Working with PeopleSoft Search

This section contains an overview and discusses:

• Working with search pages.

• Working with Application Search.

• Working with search results.

Understanding PeopleSoft Search

PeopleSoft Search refers to the collection of interfaces that PeopleSoft application end users access to submit search requests. The PeopleSoft Search interfaces depend on the Search Framework being completely configured with PeopleSoft search definition-based indexes deployed to the search server and populated.

Important! The PeopleSoft Search features discussed in this document do not support the use of the Verity search engine. These features work only with the Search Framework and the SES search engine.

These are the PeopleSoft Search features:

PeopleSoft Search Framework features that are key to enhancing user experience are:

Working with Search Pages

This section provides an overview and discusses:

• Understanding Search Pages.

• Enabling Keyword search.

• Developing for Keyword search.

Understanding Search Pages

The traditional search pages for PeopleSoft application components provided these options:

• Find an Existing Value.

• Add a New Value.

While the Find an Existing Value tab enables end users to find the rows of data they need to view or modify, it is limited to running searches only across level 0 fields. The Find an Existing Value search runs against the live data tables, not an SES index. The Find an Existing Value tab works in conjunction with the Keyword search, and it can be effective to provide both options to end users.

Using the Keyword search page, which you enable through the Search Framework, end users can perform a deeper, more free-form search against the data. The Keyword search runs across the indexed values stored on the SES server, which contains fields across all scroll levels.

Note. The Keyword Search tab only appears if a search index has been associated with the component in a search definition. Because the keyword search runs against the indexed data, depending on the frequency of index builds, the indexed data may not entirely match the Find an Existing Value search results.

The search pages that display after you’ve enabled Keyword search for a component are:

• Find an Existing Value Search: This is the same interface as the Find an Existing Value page, that you see for previous PeopleSoft releases.

• Keyword Search: This page enables the user to run free-text searches using the Keywords edit box. Implementation teams can index any attributes that they would like the end user to be able to search.

• Add a New Value: This is the same interface as the Add a New Value page used in previous PeopleSoft releases, which enables you to add new rows to PeopleSoft tables.

Enabling Keyword Search

To enable Keyword Search, you use the Component Mapping page in the Search Definition component for the Search Framework Designer. The Component Mapping page enables you to map a component to a specific search definition to enable SES integration with Search Pages.

Note. Search definitions mapped to a component use document level security. This is enforced by the Search Designer interface.

For components that have been added to the grid on the Component Mapping page for a search definition, the search page for that component displays both the classic search options and the Search Framework search options. That is, users can initiate a Find an Existing Value search against level 0 values, using the default PeopleTools search capabilities run directly against the database, and, they can also take advantage of the Keyword search page.

The keyword Search Framework feature enables the user to search deeper (level 0-3) by running a free-formed search against crawled and indexed values in the search engine. The keyword search is powerful because it allows you to search across all fields in an index rather than just inside a specific set of fields defined in the search record.

When the search definition is deployed, the system updates the component meta data to indicate the search category to which the component is mapped. When the system renders the page, it displays the keyword search tab for that component.

Note. Multiple components can be mapped to the same search definition.

To enable search pages for a component:

1. Select PeopleTools, Search Framework, Designer, Search Definition, and open the desired search definition.

2. Select the Component Mapping tab.

3. Add the desired component to the grid.

4. Update the security restrictions and access appropriately.

5. Save the search definition.

6. Deploy or update the search definition to SES.

7. Navigate to the component and verify that you see the Keyword search page.

See Also

Mapping Components to Search Definitions

Setting Document Level Security

Developing for Search Pages

This section describes these items to consider while implementing Search Pages.

• Setting component properties for search pages.

• Working with Find and Existing Value and Keyword Search behavior differences.

• Working with Keyword Search data currency.

• Maintaining a consistent user experience.

