Searching Your Database
The ReaderwareAW Main Window contains
the search
bar. This is always available and provides instant and easy access
to the powerful search facilities built into ReaderwareAW.
To use the search bar simply select the type of search, Artist,
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 CDs that
contain
the search criteria anywhere in the field. For example, doing a song
title
search for Love might return:
Love Me Do
Lovely Rita
All You Need Is Love
She Loves You
You can also use an asterisk as a wild
card
in your searches. For example if you want to search for song titles
that begin
with Love, you could enter Love*. Using the above list only the
following
would be returned:
Love Me Do
Lovely Rita
If you don't enter a value in the search field, ReaderwareAW will
return
all records with no data in the selected field. For example, select a
Label search and press the Search button
without entering a value. ReaderwareAW will return all CDs without a
label.
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 CD 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
ReaderwareAW allows you to define a default search. This has two uses,
you
can configure ReaderwareAW 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 artist. 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 unplayed titles or CDs 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
artist
search. Sometimes you will select from a list, for example a category
search.
The search types are:
-
UPC/Bar Code
- Enter the UPC code and hit the enter
key or press the search button. Or use your barcode reader.
ReaderwareAW
barcode reader support lets you search for a CD by simply scanning it's
barcode. ReaderwareAW will automatically convert the bar code to a UPC.
ReaderwareAW starts the search as you scan the barcode, no need to hit
the
enter key or press the search button.
-
Artist - Enter an artist and hit the enter key
or press Search. ReaderwareAW will return all CDs by the
specified artist
or CDs that contain a track by the artist.
-
Album Title - Enter an album title and hit the enter key or
press Search.
-
All Fields - This will search for the specified value in all
text fields; Artist, Title, Composer, Conductor, Label, Comments,
Keywords, Artist URL, Format, User Rating, Condition, Category,
Location,
Series, Sound, all track titles, artists and composers, all user
defined fields. Enter the search criteria and hit the enter key or
press Search.
-
Song Title - Enter a song title and hit the enter key or
press Search.
ReaderwareAW searches all track titles.
-
Composer - Enter a composer and hit the enter key or press Search.
ReaderwareAW searches for the composer at the album and track level.
-
Conductor - Enter a composer and hit the enter key or press Search.
-
Label - Enter a label 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 and press Search
-
Category - Pick from the list of categories or enter the
text to search for and press Search.
-
User 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.
-
Played - Pick from Played or Not Played and press Search.
-
Date Entered - Enter a date in YYYY-MM-DD format and hit the
enter
key or press Search. This search returns CDs 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 CDs you may be looking
for or have on order, (None), as well as CDs 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. ReaderwareAW lets you assign your own
numbers to CDs, your inventory number for example.
- Dewey Decimal Number - Enter the Dewey Decimal
Number to search for and hit the
enter key or press Search.
-
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 CDs 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
ReaderwareAW 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 Artist, Title, All Fields, Composer, Conductor, Label,
Comments, Series, Category, Rating, Location, Format, track 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, ReaderwareAW
assumes
both leading and trailing wild card characters.
For example:
- Love* - This will search for any song titles beginning
with Love.
- *Love - This will search for any song titles that end with
Love.
- *Love* - This will search for any song titles that contain
Love. This
is the default search if you do not explicitly specify wild card
characters.
Note that searches are case insensitive, "Love" and "love" are the
same.
If you enter just an * in
the search field, ReaderwareAW will return all CDs in the database.
If you enter just a % in
the search field, ReaderwareAW will return all CDs that contain data in
the selected field.
If you enter nothing in the search field, ReaderwareAW will return
all CDs that do not contain data in the selected field.
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