6.3 Performing Advanced Searches

If you need to specify multiple criteria when searching for users or groups, you can use an advanced search. For example:

Last Name equals Smith AND Title contains Rep

If you specify multiple criteria groupings (to control the order in which criteria are evaluated), you’ll use the same logical operations to connect them. For example, to perform an advanced search with the following criteria (two criteria groupings connected by an or):

(Last Name equals Smith AND Title contains Rep) OR (First Name starts with k AND Department equals Sales)

specify the following shown in Figure 6-6:

Figure 6-6 Specifying an Advanced Search on the Search List Page

An Advanced Search on the Search List Page

The result of this search is shown in Figure 6-7.

Figure 6-7 Result of Advanced Search

Result of Advanced Search

To perform an advanced search:

  1. Go to the Directory Search page and click New Search. The Basic Search page displays by default.

  2. Click Advanced Search. The Advanced Search page displays:

    Advanced Search
  3. In the Search for drop-down list, specify the type of information to find by selecting one of the following:

    • Group

    • User

    You can now fill in the With this criteria section.

  4. Specify a criterion of a criteria grouping:

    1. Use the Item Category drop-down list to select an attribute to search on. For example:

      Last Name
      

      The list of available attributes is determined by what you’re searching for (users or groups).

    2. Use the Expression drop-down list to select a comparison operation to perform against your chosen attribute. For example:

      equals
      

      For more information, see Section 6.3.1, Selecting an Expression.

    3. Use the Search Term entry to specify a value to compare against your chosen attribute. For example:

      Smith
      

      For more information, see Section 6.3.2, Specifying a Value for Your Comparison.

  5. If you want to specify another criterion of a criteria grouping:

    1. Click Add Criteria on the right side of the criteria grouping:

      Add Criteria button
    2. On the left side of the new criterion, use the Criteria Logical Operator drop-down list to connect this criterion with the preceding one; select either and or or. You can use only one of the two types of logical operator within any one criteria grouping.

    3. Repeat this procedure, starting with Step 4.

      To delete a criterion, click Remove Criteria to its right: The Remove button

  6. If you want to specify another criteria grouping:

    1. Click Add Criteria Grouping:

      The Add Criteria Grouping button
    2. Above the new criteria grouping, use the Criteria Grouping Logical Operator drop-down list to connect this grouping with the preceding one; select either and or or.

    3. Repeat this procedure, starting with Step 4.

      To delete a criteria grouping, click Remove Criteria Grouping directly above it: The Remove Criteria Grouping button

  7. Click Search.

    Your search results display.

    To learn about what to do next, see Section 6.4, Working with Search Results.

6.3.1 Selecting an Expression

Click Expression to select a comparison criterion for your search. The list of comparison (relational) operations available to you in a criterion is determined by the type of attribute specified in that criterion:

Table 6-1 Comparison Operations for Searching

If the attribute is a

You can select one of these comparison operations

String (text)

  • starts with

  • contains

  • equals

  • ends with

  • is present

  • does not start with

  • does not contain

  • does not equal

  • does not end with

  • is not present

String (text) with a predetermined list of choices

User or group (or other object identified by DN)

Boolean (true or false)

  • equals

  • is present

  • does not equal

  • is not present

User (item category: Manager, Group, or Direct Reports)

  • equals

  • is present

  • does not equal

  • is not present

Group (item category: Members)

  • equals

  • is present

  • does not equal

  • is not present

Time (in date-time or date-only format)

Number (integer)

  • equals

  • greater than

  • greater than or equal to

  • less than

  • less than or equal to

  • is present

  • does not equal

  • not greater than

  • not greater than or equal to

  • not less than

  • not less than or equal to

  • is not present

6.3.2 Specifying a Value for Your Comparison

The type of attribute specified in a criterion also determines how you specify the value for a comparison in that criterion:

Table 6-2 Method of Entering Comparison Value

If the attribute is a

You do this to specify the value

String (text)

Type your text in the text box that displays on the right.

String (text) with a predetermined list of choices

Select a choice from the drop-down list that displays on the right.

User or group (or other object identified by DN)

Use the Lookup, History, and Reset buttons that display on the right.

Time (in date-time or date-only format)

Use the Calendar and Reset buttons that display on the right.

Number (integer)

Type your number in the text box that displays on the right.

Boolean (true or false)

Type true or false in the text box that displays on the right.

Don’t specify a value when the comparison operation is one of the following:

  • is present

  • is not present

Case in Text

Text searches are not case sensitive. You’ll get the same results no matter which case you use in your value. For example, these are all equivalent:

McDonald
mcdonald
MCDONALD

Wildcards in Text

You can optionally use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard in your text to represent zero or more of any character. For example:

Mc*
*Donald
*Don*
McD*d

Using the Lookup, History, and Reset Buttons

Some search criteria display Lookup, History, and Reset buttons. This section describes how to use these buttons:

Table 6-3 Lookup, History, and Reset Buttons in Search Criteria

Button

What It Does

Looks up a value to use for a comparison

Displays a History list of values used for a comparison

Resets the value for a comparison

To look up a user:

  1. Click Lookup to the right of an entry (for which you want to look up the user):

    The Lookup button

    The Lookup page displays:

    The Lookup page
  2. Specify search criteria for the user you want:

    1. Use the drop-down list to select a search by First Name or Last Name.

    2. In the text box next to the drop-down list, type all or part of the name to search for.

      The search finds every name that begins with the text you type. It is not case sensitive. You can optionally use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard in your text to represent zero or more of any character.

      For instance, all of the following examples finds the first name Chip:

      Chip
      chip
      c
      c*
      *p
      *h*
      
  3. Click Search.

    The Lookup page displays your search results:

    The Lookup page displays search results

    If you see a list of users that includes the one you want, go to Step 4. Otherwise, go back to Step 2.

    You can sort the search results in ascending or descending order by clicking the column headings.

  4. Select the user you want from the list.

    The Lookup page closes and inserts the name of that user into the appropriate entry as the value to use for your comparison.

To look up a group as a search criterion for a user:

  1. Add Group as a search criterion, then click Lookup The Lookup button to the right of the Search Term field:

    Specifying advanced search criteria on the Search List page

    The Lookup page displays search results:

    The Lookup page displays search results
  2. Specify search criteria for the group you want:

    1. In the drop-down list, your only choice is to search by Description.

    2. In the text box next to the drop-down list, type all or part of the description to search for.

      The search finds every description that begins with the text you type. It is not case sensitive. You can optionally use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard in your text to represent zero or more of any character.

      For instance, all of the following examples find the description Marketing:

      Marketing
      marketing
      m
      m*
      *g
      *k*
      
  3. Click Search.

    The Lookup page displays your search results:

    Search results

    If you see a list of groups that includes the one you want, go to Step 4. Otherwise, go back to Step 2.

    You can sort the search results in ascending or descending order by clicking the column heading.

  4. Select the group you want from the list.

    The Lookup page closes and inserts the description of that group into the appropriate entry as the value to use for your comparison.

To use the History list:

  1. Click History The History button to the right of an entry (whose previous values you want to see):

    The History list displays previous values for this criterion in alphabetical order:

    screen capture
  2. Do one of the following:

    If you want to

    Do this

    Pick from the History list

    Select a value that you want from the list.

    The History list closes and inserts that value into the appropriate entry as the value to use for your comparison.

    Clear the History list

    Click Clear History.

    The History list closes and deletes its values for this entry. Clearing the History list does not change the current value of the entry in your comparison.