Setting Component Properties for Search Pages

You configure properties for your search pages in the Component Properties dialog box in PeopleSoft Application Designer. On the Internet tab, in the Search Page group box there are numerous settings related to your application search pages. These settings apply specifically to the Keyword search page:

Note. The Link to Realtime Search Page and Link to Keyword Search page values only come into play if Keyword Search is enabled for that component. The term, Realtime, is used to differentiate between the currency of the data between the Find and Existing Value search and the Keyword search. While the Find an Existing Value search displays search results that are always a current reflection of the data in the database, the Keyword Search is only as current as the last index build or incremental index update.

When implementing the Keyword search feature, make sure to adjust these settings accordingly. The general concepts surrounding these settings, along with other component properties, are discussed in the PeopleSoft Application Designer documentation.

See Setting Internet Properties.

Working with Find an Existing Value and Keyword Search Behavior

For a component that has a search index associated with it, the user can perform these types of searches, Find and Existing Value and Keyword. Both search types will have the same, general look and feel, however, these differences and features should be noted:

• With the Find an Existing Value search, the end user selects values based on the underlying record search keys and clicks Search. Results are rendered in a standard grid format, as seen in all previous PeopleSoft versions.

• With the Keyword search, the end user enters values into the Keywords edit box and clicks Search. The end user can also enter a combination of keywords in addition to using the provided search keys. The system runs this search against the SES index. Results can be displayed in either a grid or a list format.

• The Keyword search will show facets, where the Find an Existing Value search cannot.

• When switching between Find an Existing Value and Keyword search, the system replicates any text you've entered in one tab to the other.

• Search operators are different between the Find and Existing Value search and Keyword search. For example, the typical Keyword search operators include contains, =, not =, where as the Find an Existing Value search operators include more, such as begins with, contains, =, not =, greater than, less than, between, in, and so on.

• Keyword search fields do not contain prompts or drop-down lists. Search text needs to be added in a free-form manner, using wild cards as needed.

  Note. In the Find an Existing Value tab you specify a wild card using "%", while in Keyword search you specify a "*".

Working with Keyword Search Data Currency

The Keyword search can display only search results that are included in the index. The index is only as current as the last incremental index update or the last full build date and time. As such, the Keyword search results will not always contain the most current reflection of the transactional data.

For example, assume that an organization has the incremental index update process schedule to run once every 3 days. If a salesperson adds a new customer to the system just after the incremental update occurred, that customer information will not appear in the Keyword Search results until the next incremental index update process has completed. Likewise, if a customer has been deleted from the system just after an incremental index update, the search results for the Keyword Search will continue to include that customer information until the next incremental index update process has completed.

The Keyword Search page displays a message indicating how fresh the search results are. For example:

Note: Keyword Search will return data updated over 18 hours ago (2011-06-22-16.25.48.000000)

Note. The date format will appear according to the user's personalization setting for date display.

Maintaining a Consistent User Experience

Since both types of searches, Find an Existing Value and Keyword, form the same component search interface, these requirements ensure a consistent user experience:

• All the search keys shown on the search page must be indexed attributes.

• Only the fields marked as List Box items on the component search record will be shown in both cases.

  Note. This is true when showing the results in the grid format for the keyword search. If you switch to list format, you can display additional fields that are indexed but not marked as List Box or search keys.

• All List Box item fields must be indexed attributes.

Note. Grid-based view of the keyword search results is based on the List Box item configuration on the associated search record.

Working with Keyword Search Modes

The Keyword search page has these modes:

• Keyword-only

• Basic

• Advanced

Working with Keyword-Only Mode

The keyword-only mode can be selected in the Component Properties dialog box, and if selected only the Keywords edit box will appear as the default search mode when an end user accesses the component.

Working with Basic Mode

In basic mode, the Keywords edit box displays with and additional 'Search by' option with a drop-down list box to select a search record field to use for as search criteria.

Working with Advanced Mode

The advanced mode displays all search criteria:

• Keywords.

• Search record fields.

• Search fields defined for the Search Framework search category on the Advanced Search Fields tab.

Advanced mode search options

Note. The system does not display in the Advanced Search Fields list any search fields that are also displayed in the search record search field list.

Note. All search record fields (Key, Alt Key, and List box fields) must be part of the index. If any of the fields have translate values, those translate fields must also be part of the SES index.

Working with Application Search

This section discusses:

• Enabling Application Search.

