Searching Your Database
The Readerware Main Window contains the search
bar. This is always available and provides instant and easy access
to the powerful search facilities built into Readerware.
To use the search bar simply select the type of search, Author,
Title
etc., fill in the search criteria and hit the Enter key
or press the Search button. The search
criteria is case insensitive and by default will return books that
contain
the search criteria anywhere in the field. For example, doing a title
search for murder might return:
Murder with Mirrors
A Holiday for Murder
The A.B.C. Murders
Murderers Abroad
You can also use an asterisk as a wild
card
in your searches. For example if you want to search for books that
begin
with Murder, you could enter Murder*. Using the above list only the
following
would be returned:
Murder with Mirrors
Murderers Abroad
If you don't enter a value in the search field, Readerware will return
all records with no data in the selected field. For example, select a
Publisher search and press the Search button
without entering a value. Readerware will return all books without a
publisher.
The search results will be displayed in the main window using the
currently selected view. You can then edit
the
data, display the detail view etc. Exactly how you do this will depend
on the view type you selected. You can customize the views so you can
display exactly the data you want, in the order you want.
Normally the search results are automatically refreshed when you
update
a book in your database. However this default behavior can be turned
off
using Database Preferences. Use the
toolbar
reload button,
,
to refresh the search results.
That is really all there is to it. A more detailed explanation of
the
various search types and options follow. At this point you might prefer
to simply go and play.
The Default Search
Readerware allows you to define a default search. This has two uses,
you
can configure Readerware to run the
default
search whenever you start the program or open a new database. You can
also
run the default search at any time by clicking on the Default
Search
button,
,
in the toolbar. Initially the default search is set to search for all
titles
and display them by author. To define your own default search simply
perform
the search as normal and select Search->Save as Default Search
from the menu bar. For example you could set the default search to
display
all unread titles or books in a specific category.
The Search Bar
You can search on virtually any field. As you select the different
search
types you will notice that the search criteria field will change.
Sometimes
you will type the search criteria in an entry field, for example an
author
search. Sometimes you can select from a list, for example a category
search.
The search types are:
- ISBN/Bar
Code
- Enter an ISBN number, with or without punctuation, and hit the enter
key or press the search button. Or use your barcode reader. Readerware
barcode reader support lets you search for a book by simply scanning
it's
barcode. Readerware will automatically convert the bar code to an ISBN.
Readerware starts the search as you scan the barcode, no need to hit
the
enter key or press the search button.
- Author - Enter an author, last name first, and hit the
enter
key
or press Search.
- Title - Enter a title and hit the enter key or press Search.
- All Fields - This will search for the specified value in
all
text fields; Author, Title, Publisher, Published place, Keywords,
Comments, Format, Rating, Condition, Category, Location,
Series and all user defined fields. Enter the search criteria and hit
the enter key or press Search.
- Publisher - Enter a publisher and hit the enter key or
press Search.
- Comments - Enter the text to search for and hit the
enter
key or
press Search.
- Keywords - Enter keywords or phrases separated by commas
and
press Search.
- Series - Pick from the list of Series titles or enter
the
text to search for and press Search
- Category - Pick from the list of categories or enter the
text to search for and press Search.
- Rating - Pick from the list of ratings or enter the text
to
search for and press Search.
- Location - Pick from the list of locations or enter the
text
to search for and press Search.
- Format - Pick from the list of formats or enter the text
to
search for and press Search.
- First Edition - Pick from First Edition or Other Edition
and
press Search.
- Signed - Pick from Signed or Unsigned and press Search.
- Read - Pick from Read or Unread and press Search.
- Date Entered - Enter a date in YYYY-MM-DD format and hit
the
enter
key or press Search. This search returns books entered
into
the database on the specified date or later. It provides an easy way to
verify your new entries.
- Copies - Pick from None, One, One or more, More than one
and
press Search.
This search is designed to allow you to select books you may be looking
for or have on order, (None), as well as books you may have duplicates
of and want to sell, (More than one).
- User Number - Enter the number to search for and hit the
enter key or
press Search. Readerware lets you assign your own
numbers to books, your inventory number for example.
- LCCN - Enter the Library of Congress Card Catalog Number
(LCCN) to search for and hit the
enter key or
press Search. Readerware will get the LCCN for you when
cataloging from The Library of Congress.
- Dewey Decimal Number - Enter the Dewey Decimal
Number to search for and hit the
enter key or
press Search. Readerware will get the Dewey Decimal
Number for you when cataloging from library sites like The Library of
Congress and The British Library
- Images - Pick from With Image or Without Image and press
Search.
Use this search to find items without images so that you can add them.
- On Loan - Pick from Out on loan or Overdue books and
press Search.
- Updated by last wizard - Pick from updated by last
wizard or
unchanged
by last wizard and press Search. This search will
display
those items updated or unchanged by the last wizard run, i.e. the last auto-catalog, auto-update
or replace run. This can be
useful
when you want to review the changes made by the replace wizard for
example.
- User Columns - If there are additional searches
displayed,
it means
you have defined user columns in your
database.
Pick the column you want to search, enter the search criteria and hit
the
enter key or press Search.
Wild Card Searches
Readerware uses the asterisk (*) as a wild card character, you can also
use
the SQL percent (%) character if you prefer. You can use the wildcard
character in the Author, Title, All Fields, Publisher, Comments,
Series, Category, Rating, Location, Format, User Number, LCCN, Dewey
Decimal Number and user defined field
searches. It can be placed anywhere in the search text. If
you do not use the wild card characters in your search, Readerware
assumes
both leading and trailing wild card characters in text fields and an
exact match in number fields.
For example:
- Murder* - This will search for any titles beginning with
Murder.
- *Murder - This will search for any titles that end with
Murder.
- *Murder* - This will search for any titles that contain
Murder. This
is the default search if you do not explicitly specify wild card
characters.
Note that searches are case insensitive, "Murder" and "murder" are
the
same.
If you enter just an * in
the search field, Readerware will return all books in the database.
If you enter just a % in
the search field, Readerware will return all books that contain data in
the selected field.
If you enter nothing in the search field, Readerware will return all
books that do not contain data in the selected field.
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