Search styles in character fields
An administrator sets search styles and assigns them to each character field on a form to determine how the form finds matching requests. The following search styles are available:
Search style | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
Equal | Searches for exactly what you entered in the field. | If you enter Bob Smith in the Created By field, all requests created by Bob Smith are returned, and not the ones created by any similar name such as Bob Smithe. |
Leading | Searches for the sequence of characters entered only at the beginning of the field. It ignores any subsequent characters. | If you enter Bob in the Created By field, all requests created by Bob Smith, Bob Smithe, and Bobby Jones are returned. You will not find any created by Jill Bobbington. The characters Bob in the name Jill Bobbington are not leading characters. |
Anywhere | Searches for the sequence of characters entered anywhere in the field. | If you enter Bob in the Created By field, all requests created by Bob Smith, as well as those created by Bob Smithe, Bobby Jones, and Jill Bobbington are returned. |
Equal and Leading searches are faster than Anywhere searches because Anywhere searches compare each character in the field while Equal and Leading searches do not compare each character.