• Developing for Application Search.

• Working with Related Actions.

• Working with Portal Menu search.

Understanding Application Search

Application Search provides a way for a user to search across all or specific group of search indexes. It is available in the Portal header throughout the user's session irrespective of the content the user is accessing in the target frame. It allows the user to search and drill down to a specific row and transaction from the search results without navigating to the classic component search page. In a Portal environment Application Search can search across indexes from multiple content systems.

The Application Search Bar in the Portal header consists of:

• drop-down list to select search groups or categories.

• free text search edit box.

• Advanced Search link.

• Last Search Results link (which displays persistent search results).

Enabling Application Search

When Application Search is enabled, the Application Search Bar appears in the portal header. You enable Application Search on the Portal, Global Settings page.

To enable Application Search:

1. Select PeopleTools, Portal, General Settings.

2. In the Portal Search Options group box, select Display global search in header.

Note. If a user does not have access to any search groups by way of their permissions lists, they will not see the Application Search Bar.

Working with Search Groups and Search Contexts

When implementing Application Search, it is highly recommended to employ search contexts and search groups. These constructs work together to refine the user interaction with the Application Search Bar drop-down list.

A search group is a type of search category that is exposed to Application Search to help manage search definitions deployed to the search engine. Search groups provide a way to show relevant categories based on the context the user is in on the target frame. A search definition can belong to multiple search groups. You manage search groups in the Search Framework Administration interface. In a Portal installation, for example, search groups can be formed to include search definitions deployed across content systems.

Using search contexts, you can configure search groups such that based on the context in the target frame, only a subset of all possible search groups are available to the user in the Application Search Bar. For example, if the end user is accessing content from a PeopleSoft Financial application, then only search groups relevant to that application will be available. Likewise if a user is accessing content from a PeopleSoft Human Capital Management application, then only search groups related to that application will be available.

At any given time, end users have these types of search groups available:

• All: This search group will always be available and is a group of search categories that span across all the indexes that have been deployed and made searchable for a PeopleSoft application.

• Component Specific: This type of search group will match the component the user is currently viewing in the target frame. For example, if a user is viewing an expense report, then the Expense Report component would be the search group that is available.

• Context Specific Set: These are a set of search groups configured to be shown based on specific content in the target frame.

The system follows the end users through the system, recording context as they navigate through the system to show only relevant search groups. While a particular search group can be defined as the default, for search groups defined at the WorkCenter template or node level, the system follows these rules to determine the search groups to display:

• Template level: If the current transaction is in a WorkCenter or Home Page template all search groups associated to that template will show. Also, if a default search group is defined for that template it will display.

• Node level: If the current transaction is not on a WorkCenter or Home Page all search groups relevant to the node associated with that transaction will show. If a default search group is defined for that node it will display.

• Component level: The Application Search Bar drop-down list shows search groups associated with the current component, if that component has been indexed. In addition if there are no default search groups defined for the WorkCenter level or node level, then the system defaults to displaying search groups associated with the current transaction.

Note. Each of these levels can have multiple search groups. For improved user experience, the number of search groups at each level should be limited to a reasonable number, such as five.

Application Search shows search groups in the Application Search Bar based on a user's role. To set up permissions to search groups, you use PeopleTools Security permission lists. Setting up role-based search group access is discussed in the Security chapter of this document.

See Also

Setting Up Role-Based Search Group Access

Managing Search Context

Specifying General Search Category Settings

Working With the Portal Registry Search

PeopleTools provides the search definition, PTPORTALREGISTRY, which enables you to index the content references registered in the portal menu registry. If you deploy this search definition and build the index (just as you would any search definition), end users can search for content references and menu items using the free-text edit boxes and navigate to the underlying pages using the search results.

If you run the search from the menu pagelet or drop-down navigation Search Menu edit box, the search request only goes against current portal. That is, if the user is currently logged into the EMPLOYEE portal, the search will be specific to content references defined within the EMPLOYEE portal only.

If you run the search from the Application Search Bar, the search request goes against all the portals defined in the local portal registry.

