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Additional Information
PointForce Enterprise

The PointForce search functionality makes use of search operators and query-by-example (QBE) expressions (or pseudo expressions) to retrieve data from the database.

The following subtopics are available: (you can click on the links or scroll down to view the text)

 

Search Operators

When specifying search criteria, use the following search symbols, or symbol combinations, to help produce more specific search results. Note: The following symbols MUST occur at the beginning of your search expression. If any search symbols are encountered in your search expression AFTER one of these initial symbols, they will be treated as regular characters.

Symbol Description
~ Case Insensitive
= Equal To
<> Not Equal To
> Greater Than
>= Greater Than or Equal To
< Less Than
<= Less Than or Equal To
! Negate Expression

The following symbols can occur anywhere in your search expression. However, the symbols are listed in order of priority, and this priority will be used in determining which type of search operation to perform.

Symbol Description
* Multiple Character Wildcard
? Single Character Wildcard
, Multiple Values
| Multiple Values
.. : Range

Leading spaces will be preserved, and trailing spaces will be removed from all search expressions. This also applies to individual values in a range or multi-value search expression.

If no symbol is specified, then an exact match is assumed.

In alphanumeric comparisons, a number is smaller than a capitalized letter, which is smaller than a lowercase letter: 0 < 1 < ... < 9 < A < B < ... < Z < a < b < ... < z

The following table provides examples of each of the Search Criteria listed above:

Search Operator Description
Case-Insensitive
~

Finds all occurrences of the specified value without regard for uppercase/lowercase. Applies only to alphanumeric/text fields.

  Examples:
 ~French
 ~french
 ~French

Case insensitivity can also be combined with the wildcard symbols (*) and (?).

 Examples:
 ~1A4?3B
 ~customer*
 ~Fr*21?3
 

Equal To
=

Finds all exact matches of the specified value.

  Examples:
 =quote (when entered in the 'Header Status' field in Product Inquiries-Orders/Quotes (IC45/I1), as an example, will search for ALL Quotes)
 =1423
 =tomato
 =Tomato
 =TOMATO
 =ToMaTo
 =2006-11 (during specific month, where QBE equivalent is 2006-11-01 00:00:00.0..2006-11-30 23:59.59.9)

 =      (to search for NULL)

Note: If a value you want to search for contains one of the reserved search symbols, then prefix the value with the equal operator. For example, if you want to search for 101A-208B<D,C,then enter =101A-208B<D,C to get an exact match. With the (=) in front, the (<), (-) and (,) will be treated as regular characters.
 

Not Equal To
<>

Finds all values, except for NULL values, which are not equal to the specified value.

  Examples:
 <>0 (when entered in the 'Quantity Back-ordered' field in Product Inquiries-Orders/Quotes (IC45/I1), as an example, will search for ALL Back Orders)
 <>9876
 <>ARM
 <>aRm
 <>    (to search for NOT NULL)

 
Greater Than >

Finds all values, except for NULL values, which are GREATER THAN the specified value.

  Examples:
 >0 (when entered in the Quantity Back-ordered field in Product Inquiries-Orders/Quotes (IC45/I1), as an example, will search for ALL Back Orders)
 >1423
 >federal
 >2006-11-23 14:25:37
(after specific second, where QBE equivalent is >2006-11-23 14:25:37.9)
 

Greater Than Or Equal To
>=

Finds all values, except for NULL values, which are GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO the specified value.

  Examples:
 >=1423
 >=federal
 >=2006-11-23 14 (during or after specific hour, where QBE equivalent is >=2006-11-23 14:00:00.0)
 

Less Than
<

Finds all values, except for NULL values, which are LESS THAN the specified value.

  Examples:
 <1423
 <case
 <2006-11-23 14:25 (before specific minute, where QBE equivalent is >=2006-11-23 14:25:00.0)
 

Less Than Or Equal To
<=

Finds all values, except for NULL values, which are LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO the specified value.

  Examples:
 <=1423
 <=case
 <=2006-11-23 14 (before specific hour, where QBE equivalent is >=2006-11-23 14:59:59.9)
 

Negate Expression
!
Finds all values which are not equal to the specified value (same functionality as the "not equal to" operator).

In addition, returns the opposite value of the search symbol used. For example, "!10:20" returns any values not between 10 and 20.

  Examples:
 !order,01,dirbil,note (when entered in the 'Shipping Document Number' field in SU45/I1, as an example, will search for ALL Back Orders)
 !case,tare,pallet (not in list)
 !TAX* (not like)
 !a:b (not between)
 !a..b (not in range)

Theoretically, all existing operators can be negated; however, the following already have an equivalent:
a) If the operator is <=a (less than or equal to), then to negate it, we would enter !<=a (not less than or equal to) or its equivalent, >a (greater than).
b) If the operator is <> (is not null), then to negate it, we would enter !<> (not is not null) or its equivalent , = (is null).

