Using Keys and Search Pages

This chapter provides an overview of keys and search pages and discusses how to use search pages to retrieve data.

Understanding Keys

A field or a combination of fields uniquely identifies every table in your PeopleSoft database. For example, the employee ID field uniquely identifies your employee records. As another example, when employees enroll in training classes, the combination of employee ID, course code, and course start date uniquely identifies enrollment requests.

The fields that uniquely identify your data are called keys or key fields. To display a page, you enter the keys to search for on the search page, so that the system can retrieve the correct row of data. For example, to retrieve the personal data page for Jim Smith, you must specify the key data in the search record for that employee.

A search record is the list of defined search keys that help you locate data. The search keys are the fields that you are prompted for on a search page. If you search and exactly specify the key fields, the system will always return only one (or no) result. Most transaction pages or components have search records associated with them. If you select other pages that have a common search record, such as pages within a component or an associated link, you are not prompted to enter search criteria again. You are prompted for new search keys only when you select a component that is based on a different search record.

Understanding Search Pages

When you select a content reference, the system often displays a search page. Search pages enable you to find and select the values that you want to work with on the transaction pages.

There are two types of searches that you can perform on search pages:

• Basic searches

• Advanced searches

Basic Searches

A basic search enables you to search by just one field at a time, and then only using the “begins with” operator. To designate the search field, if more than one is available, select the desired field from the Search by drop-down list box and then click the Search button to display the results of your search. You can narrow your search by first entering part of a value or description in the begins with text box. For instance, if you want to find all values beginning with the letters PS, you would enter PS in the begins with text box; then you click Search or press the Enter key.

This is the Permission Lists - Basic Search page:

See Entering and Saving Search Criteria.

Advanced Searches

With advanced searches, you can further narrow your search, both by searching on multiple fields simultaneously and by using a variety of search operators.

In some cases, search pages may display the Include History and Correct History options. In addition, search pages contain the Case Sensitive check box to enable you to perform case-sensitive searches.

This is the Permission Lists - Advanced Search page:

Notice that both the basic and advanced search pages include the Limit the number of results to field. This field enables you to control the number of items returned in the search results, which lowers processing time in case your search could yield large numbers of items.

Using Search Page Buttons

The following search-related buttons appear on search pages of all types.

Using Search Pages to Retrieve Data

This section discusses how to:

• Enter and save search criteria.

• Use wildcard characters to find information.

• Use autocomplete to narrow the search.

• Access the results of your most recently performed component searches.

See Also

Using Effective Dates

Entering and Saving Search Criteria

This section discusses how to:

• Enter search criteria.

• Limit the number of rows to return.

• Use operators.

• Save search criteria.

Entering Search Criteria

When specifying search criteria, you can enter a full or partial value for any key field. Based on what you enter, the system queries the search record, presents a list of possible matches or, if there is only one match, displays the page that you requested. Often, however, you do not have all of the information that you need. For example, you may want to find all administrator user profiles. If you enter the word Administrator in the Description field, and the search criterion for that field is set to contains, the system narrows the search by displaying all profiles that contain Administrator in the description. With this information, you might be able to determine which user profiles you want based on the results in the Search Results grid. Click any link in the row of the profile to access that profile, in the Search Results grid.

When browsing through a large number of search results, use the browser scroll bar to view all listings on the current page. If not all results are displayed at once, you can click the Show Next Rows button (the right arrow) in the grid header to view the next set of rows, and you can click the Show Previous Rows button (the left arrow) to see previous sets of rows. You can also click the First and Last links to display the first and last sets of rows of search results. In addition, you might be able to click a View All or View n button—to view all records at once or to view a designated number of records. (The value of n is configured by the application developer.)

When you select a value and access a page, notice that the key fields from row that you selected on the search page appear as the display-only fields in the upper section of the page, usually just below the page tab.

Limiting the Number of Rows to Return

Access the Permission Lists search page (PeopleTools, Security, Permissions & Roles, Permission Lists).

When you perform a search, you have some control over the number of items that the search retrieves. Although the maximum value and the default value are set by an administrator, you can enter a lower value in the Limit the number of results to field on the search page to further narrow your search results. If the search retrieves more than the maximum number of listings, the Search Results grid displays only the number of results requested in the Limit the number of results to setting. When the search criteria would otherwise yield a greater number of results than the limit, the actual total number of results appears in a message above the search results. You should narrow your search in another way if you cannot retrieve the data that you need on the first attempt.

Note. The default maximum value is set on the PeopleTools Options page.

See PeopleTools Options.