The search definition is based on the following delivered query: PTPORTALREGISTRY, which verifies the "Valid From" and "Valid To" dates for content references. It is recommended that you schedule running your index updates based on how often the content references in your system change effective dates and expire dates for more accurate search results.

Working with Search Results

The following example illustrates a typical set of search results generated by PeopleSoft Search.

Filter by	The area to the left of the search results, where the end user initially views the search category associated with the search results. By drilling into the category, you view the facets associated with attributes in the search index.
Title	The title, which is the clickable link, enables the user to identify the search result and navigate to the associated component. The title is defined using the Title edit box on the General tab of the Search Framework, Designer, Search Definition component.
Summary	Displays a general overview of the target data. The summary is defined using the Summary edit box on the General tab of the Search Framework, Designer, Search Definition component.
Related Actions	If the search definition is mapped to a component, then any defined related actions associated with that component will appear in the Related Actions drop-down list, depending on the user’s security access to those related actions.

Working With Facets

A facet is an attribute that may be part of one or more search definitions. It provides an alternate representation of the list of values for a given attribute. Facets are attributes used to filter and narrow down a set of search results.

Facets:

• Show search results across each index.

• When clicked show only results in that index related to that facet value.

• Can further narrow results using sub-facets in that index.

For example, assume the Customer component has a faceted attribute of Customer Level with values of L1, L2, and L3. By selecting the L1 facet link, L2 and L3 values will be removed from the search results list, leaving only the L1 for viewing.

For component Keyword search, the system determines facets associated with the search category to which the component is associated and renders them accordingly.

For Application Search, because the search results might span across multiple indexes that are not related to each other, each search definition within a specific search category should have common attributes marked as facets. These attributes should be generic so search results can be classified under one of these attributes. If non-common attributes are marked as facets in the search category, results not having that attribute will not be displayed.

When working with facets, keep these items in mind:

• All Facet values will be sorted in descending order of their counts.

• Facets on date and number are not supported. Only strings can be facets.

• If an attribute is marked as a facet, and if for a given search document that facet attribute does not have a value, then that document gets dropped from the result set.

Facets display five values, by default. If a particular facet has results for more than five facets, More.... appears at the bottom of the list. Click More... to expand the list, and once it is expanded click Less... to collapse the list, showing only five again.

As you drill into a set of facets, your path is expressed in the form of facet breadcrumbs.

You can deselect the check box for a filter to remove its effect on the search results, or to reverse the direction of your filtering and expand the results.

Click Clear all filters to remove all applied filters, returning the search results to the state prior to faceted filtering.

Viewing Search Results With Grid Format and List Format

Use the View As control to toggle between the grid format and the list format for viewing search results.

Working with the Grid Format

The following example displays the grid format:

To navigate to the PIA page loading the desired data, click the key column with the link.

The Related Actions link does not appear for search results in the grid format.

Note. The default search result display format for Keyword Search is the grid format.

Working with the List Format

The following example displays the list format:

To navigate to the PIA page loading the desired data, click the Title line of the search result.

The Related Actions link appears only for search results in the list format.

Note. The default search result display format for Application Search is the list format.

Working with Related Actions

For search definitions mapped to components, end users can navigate to related actions from search results without accessing the main result document. Every search result in the list format displays a Related Actions drop-down list, showing the possible related actions for that user, according to security access.

Note. Even though the Related Action drop-down list is available for a search result, it may or may not have any related actions, depending on user authorization. If the end user is not authorized for any of the related actions associated with the component or transaction, the list will be empty.

Working with Persistent Search

If you need to go back to your most recent search results, you can use the Last Search Results icon.

Click Refine Search to return to the search interface to reapply criteria or filtering.

The results displayed in the Recent Search Results page use the same view format as the previous search result. That is, if the user view the search results in list format, the Recent Search Results page displays the list format.

The Recent Search Results page can be dragged to position it in a convenient location.

Note. The Last Search Results icon in the Application Search Bar is available for both Application Search and Keyword Search on the component. The Recent Search Results icon only appears for Keyword Search on the component when using drop-down navigation, and you have enabled persistent search by setting the Recent Search Results options on the Caching tab for the web profile.