Note: ! is not the same as <>. ! means "not", whereas <> means different than or not equal to. != is the same as <>.

Note: !a means not "a", which is the same as <>a; this only works when you have a single value.
 

Multiple Character Wildcard
*

Finds all exact matches of the specified value, and where * is zero or more arbitrary characters.

  Examples:
 14a*3B
 fr*d

Note: For a search expression like ABC:01*DEF-99, a wildcard operation would be performed because the (*) has higher precedence than the (:) and the (-).
 

Single Character Wildcard
?

Finds all exact matches of the specified value, and where ? is one arbitrary character.

  Examples:
 14a?3B
 customer?
 

Multiple Values
,

Finds all occurrences of any of the specified values.

  Examples:
 423,1426,1533,1890
 Costco, Rona
 

Multiple Values
|

This is the preferred method of separating multiple values in a search where the criteria contains a numeric value. This allows numbers to be formatted using using the comma as a decimal place or a thousand separator.

  Examples:
 Costco|Rona
 33.50|4,342.23|5,599.12
 

Range
.. :

Finds all values between, and including, the two specified values. If multiple range symbols occur in your search expression, the first highest priority symbol encountered (according to the order in the list above) is treated as the range symbol for your search, and all other occurrences are treated as regular characters.

  Examples:
 1423:1429
 A..Z
 IM-1..IM-9
 2006-02-18 00.00.00..2006-02-19 00.00.00
 

Query-by-Example Expressions

Query-by-example expressions exist to enhance searches using system variables. Such processing instructions expressions are discussed in more detail below.

Processing Instruction
Expression
Description
{today +|- 0-9
hour|day|week|month|year}
{today} is internally replaced with the current system date, and then the additional instructions act upon the date returned. Its use is limited to date-type fields.

Math Operator: (+|-). Add or subtract the quantifier.

Quantifier: (0-9). Numeric that will be used in conjunction with the math operator and the qualifier to add or subtract a certain amount of time.

Qualifier: (hour|day|week|month|year). Hour or day or week or month or year. Day is default.

Note: If no qualifier is specified, the default is taken.

{current.postInstruction +|-
0-9 hour|day|week|month|
year}
{current} is internally replaced with the current system date and time and then the additional instructions act upon the date and time returned. Its use is limited to timestamp-type fields.

Post Instruction: (hour, day, week, month, and year).

Math Operator: (+|-). Add or subtract the quantifier.

Quantifier: (0-9). Number of hours, days, weeks, months or years to add or subtract. When a post instruction is specified, it uses the post instruction as the qualifier.

Qualifier: (hour|day|week|month|year). Hour or day or week or month or year. Defaul is day. Not valid when a post instruction is specified. The system will take the post instruction and use that as the qualifier.

{session.user} Internaly replaced with the session user name. Its use is limited to character-type fields.

  Examples:

  {session.user}, tecsys: current user or user tecsys

  <>{session.user}: anyone but the current user

Date Examples

  • Date used in examples: 03/07/2005

Expression Meaning/Interpretation QBE Equivalent
{today} Today 03/07/2005
{today + 1} Tomorrow 03/08/2005
{today - 1 week} 7 days ago 02/28/2005
{today - 1 month} 1 month ago 02/07/2005
{today - 1 year} 1 year ago 03/07/2004
{today - 4 week} 4 weeks ago (28 days ago) 02/07/2005
<={today} Less than or equal to today  

Timestamp Examples

  • Date used in examples: 2005-03-07 11:03:45

Expression Meaning/Interpretation QBE Equivalent
{current} Current Timestamp 2005-03-07 11:03:45
{current - 1} 1 day before current timestamp 2005-03-06 11:03:45
{current - 1 hour} 1 hour before current timestamp 2005-03-07 10:03:45
{current - 1 day} 1 day before current timestamp 2005-03-06 11:03:45
{current - 1 week} 1 week (7 days) before current timestamp 2005-02-28 11:03:45
{current - 1 month} 1 month before current timestamp 2005-02-07 11:03:45
{current - 1 year} 1 year before current timestamp 2004-03-07 11:03:45
{current.hour} Current hour 2005-03-07 11
{current.hour -1} Current hour less 1 hour 2005-03-07 10
{current.day} Current day 2005-03-07
{current.day - 1} Current day less 1 day 2005-03-06
{current.week} Current week as a range
(start of week until end of week)
2005-03-06..2005-03-12
{current.week - 1} Start of last week until end of last week 2005-02-27..2005-03-05
{current.month} Current month 2005-03
{current.month - 1} Last month 2005-02
{current.year} Current year 2005
{current.year - 1} Last year 2004

 
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