Advanced Document Search Window

There are four distinct ways to perform an advanced search for and retrieve documents with COMPAS. You can query on:

Attributes are pieces of information about the document given when the document is entered into COMPAS such as the author, title, date entered, size, status, etc. COMPAS also maintains an inverted index of every word in every document, so that you can, for example, search for every document that contains a particular word. In addition to using the first three ways of searching, you may combine word searches with attribute searches. For example, you can search for all documents that have a particular word and a certain author. Or search for all documents created after a certain date, that are less than a given size, and that contain a particular word.

To accomplish an advanced document search:

you will specify: an Item, a Relation, and a Value.

Item and Relation are chosen from menus provided for the user. Value accepts your input, except in the cases of the items which have Value Menus - these are: System, Release, Subsys, Type, and SubType.

Example searches are:

"Date" "is less than" "11/15/85" or

"Title" "contains pattern" "COMPAS".

Fields like Author and Title accomplish partial word matches on the string you enter and are case-insensitive (doesn't matter if you use upper or lower case).

The query window shows the fields that you use to query for a set of documents. If you leave a field blank, you will retrieve document entries for every possible value of that field. Conversely, entering values for any of the document entry fields will restrict the search to those values.

Compound Queries: Add additional (multiple) lines to your search using the command buttons: "And" or "Or".

Complex Expressions: You may click on the option box:"Show/Edit Query Grouping" and then click on the parenthesis column(s) for each row in your query to toggle the parentheses on or off in order to create complex groupings in your search specification.

Following are definitions of some of the the fields in the Item window:

COMPAS ID:
The unique COMPAS ID assigned to the document. This ID should appear on the title line of the physical printed document. For example, searching for:

"COMPAS ID" "is equal to" "1000" retrieves the document entry for COMPAS ID 1000.

Title:
Any relevant part of the title of the document. All document entries with the entered pattern in the title (both upper and lower case) will be retrieved. For example, searching for:

"title" "contains pattern" "isdn" retrieves all documents where isdn appears in the title in either upper or lower case. You may use the exclusionary relation with a pattern (i.e., "does not contain" "isdn") to retrieve all entries that do NOT have that pattern in the title.

Document (Word Search):
Any word or words in the actual text of the document. For example, searching for:

"document" "contains words" "test switch" retrieves all document entries that have both of the words "test" and "switch" somewhere in their text.

An important additional feature is the "phrase" search for a grouping of words in a specific order - searching for :

"document" "contains phrase" "test switch" retrieves all documents that have the exact phrase "test switch" in them.

Common words such as "to, the, and, by, for, of ..." and so on are not stored in the word search database and consequently cannot be part of the phrase search. Phrase searches must use as few words as possible and are optimized if the words are nouns which are in a proximity of 1 word apart.

Author:
Any part of the name of authors of the document. All document entries with that pattern in the author field (both upper and lower case) will be retrieved. For example, typing "barnard" retrieves all document entries authored or coauthored by a person whose name has the pattern "barnard" in it. You may use the exclusionary relation with a pattern (i.e., "is not equal to" "barnard") to retrieve all entries that do not have "barnard" as an author.

Area:
Any relevant part of the area or community for the document. All document entries with the entered pattern in this field (both upper and lower case) will be retrieved. This field is often used as a keyword field by many projects. For example, typing "quality" in this field retrieves all document entries that have the pattern "quality" listed as a keyword. You may use the exclusionary relation (i.e., "is not equal to" "quality") with a pattern to retrieve all entries that do not have that pattern as a keyword.

System:
The name of the system or project for the document. For example, searching on "sys85" in this field retrieves all document entries that have been created for System 85. Select a system from the Value Menu of choices for this field.

Release:
The project release for the document. For example, searching on "R2V5" in the field retrieves all document entries whose project release is "R2V5". This field is often used in combination with the System field. There is a Value Menu of choices for this field.

Subsys:
The name of the project subsystem for the document. For example, choosing "switch" in the Value Menu for this field retrieves all document entries whose project subsystem is "switch." This field is often used in combination with the System and Release fields.

Type:
The type of the document. For example, searching for "design" in this field retrieves all design-type documents. Select a type from the Value Menu of choices for this field.

SubType:
The subtype of the document. For example, searching for "feature" in this field retrieves all documents that have "feature" as subtype. Select a subtype from the Value Menu of choices for this field.

Owner:
The owner of the document on COMPAS, specified by their login. For example, typing "is equal to" "hjb" retrieves all documents that are owned by H. Jack Barnard. Searching for "is not equal to" "hjb" retrieves all documents that are not owned by H. Jack Barnard.

Date:
This date should agree with the date on the document, in the form mm/dd/yy. You may also use comparative relations with the date. For example, typing "is greater than" "01/21/98" retrieves all document entries that were created after January 21, 1998.

Status:
The status of the document. For example, searching for "is not equal to" "chg_ctl" retrieves all document entries that are not under change control. Select the DownArrow button to get a menu of choices for this field.

StatusDate:
The date on which the status was changed for the document, in the form mm/dd/yy. You may also use comparative relations with the status date. For example, typing "is less than" "07/21/98" retrieves all document entries whose status was changed before July 21, 1998. This field is often used with the Status field.

Size:
The size of the document expressed in number of pages. You may use operators with the size. For example, searching for "is greater than" "20" retrieves all document entries with more than 20 pages.

VersionDate:
The last date on which the document was modified, in the form mm/dd/yy. You may also use operators with the version date. For example, typing "is greater than" "11/21/98" retrieves all documents that were modified after November 21, 1998.

Issue:
The numeric value of the latest issue of a document.

Control:
A document is controlled if the value of this field is "yes". A controlled document will have multiple versions and must follow the state-flow for controlled documents as described in Chapter 1, Introduction Section in the User's Guide.

Versions:
The indicator ( "yes" or "no" ) that a document has version control turned on.

Version#:
The numerical value of the total number of versions for a document.

Format:
File type of the document, ie: "msword" or "frame_book". This field has a value menu from which to choose. You may search for empty database entries by specifying: format equal to "not online".

MRCount:
The numerical value of the number of open MRs against a document.

Links:
The indicator ( "yes" or "no" ) that the document has existing links to other associated documents.

Enter values for as many fields as you like; COMPAS retrieves all document entries that match the field values that you specify. The quickest query is one using only the COMPAS ID field. The next quickest query is one using the System and Release fields in combination with any other fields.

Once you have entered values for the complete query, either press "return" or select the OK button. COMPAS will retrieve all document entries specified by the query and display them back in a new window. If only one document entry is retrieved, the detail for than entry will be displayed.

Select "Help" on the main menu to learn how to navigate forms and menus and also how to select items and buttons.