| Oracle® Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle Imaging and Process Management 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) E12783-02 |
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Home > User's Guide for Oracle Ima... > Searching for Content
| Oracle® Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle Imaging and Process Management 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) E12783-02 |
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Home > User's Guide for Oracle Ima... > Searching for Content
The application into which a document is uploaded contains metadata fields whose values can be indexed and used to find the document within Oracle I/PM. If a document contains textual information, that can be searched for as well, provided full text indexing is enabled on the Content Server repository and is enabled in the application used to upload the document.
To search for documents in Oracle I/PM, you use a predefined search set up by a user with Search Create permissions. Predefined searches are listed in the Searches panel of the navigator pane. Only searches to which you have view rights are displayed.
Clicking a predefined search in the Searches panel displays a tab in the page region with a search form where you can enter the criteria on which you want to search. For example, a search titled Invoices may allow you to enter an invoice number into the search form and return the invoice you need. The results of the search are listed underneath the original search form in the tab on the page region. Only documents to which you have security access are returned, ensuring that people only have access to what they have rights to see.
A new tab and search form is displayed each time you click on a predefined search in the Searches panel. Clicking a tab brings it to the front of the page region, allowing you to access and compare search results from multiple searches. For example, one tab can be used to search for purchase orders while another tab can be used to search for outstanding invoices. Individual tabs can be closed manually by selecting the search tab and clicking the x located on the tab. Right-clicking anywhere on a tab allows additional options of closing all search tabs or closing all but the currently selected search tab.
Searches can be defined to search across multiple applications. For example, a search may be set up that would allow you to search for a purchase order number across three applications: purchase orders, shipping receipts, and invoices. The results would list a purchase order you can view to make sure you ordered a particular item, a shipping receipt to verify the item was received, and an invoice that you can then authorize for payment.
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Note: Only users with create permissions can create a search. If you require a specific search to be defined, talk to the person who manages searching in Oracle I/PM. |
This section contains the following topics:
Searches to which you have View rights are listed in the navigator pane in the Searches panel. Clicking a search in the Searches panel opens a tab in the page region and displays a search form. An example of a typical search form is displayed in the section "Search Pages".
In some cases there may be a search defined where the search criteria is predetermined and does not require you to enter any search values. In that case, no search form would be necessary. For example, when searching for invoices from the last 5 days.
To execute a search, do the following:
Click Searches to open the panel in the navigator pane. All searches available to you are displayed.
Click the search that corresponds to the type of document you want to locate. For example, if you are looking for an invoice that has not been paid, there may be a search titled “Outstanding Invoices.”
Enter the criteria you want to search for in the appropriate field on the search form if necessary. For example, when searching for an invoice there is likely an option to enter the invoice number. Required fields are noted with an asterisk (*). If the person creating the search provided additional instructions on how best to use the search, an Instruction area is displayed above the search area. Instructions are displayed by clicking the icon next to the instruction area title to expand the area. Depending on the display skin chosen on the preferences page, the icon could be a plus sign, an arrow, or some other indicator.
If you leave a field blank, the search is executed without that condition, and the part of the search that uses the parameter will be omitted. If the blank field is a required field, an error message is displayed.
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Note: Available fields are unique to each search and are determined by the person who created the search. The fields available to a person creating a search are determined by the applications that are included in the search. If you need a new search to be defined or available search criteria modified, contact the person who manages Oracle I/PM. |
Optionally, select a search operator. In some cases a search may have multiple operators available for you to select against a specific field. This gives you greater flexibility on how you would like the search to be performed. For instance, a field may default to the Equal to (=) operator so that you can look for a specific value but also have the Greater than (>) and the Less than (<) operators available so that you can look for a range of values if needed. For additional information on search operators, see "Picklist Data Field Input Operators".
Click Search to return the results based off the criteria you specified. Search results are displayed in a table beneath the search form in the search tab. Note that once you have executed a search, clicking the Refresh link in the main banner refreshes the information on the page but does not execute the search again. If you or another user updates document metadata, the new metadata is not displayed in the search results table until you run the search again by clicking Search.
An example of a typical search result is displayed in the section "Search Form Criteria and Search Results Table".
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Note: Broad search criteria can return many results, which may make it difficult to find the document you are looking for. You can refine your search by using additional search criteria to narrow and reduce the number of results returned. If you are unable to narrow the search down enough to find the document you are looking for then see the person who manages Oracle I/PM for help in refining the existing search or defining a new search. |
You can modify how search results are displayed to suit your needs and perform actions on individual or multiple documents returned in a search. This section has the following topics:
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Note: In some circumstances, a -1 may be listed in a number field on a search results table. This happens when an application containing documents is modified to have a number field. The new field displays a -1 on documents that were in Oracle Content Server prior to when the new field was added. When a new document is uploaded after the field is added and the number field is left blank, search results will display 0 for the number field value. |
You can modify how search results are displayed to suit your needs and e-mail searches you have executed to others. Use the View menu on the Search Results Toolbar to show, hide, or reorder columns, and to detach the results and display them as a separate page. You can also reorder columns by clicking on them and dragging them to the position you want.
