Searching the Registry
The Search and Explore links in the menu area allow you to search the Registry.
Using the Search Menu
Click Search in the menu area. The Search form opens. It contains the following components:
Click Hide Search Form to close the Search form and clear the results area.
The next few sections describe how to use these components.
Selecting a Query
The Select Predefined Query drop-down list contains the items shown in Table 7-2.
The default selection is Basic Query. The following sections describe how to perform basic queries:
Use the FindAllMyObjects and GetCallersUser queries to search for all the objects you have published and to view and modify data for the user you created when you registered.
Searching by Object Type
The simplest search is by object type only.
The default choice in the Object Type drop-down list is RegistryObject, which searches all objects in the Registry. To narrow the search, change the object type.
Follow these steps:
The search returns all objects of the specified type. You can narrow the search by specifying a name, description, or classification.
Searching by Name and Description
To search by the name or description of an object, follow these steps:
By default, the search looks for a name or description that matches the entire string you typed. You can use wildcards to find a range of objects.
The wildcard characters are percent (
%
) and underscore (_
).The
%
wildcard matches multiple characters:The underscore wildcard matches a single character. For example, the search string
_us_
would match objects namedAus1
andBus3
.Searching by Classification
Classification objects classify or categorize objects in the registry using unique concepts that define valid values within a classification scheme. The classification scheme is the parent in a tree hierarchy containing generations of child concepts. Table 7-3 describes the classification schemes provided by the Registry specifications. Many of the terms in this table are defined in the Registry specifications.
In the menu area, the root of the ClassificationScheme tree is below the Description field.
To search by classification, follow these steps:
- Expand the root node to view the full list of classification schemes.
The number in parentheses after each entry indicates how many concepts the parent contains.
- Expand the node for the classification scheme you want to use.
- Expand concept nodes beneath the classification scheme until you find the leaf node (a node with no concepts beneath it) by which you want to search.
- Select the leaf node.
- Optionally, restrict the search by choosing an object type or specifying a name or description string.
- Click the Search button.
Viewing Search Results
Objects found by a search appear in the Registry Objects area.
The Registry Objects area consists of the following:
- Buttons labeled Save, Approve, Deprecate, Undeprecate, Relate, and Delete, which allow you to perform actions on objects. You must be the object's creator to perform any of these actions.
- A found objects display consisting of a search results table with the following columns:
- Pick checkbox. Select any two objects to activate the Relate button. See Creating Relationships Between Objects for details.
- Details link. Click this link to open the Details area directly below the Registry Objects area (see "Viewing Object Details").
- Object Type field.
- Name field.
- Description field.
- Version field.
- VersionComment field.
- Pin checkbox. Select this checkbox to "pin" this object in place while you perform another search. You can then relate two different objects by selecting both objects.
Viewing Object Details
In the search results table, click the Details link for an object to open the Details area immediately below the Registry Objects area.
This section has a row of buttons and a row of tabs:
- The buttons are Save, Approve, Deprecate, Undeprecate, and Delete. The buttons represent actions you can perform on the object.
- The tabs represent the object's attributes. The tabs you see vary depending on the object type. Table 7-4 describes the tabs and the objects they apply to.
Click a tab to find out if the object has any values for the attribute. If it does, click the Details link for the attribute value to open a web browser window with the details for the attribute value.
The Audit Trail tab does not produce a table with a Details link. Instead, it produces a table containing the event type, the date and time of the event, and the name of the User that caused it.
For every object, the Unique Identifier is an active link. Click this link to view the XML for the object in a web browser window. (All registry objects are stored in XML format.)
If the object is an ExternalIdentifier, the details panel has a Display Content link. Click this link to view the object in a web browser window.
If the object is an ExtrinsicObject, the details panel has a View Repository Item Content link. Click this link to view the repository item in a web browser window.
Using the Explore Menu
The Explore menu allows you to navigate through Registry and Repository content using the metaphor of a hierarchy of file folders. The root folder, named
root
, contains all Registry content, and is similar to the UNIX root directory.To use the Explore menu, follow these steps:
To explore the classification schemes, follow these steps:
- Click the ClassificationSchemes folder (not the node symbol). All the ClassificationScheme objects appear in the Registry Objects area. Follow the instructions in Viewing Search Results to view the objects.
- Expand the ClassificationSchemes node to open the ClassificationSchemes tree hierarchy in the menu area.
- Click any file icon to view that classification scheme in the Registry Objects area.
- Expand a classification scheme node to see the Concept folders beneath it.
Not all classification schemes have concepts that are viewable in the Explore menu. The last seven classification schemes have concepts that are not viewable here.
- Click a Concept folder to view that concept in the Registry Objects area.
To explore the userData folder, follow these steps:
When you have finished, click Hide Explorer to close the Explore menu and clear the results area.