Finding records (or Views of records)

The command used to find specific records is the same as that used to select views (sets) of records that conform to criteria specified by you. Use the Find/View (Alt^V) (sometimes specified as View) command in both cases. When invoked, this powerful function allows you to enter multiple criteria in a query by form interface to specify the exact records to retrieve.

Enter the patterns to search for in the fields presented (See Using wildcards for help on how to specify criteria more precisely). If you enter patterns in more than one field all records conforming to all criteria will be returned. Sometimes this is a useful way to retrieve an entry which you suspect has been incorrectly entered. For example a book by Smith with a title Journeys into...... will be returned by entering Sm in the Author field and Jo in the title field on the Stock search form. Entering full authors or titles sometimes return no matches as the search text entered is incorrect or the text in the record has been incorrectly entered. Sometimes lees is more.

Each search presents you with a View of all the records conforming to the criteria you entered. In the case of the Stock and Contacts records these views are presented on the screen in Summary form. In cases where you are looking for a specific record if is much easier to scroll through the summary records to identify it than to scroll through the corresponding detailed records. When you scroll to the desired record press the Enter key to go to the corresponding detailed record.

Every search of this type produces a View which can be added to catalogues in the case of Stock or added to Contact Distribution Lists which can be used to specify the recipients of Offers or email in the case of contacts. Views can also be output to file directly without saving in lists or catalogues.

Searching for fields that are Empty

To search for records where a field is empty such as Contacts that do not have email addresses enter Is Empty in the search field. This will return all records where this field is empty.

Note: Email Address field : To find records where the primary or default email address is empty tick the radio button adjacent to the Email search field. This limits the search to the default email address only.

Stock Keywords

You can include Keywords in your searches by using the Keywords command button on the Stock query form.

Catalogues : To limit the search by catalogue contents use the “Catalogue related Search” button. This can be combined with entries in any other field.

Stock Prices and Number of Copies.

To find all items with prices in a given range you can use the “>” and “<” or the BETWEEN operator. Enter >25 to find all items with prices greater than 25. Enter >=25 to find all items with prices greater or equal to 25. The same applies to the Number Of Copies field. To find all items that are out of stock enter <1 in the Copies field. (You could also use =0 here)

Contact Types and Contact Interests/Keywords

You can include Contact Types and Contact Interests/Keywords in your searches by using the corresponding command button on the Contacts query form. This is useful for generating a view of all Contacts of a particular type or who are not of a given type. Use the AND, OR and NOT boxes to specify multiple criteria.

Contacts and their transactions

To display all contacts that have bought more than a given value or who have bought anything between specified dates use the Transactions/Invoices command on the Contact's Query form. These criteria can be combined with Types, Interests or standard search criteria. For example to search for all contacts who have a last name that lies between gr and na AND who have bought more than 100 dollars (pounds) of goods:

(1)enter between gr AND na in the lastname field of the QBF

(2) 100 in the appropriate field on the form which appears when you invoke the Transactions/Invoices command.