Sort on different columns by clicking the column title. Text fields are sorted alphabetically, number and date fields are sorted numerically. To view an example of a search results table, see "Search Form Criteria and Search Results Table".
This section has the following topics:
To resize columns, do the following:
In the search results table of a search tab, position your cursor between the titles of the columns you want to resize. The cursor arrow changes to display two arrows facing in opposite directions.
Click the divider line between the two field headings and drag to resize the columns.
Columns displayed in a search results table are dependent on the metadata fields assigned to the search when it was created. Each of the columns have fields from one or more of the applications searched. The Lock Document and MIME Type columns are included on each search result, but the remaining columns change. In some cases the number of columns displayed may be extensive and make it difficult to quickly access the information you want. To help, you can hide unwanted columns.
To hide columns in the search results table, do the following:
Select View then Columns. A listing of all available columns is displayed. Enabled columns have a check beside the name. By default, all are enabled.
Click the name of the enabled column you want to hide in the listing to disable it. The page refreshes and the column is hidden.
To unhide columns, repeat the steps but select the disabled column you want displayed. The column is enabled and the page refreshes to display the column. Alternately, you can select View then Columns then Show All to view all available columns in the table.
You can change the order of columns in a results table to make it easier to compare information in one of two ways. One way is by clicking the column header and dragging the column to the preferred location in the search results table. Alternately, to change column order, do the following:
In the search results table of a search tab, select View then Reorder Columns. The Reorder Columns Page is displayed.
Select the column or columns you would like to move and click the up or down arrow to reposition the column in the display order. Multiple columns can be selected and moved at the same time.
Click OK. The Reorder Columns Page closes and the page refreshes to display the search results table with the columns in the new order.
Search results tables can be extensive depending on the number of documents returned, how much metadata is associated with the documents, and how many of the metadata fields are set to display in the predefined search. In addition to hiding and reordering columns to make viewing your results easier, you can also detach the results table from the search tab. This gives you more display room to see all of the results.
To detach the search results table from the search tab, do the following:
In the search results tool bar, click Detach. A new page opens displaying only the search results table.
To close the separate search results table page, click the X in the corner of the page, or click Detach in the search results table page. The search results table page closes.
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Note: The size of the new search results table page is determined by the original size of your browser page. Also, the new page is constrained by the original browser page. It cannot be moved outside of the original browser page. If you make the original browser page smaller after detaching the search results table, the results table page is masked by the original page border and you may not be able to see some of the results or close the results table page until you scroll using the browser scroll bars or make your original browser page larger than the results table page. |
In some cases you may need to share the results of a search with a coworker. This may be to ask for their input on a problem or to have them monitor a process. You can e-mail a link to run a search using criteria you have specified without having them enter the criteria themselves, provided they have view rights to the search.
To send an e-mail containing a link to run a search you have made, do the following:
In the search results tool bar, click Email. An e-mail from your default e-mail client is displayed that contains a link to the results of your search.
Enter the e-mail address of the person to whom you want to send the results and send the e-mail.
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Note: To view the search results using the link in the e-mail, the recipient must have the necessary permissions to log into I/PM and have view access to the search. |
You can perform actions on individual or multiple documents in a search result by clicking a document to select it and then clicking the action you want to take on the Search Results Toolbar. Available actions on the toolbar are dependent on if you have a single document or multiple documents selected in the search results list. To select multiple documents listed consecutively, hold the shift key down while selecting the first and last document in the range. If you want to select multiple documents that are not consecutive, hold the Control (Ctl) key down while clicking each document in the list you want to select. The actions available in the Search Results Toolbar are also available by right-clicking on a document in the search result to display the Search Results Contextual Menu. Like the toolbar, available actions in the contextual menu are dependent on if you have selected one or multiple documents.
This section has the following topics:
Documents are viewed using either the basic or the advanced viewer mode, depending on the preference set for Default Viewer Mode on the Preferences Page. If you regularly need to make or edit annotations, ensure the preference setting is set to use the advanced viewer mode. You can also switch between modes if necessary from within the viewer.
Note that multiple documents can be opened in the viewer to facilitate comparing documents. If multiple documents are opened, they are each displayed on their own tab. Each tab can be closed individually using the Close Current icon to the right of the open tabs, or options to close all tabs or all but the active tab can be selected from the Close menu next to the icon.
Multiple documents can be opened one at a time, or all at the same time by selecting multiple documents from a search results table before opening. Multiple documents can be selected using Shift+click for documents listed sequentially in a search results table, or Ctl+click documents not in sequence in a results table. Detailed information about the two viewers and their options is found in Chapter 5, "Viewing, Annotating, and Retrieving Documents".
To open a document in the viewer, do the following:
From a search results table, click the document icon in the MIME Type column next to the item you want to open. A separate page opens to display the document in the viewer.