Using Operators

When performing an advanced search, you can use a variety of operators to narrow your searches—hunting for customers by a particular first letter, by values that are less than or greater than a specified amount, and so on. You can use the following operators:

Note. If you use the in operator to search for multiple items, separated by commas, and you enter a space after the comma, the search automatically strips out that space. (For example, if you search for 1000, 1001, the search assumes that you are searching for 1000,1001. If you actually do want to search for a character string that contains a space, include that string within double quotes, like this: 1000," 1001".

You can use an operator for more than one field to make your search even more specific. For example, you could narrow your search for courses with the word orientation in the name by selecting the "=" operator for the Internal/External field and selecting Internal from the drop-down list box, as shown in the previous example. This search will find only courses that meet both criteria: internal courses that include the word orientation.

Saving Search Criteria

If you are conducting an advanced search, you can click the Save Search Criteria link to name and save the specifics of your search. If you have saved one or more searches, you can use the Use Saved Search drop-down list box to select a saved search. Once you save a search, you can use that specific saved search in other search pages that use the same search record. You can remove any saved searches by clicking the Delete Saved Search link.

Note. The applications stores saved searches by user ID.

Using Wildcard Characters to Find Information

PeopleSoft applications support three wildcard characters to help you search for data in character fields. You can use these wildcard characters to track down the exact information that you need.

Note. Wildcard characters only work with the begins with and contains operators.

Note. Certain applications support wildcard characters that are specific only to that application. See your application-specific PeopleBooks for details.

Here are the supported standard wildcard characters:

For example, if you enter Q%admin, as the User ID, the system returns a list of user IDs that begin with Q and contains 'admin' as you can see here.

Using Autocomplete to Narrow the Search

Autocomplete provides a list of suggestions that match the data you enter in edit fields. Autocomplete lists can appear on two types of fields:

• Edit fields on search pages.

• Prompt fields.

Edit Fields on Search Pages

When a search record field is autocomplete enabled, as you type a letter into the field, and then pause, the autocomplete list appears and shows you values that match the letters you have entered to this point. The application returns the maximum number of allowed values, but shows you a subset in the autocomplete window. The list limit defaults to 50, but an administrator can configure the limit.

This is an example of an autocomplete list on the User Profiles- Basic Search page:

Prompt Fields

All prompt fields are autocomplete capable. When you enter data in a prompt field, the autocomplete results can vary slightly because the list can be configured to display up to five additional columns to assist in choosing the correct value.

See Also

Managing General Portal Settings

Using Edit Boxes and Long Edit Boxes

Accessing the Results of Your Most Recently Performed Component Searches

PeopleSoft applications can be configured so that the results of your most recently performed search transactions are temporarily stored in the portal menu structure; this is known as persistent or most recent search results.

Note these points about the accessibility and availability of persistent search results:

• The most recent transaction search results for the currently active component appear in the breadcrumbs next to the component name; this is visually indicated by the search icon.

• The breadcrumbs retain your most recent transaction search results until another search is performed.

• The most recent search for each of the five (5) most recently viewed components appear in the Favorites, Recent Search Results menu. The results are stored by menu item name, for example User Profiles.

• Only one search persists for any particular component: the most recently performed search.

• Search results are retained only until your PeopleSoft session expires; or until you sign out or close the browser.

This table shows the persistent search icon that can appear in the breadcrumbs.

Accessing Search Results from the Breadcrumbs

To access the most recent search results for your current transaction page (component), click the persistent search icon in the breadcrumbs. When you click the icon, the recent search results pop-up page appears, displaying a grid that contains the results of your last search. You can click the page header and drag the search results page to change its position within the browser window; however, the search results page retains focus until you:

• Select an item.

  To select another value from your recent search results, click any active link in the first column of the results grid.

  Note. Only the values in the first column are active links to the transaction page. All other column values are text, not links.

• Perform another search.

  To perform another search that uses different criteria than the persistent search, click the Search Again link; this returns you to the component search page.

• Dismiss the search results page.

  To dismiss the search results page, click the close button in the upper left corner of the page header or press the Esc key.

In this example, you see the recent search results for the Tree Manager component. Notice the recent search icon in the breadcrumbs.

Accessing Search Results From the Recent Search Results Menu

To access the Recent Search Results menu, from the home page select Favorites and then click the Recent Search Results folder. Your search results cascade to the side. This example shows the Recent Search Results folder and three recent component searches:

Click an item to retrieve the search results. When you select an item from the results, the application takes you to the component, retrieves the data, and updates the breadcrumbs.