Finding Records


Understanding a few key termsthe Find request and the found set, along with And vs. Or searcheswill make it easier to use FileMaker's Find features (Figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1. Switching to Find mode calls up search-related tools and buttons in FileMaker's left-hand status area.


The Find Request: What FileMaker calls a Find request simply represents all the criteria entered for a particular search. Whether they're plain or fancy, all the field criteria associated with a single search represent one Find request.

The Found Set: FileMaker calls the records returned in any search the found set, which represents only the records activated by the current Find request. The rest of the file's records still exist but are not displayed and make up what FileMaker calls the omitted set. See Omitting Records on page 62 and Deleting Records on page 65.

Working with a found set allows you to focus on tailoring it for sorting, printing, exporting, etc. You can return to working with the full set of records in a file at any time. To do so, choose the Show All Records command under the Requests or Records menus. Or use your keyboard: (Windows) or (Mac).

Single- vs. Multiple-Criteria Searches

The single-criterion search is straightforward: You want to find every record containing a single item, such as the name Jones. Consequently, your Find request contains just one condition: find all instances of Jones in any field. That's why such searches are sometimes called simple searches. Multiple-criteria searches, on the other hand, can set any number of conditions and combine those conditions to broaden or narrow the number of instances found.

Any time you create a multiple-criteria search that looks for data that match all of your search criteria you're performing what's called a logical And search. If, for example, you create a Find request that asks for any records within a file where the city is San Francisco and the state is California, you're asking FileMaker to find records that contain San Francisco and California. Such And searches tend to narrow, or as FileMaker puts it constrain, your search since you're not just looking for records containing California but a smaller group within that group that also contains San Francisco.

Any time you create a multiple-criteria search that looks for data that match any one of your search criteria you're performing what's called a logical Or search. If, for example, you create a Find request for all records containing California or Arizona, FileMaker will find any records that match either value. Such Or queries tend to widen, or extend, your search.



FileMaker Pro 8 for Windows and Macintosh(c) Visual Quickstart Guide
FileMaker Pro 8 for Windows & Macintosh
ISBN: 032139674X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 184
Authors: Nolan Hester

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