SearchFilter Tag

Purpose

The GEN:SearchFilter tag searches for a text string within a table of records, allowing application users to search data in the displayed table.  The resulting table control shows matching records.  The search control is added automatically to any Table Report page where one or more fields (table columns) are designated as being searchable.

The search control is automatically added to any table where one or more data fields have been designated as “searchable” by the application developer.

The SearchFilter tag displays a text box for the application user to enter a value to be searched.  The search can be performed against any field in a table using a comparison operator.  Only designated columns are searched by the search control.

If the control type is a text box, then the control must be bound to a button.  When the button is pressed, the value entered by the application user is searched for within the table.

This tag requires a binding between it and another control, typically the table that it modifies.  You must manually connect the control to the table in the Property Sheet.

The fields searched by the SearchFilter are not required to be displayed in the table shown to the user.

Automatic Type Ahead Feature

One of the principal features of the search controls is the Automatic Type Ahead feature.  It provides list of suggestions after you type several characters.  It fetches list of suggestions by sending request to a web service in the page’s code-behind file which in turn queries the database for a matching set of records.

The automatic type ahead feature has several constraints:

Interactive search is controlled by several properties.

Examples

<GEN:SearchFilter Name=“Search”/>

Automatic type ahead feature caveats

The width of the suggestion list box is governed by Columns property for the SearchArea text box.  The default value is 50 characters.

Configure properties in Control > Automatic Type Ahead and Control > Search sections, especially pay attention to Search method and Filter operator for the best results.

When search text is typed into a search control, the automatic type ahead feature returns a list of suggestions.  The suggestion item’s length may not be equal to the length specified by ‘Columns’ property if the suggestion item contains new line.  If a suggested item contains new-line characters before the search text then it displays text after new line.  If it contains a new-line after the search text then the text is displayed upto the new line.

For URL fields, the interactive search works only if the complete string ‘http://’ is typed or if the URL is typed without ‘http://’.

See Also

Code Generation Tags

Code Generation Tag Properties

Part II: Configuring Full Text Search