Advanced Search Options in Highstage

Introduction

Searching in Highstage extends way beyond simple queries, applied filters, and search operations, and allow you to achieve much more. Be able to design your search results by changing the order and number of results, updating which data columns to display, or even displaying data from other connected and related types and tables for a full overview of contents.

When you are satisfied, simply export the data to Microsoft Excel, generate descriptive charts and tables, or select an output format (XML/JSON) to use the data directly in external data analytics tools. The possibilities are not endless, but pretty close.

This article extends the basics of searching in Highstage and outlines the advanced search options. For more information about standard search capabilities, please refer to Searching in Highstage.

Overview

The following sections introduces you to the contents, tools and utilities that are available from the advanced search Options.

Interface

The following illustration provides you with an expanded overview of all the available options, sections, tools and utilities from the search Options section:

Standard options

The following sections introduces you to the contents, tools and utilities that are available from the advanced search Options.

Note: When searching for items of type Action and use 'to do by person'(s), you can also choose from the 'todo' selection whether the displayed results must be [now], [future], [now + future], or [past] to get an overview of when something has been done, needs to be done, or is about to be done by the selected user:

Design options

The following sections introduces you to the contents, tools and utilities that are available from the advanced search design options section:

Extended options

The following sections introduces you to the contents, tools and utilities that not directly available from the advanced search design options section, but are related and are nonetheless available:

Background filters

You can extend the use of data column filters, by filtering search results with data columns that are not explicitly shown in the search results without having those filtered criteria being directly shown in the search results.

Tip: For more information about doing basic search and filtering in Highstage, please refer to Searching in Highstage. All available syntax and operations for filtered search applies.

Consider a standard filtered search (e.g. filtering results where we only want results from a specific Workspace):

Keeping the search query and filtering, but removing the workspace data column from the list of displayed data columns will not change the returned results.

Observe that the results remains unchanged (the filtering continues to be applied and is reflected in the browser URL):

Tip: Check the relevant user guide to learn how you manage which data columns that is shown on a search page using the Columns design option.

The filtering of the Workspace data column is simply converted into an applied 'background filter'. This background filtering is now available as a section within the search options menu:

You can apply any number of search filters to any data column and remove them from the list of displayed data columns to apply them as background filters. Each individual filtered data column will have its own listing in the background filters section:

User Guides

Check out some of the available user guides to learn how to take full advantage of advanced search options.

Access: Accessing search options

To access the advanced search Options section in Highstage:

1. Navigate to a dedicated search page (e.g. Document search, Part search, Action search, Device search).
2. Update your set user level to a minimum of [AdvancedUser].

The search Options section will be visible and readily available:

Title: Apply a Title to a search page

To apply a custom title to a search page:

1. Navigate to a dedicated search page (e.g. Document search, Part search, Action search, Device search).
2. Update your set user level to a minimum of [AdvancedUser].
3. Expand the Options > Design section and type in a descriptive title in the Title option.
4. Click Apply Design or hit Enter for the changes to take effect.

The displayed title of the search page will now be updated accordingly:

Columns: Selecting which Columns to be displayed on a search page

The data columns that are displayed by default when accessing a search page is defined through the selected Grid.

Tip: To learn more about grids in Highstage, please refer to our Searching in Highstage guide documenting the standard search concepts including Grids and Filters.

To specify which data columns to be displayed on a search page (overruling the displayed data columns associated with the selected grid):

• Navigate to a dedicated search page (e.g. Document search, Part search, Action search, Device search).
• Update your set user level to a minimum of [AdvancedUser].
• Expand the Options > Design section.
• Type in manually or select from a list of available data columns (🔍) in the Columns option.
• Click Apply Design or hit Enter for the changes to take effect.

The search page results are now listed using the specified data columns for each individual item in the results section:

Using * to display all available data columns

You may specify all available data columns to be displayed by using the asterisk (*) character in the Columns search option. This will list all available data columns on the search page associated with each item on the results page:

Tip: You may combine the asterisk (*) wildcard with specific columns, fore example to ensure that certain data columns are leftmost followed by the remaining columns: item;description;\*

Using + to add to the list of existing data columns

You may add to the list of preexisting data columns by using the plus (+) character as a prepended character before the selected data column.

