Retrieving Data Using Keys, Search Pages, and PeopleSoft Search Technology

This chapter provides overviews of keys, search pages and discusses how to use search pages and free-text 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. 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.

You can perform two types of searches 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 and then 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.

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.

• Retrieve historical data.

• Use autocomplete to narrow a search.

• Access the results of your most recent 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 only one match exists, 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, then 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 appear at one time, 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 one time or to view a designated number of records. (The application developer configures the value of n.)

When you select a value and access a page, notice that the key fields from the 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 your 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. For example, you can hunt 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. After you save a search, you can use that 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 find 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.

The supported standard wildcard characters are:

For example, if you enter Q%admin as the User ID, then the system returns a list of user IDs that begin with Q and contain 'admin' as you can see in this example:

Retrieving Historical Data

The presence of action mode fields on the search page indicate that the component uses PeopleSoft effective date logic.

If you have the appropriate permissions for see and modify history records, then these two options can appear on a search page:

Detailed information about PeopleSoft effective date logic is available in the next topic in this PeopleBook.

See Using Page Action Options and Effective Dates.

Using Autocomplete to Narrow a Search

Autocomplete provides a list of suggestions that match the data you enter in edit fields. Autocomplete lists can appear for 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 system returns the maximum number of allowed values, but it shows you a subset in the autocomplete window. An administrator sets the list limit, the list limit default is 50.

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 you can configure the list to display up to five additional columns to assist in choosing the correct value.

This is an example of an autocomplete list for the Role Name field:

See Also

Managing General Settings for Portals

Using Edit Boxes and Long Edit Boxes

Accessing the Results of Your Most Recent Component Searches

You can configure PeopleSoft applications so that the results of your most recent search transactions are temporarily stored in the portal menu structure; these results are 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 navigation path next to the component name; this is visually indicated by the search icon.

• The navigation path header retains 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 appears 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 navigation path.

Accessing Search Results from the Navigation Path

To access the most recent search results for your current transaction page (component), click the persistent search icon in the navigation path. 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 action 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 navigation path:

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 navigation path.

Using PeopleSoft Search Technology to Retrieve Data

This section provides an overview and discusses how to:

• Use the Keyword Search page.

• Use the Application Search Bar.

• Work with search Results

Understanding PeopleSoft Search Technology

The options discussed in this section apply only to organizations that have implemented the PeopleSoft Search Framework and enabled these options for their end users. As such, you may or may not see these options available in your PeopleSoft application.

The PeopleSoft Search technology provides a way for you to retrieve data using a more flexible, free-text approach to finding the data you need to view or update. The technology runs on the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search Engine, and enables you to search for data similar to how you search for information using a typical internet search engine, such as Google. While you can still navigate to components and use the Find and Existing Value search page to retrieve your data, using the PeopleSoft Search technology lets you access the same component without knowing the exact navigation.

Using the Keyword Search Page

If enabled for your PeopleSoft application, you can use the Keyword search page to perform a free-text search as an alternative to using the traditional Find an Existing Value search page when accessing a component.

To use the Keyword Search page, add any keywords upon which you want to run your search, and click Search.

To display additional prompts for predefined search criteria, click Advanced Search. This is similar to selecting search criteria on the Find an Existing Value search page.

Using the Application Search Bar

If enabled for your PeopleSoft application, the Application Search Bar appears in the portal header.

The Application Search Bar enables you to search across specific groups of search categories. Search categories organize similar application information into groups to help you narrow your searches. For example, to search information about jobs, you select the Job Data search category, and to search information about employees, select the Employee search category. You can also select the All category, which runs a search against all the categories to which you have access.

The Application Search Bar is comprised of these controls.

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, displays various filters and categories that you can use to drill into the results and reduce the result set.
Title	The title, which is the clickable link (URL), enables you to identify the search result and navigate to the associated component. When you click this link, the system displays the page you use to view or modify the underlying data for the search result.
Summary	Displays a general overview of the target data to help you determine if this is the data you need.
Related Actions	If the component for this data has related actions associated with it, and you have access to those related actions, the system displays those actions here. To navigate to a related action, click the link in the Related Action drop-down list.

Working with Filters

A filter (also called a facet) is a search attribute (field) that provides an alternate representation of the list of values for a given attribute. Filters are attributes used to filter and narrow down a set of search results. In many cases, the filter for search results will be hierarchical, meaning that as you drill into the results you navigate through various levels of results. For example, you can narrow searches by applying filters such as Country, State, Province, City, and so on, with each filter reducing the result set.

For a given filter, the system displays the values of that filter in a descending order determined by the number of each value. Five values display by default, but to see the remaining values, click More. By clicking a value, the system displays only the number of search results for that value. For example, if you clicked TX in the example above, only the six results for Texas would be displayed.

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

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 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.

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.

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.