Enhancements to query filters
The following enhancements have been made to query filters:
Comparisons
- Between - A new Between comparison has been added in this release. In previous releases, you could effect between comparisons by entering two values separated by a comma. The new process is much more intuitive. When you select the Between comparison, the Value column changes to display two fields with the word "and" between them. The specified values are inclusive.
- Changes to pattern comparisons - In previous releases, the pattern comparisons (Contains, Not Contains, Starts With, and Ends With) did not work intuitively when the filter Property contained a discrete drop-down list of values, because you were forced to choose a single value. In this release, the pattern comparisons use a simple text field even for a Property that normally contains a discrete drop-down list of values.
You can enter multiple values for a pattern comparison by separating each value with a comma. For example, if you want to limit a Last Name - Starts With filter to search only for last names that start with H, I, or P, you would enter H, I, P in the Value field.
Values
- Multiple - A new Multiple checkbox is visible in Advanced Mode when the filter Property contains a discrete drop-down list of values. Selecting this checkbox changes the Value selector from a simple drop-down list that enables you to select only one specific value to a multi-select control that enables you to select multiple values. The selected values are used as an OR comparison. See Defining multiple values for a filter property for more information.
Note:
- The Multiple checkbox is not visible if multiple values are not logical for the specified Comparison operator. For example, it does not make sense for a Between comparison to have multiple values on each end of the filtered range.
- Even if the Multiple checkbox is not visible, you can still manually specify multiple values for any filter property by entering a comma-delimited list of quoted values. For example, you could specify the following multiple values for a City property: "Austin","Houston","Dallas".
- Date - You can still manually enter a date and time manually, but a new calendar icon has been added next to all Date fields. You can click the icon to select a date from a pop-up calendar. If you need to specify a specific time on the selected date, first enter the time in the Date field, using 24-hour format (for example, enter 23:00 for 11:00 p.m.), then click the icon to select the date.
Prompts
In this release of iMIS, the labels used for Prompt types have been made more intuitive.
Old Label
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New Label
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No
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No
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Yes
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Optional
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Yes*
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Required
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The functionality of the Optional (Yes) prompt type has also been changed. Previously, an Optional filter could be left blank only on the first run of a query. If you tried to re-run the query again, you were forced to choose a value, and you had to completely reload the query if you wanted to leave the Optional filter blank. In this release, however, a new -All- value appears in an Optional filter field after the first run of a query, which has the same effect as leaving the filter field blank.
Query Options
A new Limit the number of results returned checkbox, visible in the Query Options section when in Advanced Mode, enables you to specify a limit to the number of rows that can be returned by the query. By setting the corresponding Prompt to No, you make the specified value a hard limit for the query. By setting the Prompt to Optional or Required, you make the specified value a default that can be overridden by users when they run the query. When coupled with sort criteria, this filter can effect a "top n records" type of result. See Limiting the rows returned by a query for more information.