Advanced Search 

The advanced search form is created in the Definition of Databases section and contains those fields indicated in the FST and can be used to search across the dictionary of terms.

To apply an advanced search execute the following steps:

  1. Select the field you wish to search
  2. Click on Index to consult the dictionary of terms for the field
  3. Select the terms required for the search from the dictionary. There are two options:
    • Select the term and click on Search to run the search directly on the chosen term
    • Select the term by clicking on Select term in order to transfer the term to the search form and to build a search expression that combines information from more than one field
  4. If you do not wish to use the Index, type keywords in the search form in order to find information. To facilitate this option, indicate in the FST that the field should be searched using technique 4 (by word). If there are no results from the list of fields selected, the search will then be applied to all the fields in the database that have been indexed.
  5. If you have search expressions stored, to the right of the search expression box, an icon appears that allows you to display these expressions. Click on the icon and a window containing a menu of all the expressions previously stored will appear. Select an expression and this will transfer to the search box.

    This new way of storing search expressions can be very useful to simulate the files ANY.
  6. Once the selection is complete, click on in order to run the search on the data base and to locate the records, or on in order to clear the search terms.

The located records are presented in the database window in order to facilitate editing. Together with the display of the record there is a link that allows you to store search expressions.

The stored search expressions reside in a file TXT in the folder pfts/language-active under the name search_expr.tab. This file can be administered across options in Update database definitions in the initial cataloguing menu.

From the option to generate results, you are also able to store and recover search expressions previously stored.

To add more than one previously stored search expression to the search box link these together with the boolean operator AND