Search
You can search objects within Projects and Drafts by entering search terms in the search box in the top menu panel.
Search results will be displayed immediately, showing the identifier of the object (for example a Data Dictionary Name) the Project and Draft in which the object exists, and a short excerpt of the text which matches the search term.
A maximum of 10 search results will be displayed. The search will look in all Projects and Drafts to which you have access.
Clicking on a search result will open the corresponding object.
The search index is updated once every 5 minutes, ie. changes to existing objects, new objects, new draft uploads will be available in the search results within 5 minutes but not instantly.
Simple Search
Typing one or more words will display a list of up to 10 objects containing those words. For example, searching for "smoking duration" will display any object containing the word "smoking" and the word "duration". The words do not need to be consecutive; a Form containing a Field with PreText "Smoking duration" will match as will one with PreText "Duration of smoking".
The search uses a word stemming technique. For example, searching for "smoking" will retrieve objects containing the word "smoking" and also "smoke", "smoked", "smoker", etc. Stop words such as "and", "of" are ignored by the search.
Search by Object Type
If you wish to narrow the search to one or more types of object you can enter a shortcut prefixed by the "@" character. For example to find Data Dictionaries containing Entries with the word "headache" you can search for "@dd headache". To find Edit Checks and Derivations containing "ADVERSE" you can search for "@ec @der adverse" (searching is case-insensitive).
Advanced Search
You can apply more complex search expressions by using AND (&), OR (|) and NOT (!) operators.
For example to search for Custom Functions containing the word "interaction" or the word "user" you would enter "@cf interation | user". To search for Custom Functions containing "interaction" but not "user" you would enter "@cf interaction & ! user". Note that the spaces between the operators are important.
You can also search for word prefixes. "head:*" will find all words beginning with "head"
Examples:
Find data dictionaries containing the word "Jaw" but not the word "Leg":
@dd jaw & ! leg
Find data dictionaries containing a word starting with "head" and also the word "arm" or "leg" but not the word "blood":
@dd head:* & (arm | leg) & ! blood
Search Objects
These are the objects available in search, the shortcut and the attributes included in the search index:
Object |
Shortcut |
Attributes |
|---|---|---|
Form |
@f |
Form.OID, Form.DraftFormName, Form.HelpText Field.FieldOID, Field.VariableOID, Field.PreText, Field.HelpText, Field.HeaderText, Field.DraftFieldName |
Folder |
@fl |
Folder.OID, Folder.FolderName |
Data Dictionary |
@dd |
DataDictionary.DataDictionaryName DataDictionaryEntry.CodedData, DataDictionaryEntry.UserDataString |
Unit Dictionary |
@ud |
UnitDictionary.UnitDictionaryName UnitDictionaryEntry.CodedUnit, UnitDictionaryEntry.UnitString |
Edit Check |
@ec |
Check.CheckName, Check.cql, Check.description |
Derivation |
@der |
Derivation.DerivationName, Derivation.cql, Derivation.description |
Custom Function |
@cf |
CustomFunction.FunctionName, CustomFunction.SourceCode |
Matrix |
@m |
Matrix.OID, Matrix.MatrixName |
Ticket |
@t |
Ticket.Title, Ticket.Body |
Wiki Page |
@wp |
Page.Title, Page.Content |