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    Join Date
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    Lightbulb Forum Search FAQ

    Reminder: don't forget to search our Knowledge Base, which is a repository of useful articles for lots of DataFlex information, and our BugTracker bug tracking system.


    Yesterday, we updated the forum search engine. We have replaced the default vBulletin search engine, which was quite limited, with the MySQL search engine, which allows for phrase searching and Boolean searches.

    Search Type

    Threads

    Searching in threads will return any thread containing the search term(s). Depending on the display mode you are using, clicking on a thread returned by a search may or may not take you to the post in that thread that actually contains the search term(s).

    Posts

    Searching in posts will return any post containing the search term(s). It also displays a brief snippet of text from found the post(s). Clicking on a post returned by a search will take you directly to the post in that thread that actually contains the search term(s).


    Syntax

    Single word searches

    term1
    - after execution becomes Keyword(s): term1
    - returns all results containing term1

    Phrase searches

    "term1 term2"
    - after execution becomes Keyword(s): "term1 term2"
    - returns all results containing the exact phrase "term1 term2"
    - must use double quotes, single quotes will be ignored

    Multiple word searches

    term1 term2
    - is equivalent to term1 AND term2
    - after execution becomes Keyword(s): term1, term2
    - returns all results containing both term1 and term2

    term1 AND term2
    - after execution becomes Keyword(s): term1, term2
    - returns all results containing both term1 and term2

    term1 OR term2
    - after execution becomes Keyword(s): term1 OR term2
    - returns all results containing either term1 or term2

    term1 NOT term2
    - after execution becomes Keyword(s): term1 -term2
    - returns all results containing term1 but not term2

    Wildcard searches

    term1*
    - after execution becomes Keyword(s): term1*
    - returns all results containing any word starting with term1

    All term searches not using wild cards will only find a complete word matching the search word, not partial word matches.

    For example, if you wish to find all posts containing ModalPanel and ModalPanels (singular and plural), you have to perform either of these searches:

    - Wild card search:
    ModalPanel*
    - 2 term search:
    ModalPanel ModalPanels

    Date and Other Advanced searches

    You can perform advanced searches, such as by date (e.g. A Week Age, A Month Ago, etc.) from the Advanced Search page.


    Limitations

    There are some limitations to searches.

    Term length
    A search term must be at least 3 characters long. The vBulletin search defaults to 4, but since this is a technical forum where lots of acronyms are used (e.g. DEO, DDO), we changed this to 3.

    Common Words
    The forum search automatically excludes words that are common English words (e.g. "of", "for", "to") since they would likely result in a lot of irrelevant hits. This limitation does not apply for phrase searches, for example, a search for "Set Size to" does not exclude "to" from the search.


    Defaulting Threads or Posts in Searches

    You can change the default of Search Threads to Search Posts on the Advanced Search page by using the Save Search Preferences option at the bottom of that page, but the search options stored this way unfortunately only affect the Advanced Search page, not the Search menu.

    Using External Search Engines

    There are some limitations to searches in vBulletin. An alternative solution is to use an external search engine, like Google, to perform searches. I will use Google as an example, but most search engines should have similar capabilities.
    - Search for DAT in our forums (type or copy this line into the Google search text box):

    Code:
    site:support.dataaccess.com DAT
    Last edited by Dennis Piccioni; 5-Apr-2016 at 08:56 AM.

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