Alternately, you can use Open from either the Search Results Toolbar or the Search Results Contextual Menu. To open a document in the viewer using the toolbar, do the following:
From a search results table, select the document or documents you want to open in the viewer.
Click Open in the toolbar. A separate page opens to display the document or documents in the viewer.
To open a document in the viewer using the contextual menu, do the following:
From a search results table, right-click on the document or documents you want to open in the viewer. A contextual menu is displayed with the options also available from the toolbar.
Select Open from the contextual menu options. A separate page opens to display the document or documents in the viewer.
If your default is set to open a document in the basic viewer mode but you need to add or edit an annotation and have rights to do so, you can switch to the advanced mode by doing these steps:
With the document open in the basic viewer, select View then Use Advanced Viewer. The viewer changes to the advanced mode and the Advanced Viewer Toolbar Options are enabled.
To keep other users from modifying a document's metadata or adding or editing a document's annotations, you can lock it. Once locked, only the person who locked it can update the metadata or add annotations. This is recommended to prevent two people from updating a document at the same time, causing a conflict. Once locked, only the person who locked the document or someone with Lock Admin document security can unlock it.
To lock a document, do the following:
In the search results table, select the document you want to lock and click Lock in the toolbar, or right-click on the document and select Lock from the contextual menu. An icon is displayed in the Locked column of the search results and the document or its metadata can no longer be modified until someone with the proper security unlocks it.
To unlock a document, do the following:
In the search results tool bar, select the document you want to unlock and click Unlock in the toolbar, or right-click on the document and select Unlock from the contextual menu. The icon is no longer displayed in the Locked column of the search results and the document or its metadata can now be modified.
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Note: Anyone granted Lock Admin document security in an application can unlock any document within that application. |
If a document or document metadata needs to be updated, you can do so from a search results table. For information on updating a document, see "Updating Existing Content in Oracle I/PM".
You can download a document from a Search Form Criteria and Search Results Table using either the Search Results Toolbar or the Search Results Contextual Menu. To download a copy of the document in its original format without annotations, you must have the proper permissions to modify the annotations, or the download will be denied. You can also download a TIFF image of the document with annotations. For information on how to download a document, see "Downloading Documents".
You can copy an existing document, its metadata, and annotations into the same or a different application. You must have security rights to create a document in the application you select.
To copy a document, do the following:
From a search results table, select the document you want to copy.
Click Copy in the toolbar or right-click on the document and select Copy from the contextual menu. The Copy Document Page is displayed.
Select the application to use when copying the document. You must have security rights to create a document in the application you select. The metadata fields pertinent to the selected application are displayed. If the document is being copied to the same application, the metadata fields are populated with the values from the document you are copying. If the document is being copied to a different application, shared metadata fields are populated with the previous values and unique metadata fields are blank.
Enable the Copy existing annotations check box if you want annotations to be copied along with the file. When enabling this check box, Oracle I/PM attempts to copy the native file with the existing annotations as is. If you do not have security rights to modify an annotation being copied, Oracle I/PM permanently burns the annotation into a TIFF version of the original document. If the original document is not in a TIFF format, Oracle I/PM converts the native document to TIFF.
Modify or enter the necessary metadata values for the new document and click Copy. A message is displayed at the bottom of the page confirming the document was copied successfully.
Close the Copy Document Page.
You can move an existing document and its metadata from one application to another.
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Note: To move a document between applications, you must have security rights to delete a document from the source application and security rights to create a document in the destination application. If the document is annotated, the user must have the same annotation security rights in both applications. |
To move a document, do the following:
From a search results table, select the document you want to move.
Click Move in the toolbar or right-click on the document and select Move from the contextual menu. The Move Document Page is displayed.
Select the application to use when moving the document. The metadata fields pertinent to the selected application are displayed. Metadata fields shared between the initial application and the one the document is being moved to are populated with the previous values. Metadata fields unique to the application the document is being moved to are blank. You cannot move a document to the same application.
Modify or enter the necessary metadata values for the new document and click Move. A message is displayed at the bottom of the page confirming the document was moved successfully.
Close the Move Document Page.
If for any reason you no longer need a document, for example if a document has been uploaded twice by mistake, you can delete it provided you have the document security rights to delete a document from an application. Once deleted, a document cannot be recovered.
To delete a document, you can use Delete from either the Search Results Toolbar or the Search Results Contextual Menu. To delete a document using the toolbar, do the following:
From a search results table, select the document you want to delete.
Click Delete in the toolbar. A separate page opens asking you to confirm that you want to delete the document.
Click Yes and close the confirmation page. The document remains displayed in the search results table until the search is executed again.
To delete a document using the contextual menu, do the following:
From a search results table, right-click on the document you want to delete.
Select Delete in the contextual menu. A separate page opens asking you to confirm that you want to delete the document.
Click Yes and close the confirmation page. The document remains displayed in the search results table until the search is executed again.
