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Searching for a Particular Record |
This help file applies to an out-of-date version of MainBoss.
The most recent version of MainBoss is MainBoss 4.2.4.
For the latest version of this help file can be found here.
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When you click the 
button in a table viewer, MainBoss opens a window where you can specify information about the record you want to find. This window contains the following:
Field: Specifies the field whose values you want to search. Different tables allow you to look at different fields. For any particular table, look at the drop-down list to see what fields can be searched.
Search condition: Once you specify a field, MainBoss lets you choose conditions for the search. The available conditions depend on the type of value that the field contains. For example, if you select a field that contains a date, MainBoss displays conditions related to dates; if you select a field that contains text information, MainBoss displays conditions related to text strings. Possible conditions are:
Equals: If you select this option, MainBoss will only find fields whose entire value is equal to the given value. For example, if you set the initial field to "Code" and the value to abc, MainBoss searches for records whose code is abc.
Starts with: If you select this option, MainBoss will only find fields that start with the given value. For example, if you set the initial field to "Code" and the value to abc, MainBoss searches for records whose code begins with abc.
Contains: If you select this option, MainBoss finds fields that contain the given value anywhere. For example, if you set the initial field to "Code" and the value to abc, MainBoss searches for records whose code contains abc anywhere in the code's text.
Matches pattern: If you select this option, MainBoss treats the contents the given value as a regular expression as defined in the Microsoft .NET environment. Regular expressions are primarily intended for technically sophisticated users; for an introduction, see
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/regextutorial.aspx
Is null: If you select this option, MainBoss looks for records where the specified field is blank. For example, suppose you are searching through work orders; if you set the initial field to "Closing Code" and specify Is null, MainBoss will only find work orders that don't have a closing code.
Is not null: MainBoss will find the next record where the field's value is not blank.
Is on or after: Used when searching by dates. (You can specify a date but not a time.) MainBoss will find the next record where the field's value is on or after the given date.
Is on or before: Used when searching by dates. (You can specify a date but not a time.) MainBoss will find the next record where the field's value is on or after the given date.
Is in the range: Used when searching by dates. (You can specify a date but not a time.) MainBoss will find the next record where the field's value is between the given dates. The starting and ending dates are considered in the range. For example, if you specify "Is in the range" with June 1 and June 4, MainBoss will find the next record where the field's value is June 1, June 2, June 3, or June 4.
Is less than: Used when searching for numeric values. MainBoss will find the next record where the field's value is less than the given number.
Is less than or equal to: Used when searching for numeric values. MainBoss will find the next record where the field's value is less than or equal to the given number.
Is greater than: Used when searching for numeric values. MainBoss will find the next record where the field's value is greater than the given number.
Is greater or equal to: Used when searching for numeric values. MainBoss will find the next record where the field's value is greater than or equal to the given number.
Is not equal to: Used when searching for numeric values. MainBoss will find the next record where the field's value is not equal to the given number.
Is between: Used when searching for numeric values. MainBoss will find the next record where the field's value is between the given numbers.
Multiple search conditions: If you specify multiple conditions, the search finds records that satisfy all the specified conditions. For example, suppose you're searching the Items table. You specify one condition to search Item Category for Electrical Supplies. You specify a second condition to search On Order for quantities greater than zero. Then MainBoss will find items whose category is Electrical Supplies and whose on-order number is greater than zero. In other words, this search finds electrical supplies which are on order.
Find Next: Searches the list. The search starts immediately at the selected record and finds the matching next record. If the search reaches the bottom of the list, it will wrap around to the top of the list and continue searching.
Find Previous: Is similar to Find Next except that the search goes backward instead of forward. If the search reaches the top of the list, it will wrap around to the bottom and continue searching.
If you try a search and MainBoss finds no matching records, the Find Next and Find Previous buttons are disabled—MainBoss can't find the next or previous matching record if there are no matching records at all.
: Removes the search condition beside the button. For example, if you have three search conditions, clicking any of the buttons removes the associated search condition, leaving only two conditions in the search.
Close: Closes the window. The table viewer will be positioned at the record found by the most recent successful search.
Note: If the search window happens to be covering up the record that's just been found, you can use the mouse to drag the search window to a different place on the screen.
Notes: In any table viewer, the shortcut sequence <Ctrl+F> opens the search window. The search will be applied to whatever list of records you clicked most recently. For example, if you most recently clicked a list of unit records, <Ctrl+F> will let you search through units; however, if you were looking at a unit record and your most recent click was on the unit's list of service contracts, then <Ctrl+F> would search through service contracts. (<Ctrl+F> will not work if your most recent click was on the MainBoss control panel—it only works if your most recent click was in some sort of table viewer.)
If the search window is not open, the <F3> function key has the effect of Find Next, searching for whatever you searched for most recently. This means that pressing <F3> repeatedly will perform the same search over and over. Note that your most recent search may not be valid for the current table; for example, if you search the Items table for an item category, then switch to the Units table, searching for item category doesn't make sense. In this case, <F3> just opens the search window.
For more on using table viewers, see Using Table Viewers.
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