should know.
Thanks,
David

3 Reply by derek (edited by derek 2018-02-16 14:35:57)

  • derek
  • derek
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  • Registered: 2015-02-16
  • Posts: 2,674

Re: Search Button with "Contained Within"

Hi David,
I'm not sure from your post if you're using discrete search boxes for each field that you want to search on. 
If so, you might consider concatenating all (or a sub-set) of the searchable fields into one calculated field and just search on that instead (obviously, using '%s%' is fundamental to this). 
It's not just about reducing the number of search boxes to make it simpler, or the form neater - there are 'usability' reasons why you might choose to do it this way. 
Consider the question:  "did the user choose 'photography' from the 1st, 2nd or 3rd combobox, or type it into one of the 2 free-form fields?'  - that's 5 separate searches to find where 'photography' could have been entered.  This is reduced to 1 search using a concatenated search field - so happy users (well, at least for a few minutes!!).
Have a look at the attached - in this instance, I've combined 'name', 3 comboboxes containing 'main hobbies' and 2 free-form fields containing 'other hobbies' but obviously you can mix and match anything to suit your application.
Maybe this gives you some ideas.
Regards,
Derek.

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  • Registered: 2015-11-16
  • Posts: 158

Re: Search Button with "Contained Within"

Hello Derek,
thank you for the excellent idea for doing searches. I can definitely use that in several projects.
Best regards,
David