Defining a field for FTS

This section contains information about:

• Indexing table fields
• Boosting document relevance

You can index only the following field types for FTS:

• Character
• Diary
• Attachment fields
• Table fields (multiple-form searches only)

Index only frequently searched fields, such as work diaries and descriptions of problems, especially if the underlying database does not support searches of these fields. For example, you could perform a search for one or more keywords in a diary field that would retrieve and weigh all BMC Remedy AR System requests that describe how to solve a problem suggested by those keywords. You would perform a search on keywords or phrases such as:

• Forms, tools, screens, and hardware and software products
• Descriptions of problems or solutions
• Other areas of interest

When you define a field as indexed for FTS, it might take some time before that field is available for searching if the form has entries. Indexing a field can take several hours, depending on the amount of data in that field, the system load, and other factors. While a field is being indexed for FTS, you can still do non-FTS searches on that field if the underlying relational database permits it.

For each field that you index for FTS, the amount of disk space required for the FTS index can grow significantly. To estimate approximately how much space is required for your FTS index, see Estimating the size of the FTS index.

Do not define fields for FTS during normal production hours, especially if you have many BMC Remedy AR System requests in your database. Indexing uses database and AR System server resources, which can have a significant impact on the performance of your system.

To define a field for FTS

1. In Developer Studio, open the form.
2. Select the field.
3. Set the Index For FTS property to one of the following options:
   • FTS and MFS--Indexes the field for both field based searching and multi-form searching.
   • MFS Only--Indexes the field only for multi-form searching and field based searches on this field will use the database searching capability.
4. If the field is defined for literal (whole field) searching, set the Literal FTS Index property to True.
   The search engine builds a different type of index for this type of searching, so it must be specified at design time.
5. (optional) If the field is defined as a rich-text-format field, set the Strip Tags For FTS property to True.
   This optional step enables you to remove all HTML tags from the text of the field before the data is sent for FTS indexing. When you change this property, the field is automatically re-indexed.
6. (optional) If the field is on a form that will be part of a multiple-form search, update the field properties as follows:
   1. Enter a new or existing category name in the Full Text MFS Category Name field property for the field.
      At index time, the server checks whether an entry has any fields with a category name (defined in the Full Text MFS Category Name field property). If so, the server also indexes the field as that category name.
   2. If the field is a table field that should be included in multiple-form searches, select True for the Index for MFS property.
7. Save your changes.
   BMC Remedy AR System begins to index the field for FTS.
   
   The FTS index for a field is automatically updated and does not require manual administration when you create, delete, or modify requests, provided that the field is a character, diary, or attachment field on a regular form or view form with data that is not changed from outside of BMC Remedy AR System.