This allows you to keep the displayed data columns (as defined by the selected grid) whilst adding additional data columns:

Displaying data columns from other tables (foreign type data columns)

You may display data columns from other connected and associated types (foreign types) like Workspace, Eventlog, or Subtype (other foreign types can be configured to be readily available).

To see the list of available foreign types and their available data columns:

• Select from the list of available data columns (🔍) from the Columns option.

From the Columns window, you can see a list of connected and associated types (foreign types):

Each foreign type can be expanded, making data columns available for selection on the current search page:

The selected data column will include the name of the type in the Columns option:

In this manner, you can construct search page results with information that exists across various types to acquire a more complete and comprehensive understanding of your data in Highstage.

Order: Ordering results on a search page

You can define the order of results on a search page, in an ascending or descending order, using any of the visible or non-visible data column that are available.

To order search results:

• Navigate to a dedicated search page (e.g. Document search, Part search, Action search, Device search).
• Update your set user level to a minimum of [AdvancedUser].
• Expand the Options > Design section.
• Type in the name of data column to sort by and append + or - to determine order.
• Click Apply Design or hit Enter for the changes to take effect.

This will determine the order of results on the search page:

Tip: For a more convenient ordering of results, consider making use of the 🔽 / 🔼 buttons directly on the displayed data columns in the results section to order the search results.

Types: Showing foreign type(s) results in a section on a search page

Be able to view and expand sections with results from other (foreign) types that relates directly to the results of those items that you are currently searching for. This can be beneficial if you want to e.g. see a full list of submitted comments on an item or get an overview of all event log entries.

To display foreign type sections in the results page:

• Navigate to a dedicated search page (e.g. Document search, Part search, Action search, Device search).
• Update your set user level to a minimum of [AdvancedUser].
• Expand the Options > Design section.
• Type in manually or select from a list of available foreign types (🔍) in the Types option.
• Click Apply Design or hit Enter for the changes to take effect.

This will let you see results from other related and connected (foreign) types that are associated with each item in the results section in separate expandable sections:

Chart: Generate data charts

Be able to generate descriptive charts of the search page results to showcase relevant data.

To generate charts of the current data from a search page:

• Navigate to a dedicated search page (e.g. Document search, Part search, Action search, Device search).
• Update your set user level to a minimum of [AdvancedUser].
• Expand the Options > Design section.
• Click search (🔍) to bring up the chart options from where you can define the data, labeling, order and sizing etc.:

• Click OK to generate data chart.

A chart will be generated and displayed (as a .PNG filetype) within a dedicated chart section along with a data section showcasing the data used as basis for the generated chart:

Tip: The generated URL for the chart can be copied and used elsewhere outside of Highstage (authentication is required for viewing). See a dedicated page with the chart by clicking Page from the Image section.

Distinct: Viewing list of unique results

Use 'Distinct' when you want to eliminate duplicate occurrences of results and only show and return distinct (different and unique) results. Relevant when you want to retrieve a full list of unique results regardless of how many time each result occurs.

For instance, you might want to get an overview of all the Workspaces that is used for containing Documents in Highstage, and want a unique list of results regardless of how many times a Workspace is listed.

To create a distinct search to get a list of unique results:

• Navigate to a dedicated search page (e.g. Document search, Part search, Action search, Device search).
• Update your set user level to a minimum of [AdvancedUser].
• Expand the Options > Design section.
• Select one or more specific data column(s) from the Columns option (that you want see unique and distinct listings of)
• Ensure that the order of search results from the Order options is using one of the same data column as selected from the Columns options:

• Select Yes from the Distinct options.
• Click Apply Design or hit Enter for the changes to take effect.

This will provide you with a distinct search where each unique result is listed only once:

Note: The 'distinct' option considers all displayed data columns for each result. This means that you should only choose to display the data columns that you want to consider and include to be displayed as distinct result.