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Creating Search Filter Fields

Filter fields are special fields that are used to constrain search results, at the time a user conducts a search, for a search category. To configure search filter fields for a search index, you must identify business component fields that can be used to filter results. For example, searching against the search index Literature would retrieve all literature records that match the search query. But to restrict the search results to Literature records that are of the type Brochure, you must define the filter fields.

Siebel Search only supports indexing text and date fields (numeric fields are not supported) and you must only map business component fields that are of type DTYPE_TEXT, DTYPE_UTCDATETIME, DTYPE_DATETIME, UTC_DATE to filter columns.

For a list of supported syntax elements for filter search specifications, see Syntax for Filter Search Specifications.

Business Component Fields that can be used as filter fields are as follows:

• Map business component fields that have static pick lists associated with them. Because the intention is to constrain search results, these types of fields make the most sense to use as filter fields. For example, in the Literature business component field, Sales Tool Type is associated with a pick list that has an LOV called SALES_TOOL_TYPE.
• Map business component fields that are flags. For example, in the Solution business component, the field Publish External is a flag that indicates if the Solution can be published externally. Search results can be restricted to only those solutions that have the flag set to TRUE.
• Map business component fields that are Dates. For example, the Solution business component. Created is a UTCDATETIME field.

Rules and Assumptions

• Filter fields are created as columns, only for the parent search table, unlike Result Fields that are created for all the search tables. For example, only FUL_LIT will contain the column SALES_TOOL_TYPE that represents the business component field Sales Tool Type.
• You must also specify the column name that will be used in the index table along with the index mode, data type, text length, and sequence.
• The BC Field can be text or date fields:
  • For text fields, the Data Type attribute must be Character or Varchar. The index Mode can be Literal, Normal or None. The Text Length can be an appropriate length that is equal to or greater than the length defined for the database column.
  • For date field, the Data Type attribute must be set to Date and the index mode must be set to Value. The Text Length field need not be specified. Users must only pick a BC field that is of type Datetime, Date, or UTCDateTime. If you specify any other field as a date filter field, at index time you will get an error. This rule is enforced to make sure that users do not accidentally map a character or numeric field to a Fulcrum date column.

NOTE:  Numeric fields are not supported.