In all Text-type fields, the search does not differentiate between upper and lower case and delivers good match rates even with relatively simple search terms. However, if you search without replacement characters, for example for phrases in single quotes, the search is case-sensitive and also faster. The search for a phrase within a field entry is also case-sensitive, but requires the replacement character % before and after the character string ('%technical specification%') in addition to the single quotes.
Simple and qualified search criteria
Automatic AND search
Simple search entries mostly consist of only one word or several words. JustRelate CRM automatically links them using the AND operator (&). Entering several words separated by blanks thus automatically leads to an "AND" search. Using the negation operator (!), words can be excluded explicitly.
This does not apply to numeric fields such as integers or floating point numbers. In these fields, entering several numbers separated by spaces always automatically results in an "OR" search.
Qualified search entries with replacement characters, operators or groups of words enclosed in single quotes or in brackets are not changed by the CRM. All desired logical operations need to be forced in the search entry by specifying the corresponding operators. For logical OR operations, the | symbol (pipe) is available.
Admin: If needed, the administrator can switch from automatic AND to OR combination using the variable PSC_QUE_OPR.
Intelligent search for German umlauts
There is no operator required to perform a search for umlauts. A search with 'ÄäÖöÜüß' also finds 'AeaeOeoeUeueSSss', meaning that 'Müller' will find 'Mueller', etc. Conversely, however, searching for "Schroeder" does not find "Schröder".
Note: This feature is only available for text fields with search mode A and if the corresponding variable is set to y, i.e. not generally. This search mode bypasses the indices, i.e. a search for ü, ue, ß will take a little longer. The search for “non-umlauts”, on the other hand, uses the indices. It is therefore advisable to use this feature sparingly.
Admin: The corresponding field is given search mode 'A' (Accent insensitive search). The search mode is based on the PSC_SFR_ACC_INS server feature environment (Accent insensitive search); by default only for the " Save as" field (search mode A is set for PSA_CON_STR.FRN_IDN in the standard system), also in selection dialogs and filters.
Simple search
Search entry | Search result |
|---|---|
word | Finds all records containing word. |
word1 word2 | Finds all records containing word1 AND word2. |
word1 !word2 | Finds all records, containing word1, but not word2. |
Qualified search entries (replacement character, operators and expressions)
Type | Character | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
Replacement characters | % | Wildcard for no character or any number of unknown characters. |
? | Wildcard for exactly one unknown character. | |
Logical operators * | | | Links two or more words within a search string with OR (at least one must match), e.g., company | firm. The | symbol (pipe) must be enclosed in blanks, so that it is interpreted as a logical operator. |
& | Links two or more words within a search entry with AND, the CRM default (each of them must match). | |
! | NEGATOR**. Excludes a word explicitly, e.g.!firm. The operator does not include empty entries. If empty entries are to be included as well, add |NULL. | |
~ | The SOUNDEX-Operator finds similar-sounding words. The similarity search is limited to word beginnings. If possible, avoid using the similarity search in fields with composite content (Name), and use it for specific fields in the filter dialog (Last name). | |
Comparison operators *** | > | Lexically or numerically greater |
>= | Lexically or numerically greater or equal | |
< | Lexically or numerically less | |
<= | Lexically or numerically less or equal | |
Expressions | '' (two single quotation marks) | Query for empty fields (NULL); !NULL and !'' searches for non-empty fields. |
'%word1 wordt2 ...%' | Query for an exact match with the character string enclosed in single quotes within a field entry. Between the single quotes, wildcard characters are allowed and are handled as such. |
* If a search entry contains several different logical operators, precedence applies: ! before & before |. To control the priority of operations in the search entry, brackets ( ) can be used. Brackets at the start or end of a word are interpreted as auxiliary symbols. If an opening or closing bracket is missing, the other one is ignored.
** Negators and comparison operators always need to be at the start of a word. If a blank follows the symbol, it is not interpreted as an operator but as a word. There is no double negation. With two exclamation marks at the beginning of a word, only the first one is interpreted as a negator.
*** Several comparison expressions can be logically AND- or OR-linked with each other. In this case, negators and wildcard characters do not make sense and are not supported.
Too many records found
The capacity of a dialog is limited. If the database returns a large number of records because of a diffuse search or an empty query, the CRM masks will display only the first 300 records. When this happens, please refine the inquiry if possible.
Attention: Remember that every unspecific search across a large database places a heavy load on your database server and can crash due to a lack of memory.
Tips:
- You should not attempt, to first "load all records".
- A precise query is far more efficient than having to struggle with a huge number of hits.
- Use the combined search in the Quickfinder for targeted searches.
- Create filters that pre-filter the majority of the data records you are looking for so that you only need to refine the filter results with the Quickfinder.
- The filter capacity supports larger result sets (up to 10,000 hits).
Use the Count function before loading if you want to determine the number of records the search result contains. This saves you long loading times for a vaguely formulated search query.
After completing a search, previous search entries are always saved. Therefore, delete the old search entries using the Clear command before starting a new search.