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Advanced Search

The Advanced Search feature allows you to search the Knowledge Base using any combination of fields and advanced criteria.

To perform an advanced search, click Search under the Knowledge Base heading on the BMC FootPrints Service Core Toolbar or click the link for Advanced in the top frame.  The Advanced Search page contains a combination of text fields, drop-down boxes, and radio buttons that allow you to search on any combination of criteria.  Each field acts as a filter.  Only enter or select the criteria with which you want to search.  Any field that you do not want to search should remain untouched.

An Advanced Search option is also available under the Requests heading on the BMC FootPrints Service Core Toolbar.  This search, which has similar criteria options, returns the user’s Requests or, optionally, the Requests for the Organizational Unit, rather than Solutions from the Knowledge Base.  Any differences are noted below.

Note on Field Names

The names of many of the fields in BMC FootPrints Service Core can be changed by the administrator (Title, Priority, Status, Description, etc.)  Custom fields can also be created.  For clarity, this manual uses the default terms for field names.

The options include:

• Title—Enter a word or phrase for which to search. Boolean operators AND, OR, and NODATA are supported.  Boolean Operators
• Description—If a word or phrase is entered, or multiple words using Boolean Operators, only Issues containing that word/phrase in the Description are returned.
• Keyword—If a word or phrase is entered, any Issues containing that word/phrase in any field are returned, including Title, Description, and Workspace fields as well as Address Book fields.
• Fields Included—The Keyword search queries theTitle field, Description field, Workspace (Issue), and Address Book fields for all FootPrints database versions (SQL Server, Access, SQL Express, Oracle and MySQL) except for the FootPrints database.   The FootPrints Service Core database version only searches the Title and Description.
• File Attachments—Search for file attachments by name, not by content.  This option is available for all database versions except the FootPrints database.
• Report On—Reports can return either user Requests or Solutions from the Knowledge Base.  If Your requests is selected, an additional option may be available to return both the user’s Requests and Requests from other members of the same Organizational Unit.  Check this box, if it is available, to return matching Requests from all users in the same Organizational Unit (Company, Department, etc.) This option is only available for Reports.
• Date—If dates are specified, the search returns only Issues from the specified time period. Date Field Search Options
• Time—Specify the time in which the Issues were created or last edited based on the 24 hour clock. This option is only available for Reports.
• Age—Returns Issues created in the time specified.  Number of days and hours can be specified.  Modifiers are also provided, including Greater Than, Less Than, Equal to, Greater than or Equal to, Less than or Equal to, and Not Equal to.  As an example, to return Issues greater than one day old, choose Greater than and enter 1 for Days.
• Issue Information—The fields in this section differ depending on the fields in current Workspace.  Search on as many fields as desired.  Search methods vary with the field data types:
• Character field—Displays a text box. Enter the word or phrase for which to search, or multiple words using Boolean Operators.
• Number field—Displays a text box.  Enter the number or part of a number for which to search.
• Drop-down and Multi-select field—Displays a multi-select dialog box.  Highlight one or more values for which to search.  To search for Issues that contain no data for the field, select No data.  If you do not want to restrict the search based on choices in a field, do not highlight any values.
• Date fields—Search on a date or date range. For more information, refer to Date Field Search Options.

Note

Date/time fields can only be searched by date, not time.

• Other field types—Email, URL, and FTP fields display a text box.  Enter the word or phrase for which to search, including partial addresse).
• Order Search Results by—Order the Issues returned by the specified field.  The order can be descending (most recent or highest first) or ascending (oldest or lowest first).  By default, Issues returned by the search are ordered by Issue number in descending order.
• And/Or—If AND is chosen, Issues must match all criteria chosen above (this is the default).  If OR is chosen, only one criterion must be met.  An exception to this is that the Status field is not included in the OR statement.  If the criteria selected include Status=Open or Pending, Problem type=Hardware and  Software=Excel, and OR is selected, Issues with an Open or Pending status with either Problem type of  Hardware or Software of Excel are returned.
• Perform Search—Click the GO button to submit search.

A list of Solutions that match your criteria is displayed.  Click the Title of a Solution to view the details.