How does one do a global keyword search on all fields?

#1

Im used to act, goldmine, etc , where you can do a keyword search, and it
will look through notes, histories, all contact fields, too look for the
occurence of a word. Yes, I know, I'm using baby words to describe multiple
tables, I'm just really crawling here, admittedly, but in a single table
with many fields, how does one execute a "search all fields for keyword"?

thanks.

#2

You may create a special field for those searches :
Combined_data = notes & " " & histories & " " & contacts & " " &
(others) ...
and make a find on that field.
Remi-Noel

"Ed Marmon" <unlisted@.com.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
Xns96E065825850Bedmarmailcom (AT) 69 (DOT) 28.186.158...

Quote:

Im used to act, goldmine, etc , where you can do a keyword search, and
it
will look through notes, histories, all contact fields, too look for
the
occurence of a word. Yes, I know, I'm using baby words to describe
multiple
tables, I'm just really crawling here, admittedly, but in a single
table
with many fields, how does one execute a "search all fields for
keyword"?

thanks.

#3

"Remi-Noel Menegaux" <rnmenegaux (AT) free (DOT) fr> wrote in news:433bf62e$0$4321
$626a14ce (AT) news (DOT) free.fr:

Quote:

You may create a special field for those searches :
Combined_data = notes & " " & histories & " " & contacts & " " &
(others) ...
and make a find on that field.
Remi-Noel

hmmm.. thanks! 2 questions: if one has many fields, dozens, or hundreds
perhaps, wouldnt that overflow? ( is there a limit of how many fields one
can lump together into Combined_data example above? also, is this what
you call a calculation field, is that where the & " " etc is pluggged in-
into the calculation area? ( the field doesn not need to be a global
field, does it?

thanks again

#4

In article <433c0a45$0$19250$626a14ce (AT) news (DOT) free.fr>, rnmenegaux (AT) free (DOT) fr
says...

Quote:

In FMP6, the limit size of a field is 64000 characters. It's much in
FM7-8.
Yes, it is a calculation field with embedded (& " " &). It's a regular
field not a global, as it has to be different from record to record.

First you've got your whole database neatly built and partitioned and
indexed then you've got the whole database jammed into a single field
and indexxed again. For two or three fields to optimize performance for
a particularly high-use scenario sure. In general... yuck.

It works, but its not exactly elegant.

Quote:

Another option to do what you are looking for is to make a script like :

Enter Browse mode
Set field ( Global_1, "the data you are searching")
Enter Find mode
Set error capture (On)
Set field ( notes, Global_1)
Set field ( histories, Global_1)
Set field ( contacts, Global_1)
Set field ( ..., Global_1)
Perform find
If ( Status ( CurrentError ) = 401 )
Set error capture (Off)
Find all
End of script
End if
Set error capture (Off)
etc.

Almost. This script requires that "the data you are searching" to exist
in EVERY field of a matched record. You need to insert a "new
record/request" between each set field. As I'm sure you know multiple
criteria within a single find request are treated with AND semantics...
separate requests have OR semantics.

Anyhow, from a few to a couple dozen fields this works great. While it
could be extended to hundreds... I'd have to say that if your database
has hundreds of fields in a single table AND you need to search all of
them at once on a regular basis that something is probably seriously
wrong with your data-model or your use-case modelling.

Regards,
Dave

#5

Dave is perfectly right. You must insert a "new record/request" between
each set field.
My fault. Sorry.
Remi-Noel

"42" <nospam (AT) nospam (DOT) com> a écrit dans le message de news:
rnmenegaux (AT) free (DOT) fr says...

Quote:

Enter Browse mode
Set field ( Global_1, "the data you are searching")
Enter Find mode
Set error capture (On)
Set field ( notes, Global_1)
Set field ( histories, Global_1)
Set field ( contacts, Global_1)
Set field ( ..., Global_1)
Perform find
If ( Status ( CurrentError ) = 401 )
Set error capture (Off)
Find all
End of script
End if
Set error capture (Off)
etc.

Almost. This script requires that "the data you are searching" to
exist
in EVERY field of a matched record. You need to insert a "new
record/request" between each set field. As I'm sure you know multiple
criteria within a single find request are treated with AND
semantics...
separate requests have OR semantics.

#6

For more than five fields or so, I would consider the 'go to next field'
script step in a layout with all the relevant fields.

#7

In article <1h3o974.mfw8ji1wu0absN%no (AT) way (DOT) dk>, no (AT) way (DOT) dk says...

Quote:

For more than five fields or so, I would consider the 'go to next field'
script step in a layout with all the relevant fields.

I certainly agree that your solution would work... but I don't really
see how moving the work of managing the list of fields to search to a
utility layout instead of just leaving them in the script as having any
advantage.

Personally I think the "just leave it in the script solution" is easier
to comprehend because its self-contained.

-Dave

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How does one do a global keyword search on all fields?

comp.databases.filemaker comp.databases.filemaker

How does one do a global keyword search on all fields? - 09-29-2005 , 08:58 AM

Re: How does one do a global keyword search on all fields? - 09-29-2005 , 09:12 AM

Re: How does one do a global keyword search on all fields? - 09-29-2005 , 09:40 AM

Re: How does one do a global keyword search on all fields? - 09-29-2005 , 11:44 AM

Re: How does one do a global keyword search on all fields? - 09-29-2005 , 01:16 PM

Re: How does one do a global keyword search on all fields? - 09-29-2005 , 03:31 PM

Re: How does one do a global keyword search on all fields? - 09-29-2005 , 06:50 PM