The criteria fields on a search form provide the “parameters” users can enter when searching for contacts. A search form can have any number of criteria fields representing data stored in many different places. When users enter values into the fields and choose to search, InterAction finds all contacts that meet the criteria.
For example, the sample form shown below allows users to search on several different criteria, such as name, city, and additional field values.
Criteria Fields on a Search Form
[A] Search Name
[B] Person or Company field
[C] Name fields (with Heading)
[D] Address and E-mail fields (with Heading)
[E] Contact type field
[F] Additional fields
You choose the criteria fields to include on the form by adding search form items. Each field appears with a label and a control for collecting the value to search for. The type of control can either be a simple text box or a drop-down list – this is determined automatically by the type of item. For example, the First Name field collects its value in a simple text box, while a Yes/No additional field uses a drop-down list.
Users can enter values in any of the criteria fields on a given search. When InterAction performs the search, any contacts that meet all of the criteria for the search are found.
All searches also include a check box for finding contacts based on activity criteria. You do not need to add this section to your searches manually.
The following types of criteria fields can be included on a search form:
- Person or Company
- Name
- Addresses and E-mail addresses
- Contact Type
- Additional Fields
- Folder Inclusion
Note that search forms can also include formatting elements, such as headings and blank lines. For details, see Formatting Search Forms.
See the following sections:
- Default Values and Hidden Criteria
- Person/Company and Name Fields
- Address and Email Address Fields
- Contact Types and Folder Inclusion as Criteria Fields
- Using Additional Fields as Criteria Fields
- Comparators for Additional Field Criteria
- Requiring Criteria for a Search
- Add a Criteria Item to a Search Form
Default Values and Hidden Criteria
Most of the criteria fields you can include on a search form allow you to set a default value. When a user goes to the form in the Web Client, the field will already be filled in with this value. You can use default values to reduce the number of steps users need to do to perform common searches. The only fields that do not allow default values are the name fields (first, last, and company name).
Default values are also used with hidden criteria. If you make a criteria field hidden, it will not appear on the search form. The default value set for the field will automatically be used in the search “behind the scenes.”
For example, the out-of-the-box Clients search form includes the contact type criteria field. The default value is set to Client and the field is hidden on the form. Whenever a user searches for contacts using this form, the Web Client searches for contacts that have the Client contact type and meet any other criteria the user has entered.
Hidden Fields on the Clients Search Form
[A] This is the set of criteria fields defined for the Clients search.
[B] Note that the Contact Type item does not appear on the form in the Web Client. However, when a user runs the search, only contacts that have the contact type “Client” are found.
You can only select to hide a criteria field if you also set a default value for the field.
For the Person or Company field and Yes/No additional fields, selecting a default value automatically hides the field. For example, if you select “Person” for the Person or Company field, it will automatically be hidden and the search will only look at person contacts. If you want to give users a choice for these fields, do not select a default.
Also, the Folder Inclusion field is always hidden on the search form. You must specify a default value for the field.
Person/Company and Name Fields
Several available search criteria fields are general – they can apply to any contact in the system. These fields are typically included on most Web Client searches.
Person or Company
Every contact in InterAction is either a person or a company. You can include a criteria field on a search form that restricts the search to only people or only companies. If you don’t select a default, the user can choose person or company from a drop-down list.
The out-of-the-box People and Companies both use this field to limit the search results.
Name Fields
Almost all search forms include fields for searching on the contact’s name. There are five name fields you can include:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Company Name
- Department
- Job Title
Although you add all the name fields using a single dialog box, you can arrange them on the form independently.
For each form that includes all name fields, it is best to keep them in the same order. This prevents users from encountering surprises when choosing a search to use.
In addition, you can choose to include a “sounds like” check box. This appears on the form after the Last Name and Company Name fields.
[A] Select which name fields to include on the form.
[B] This option controls the “sound alike” check box for both Last Name and Company Name.
[C] The selected fields appear on the form in the Web Client. You can arrange the name fields independently of each other.
When searching for people, it is valid to search on first name, last name, company name, job title, or department. When searching for companies, only the company name is used. Therefore, if your form includes a hidden default for “Company only,” you should not include the first or last name fields on the search form.
For details about how InterAction searches based on name, see What's in a Name?
You cannot set a default value on a name field.
What's in a Name?
Most of the Web Client searches include one or more fields for searching for contacts by name. Since users will be using contact names in many of their searches, it is helpful to understand exactly what is meant by “name.”
Person Name
A person in InterAction has a name with four key parts: First, Middle, Last and Goes By (such as Jim for the first name James). A name can also include a title and other information, but that is generally not used in searching. A search that allows searching for people based on their names normally provides separate fields for entering the first and last names.
When searching on the first name, InterAction searches both the first name and the goes by names.
Company Name
Both people and companies have company names. A company name has two versions – the Company Name and the Company Also Known As Name. Searching on company name searches both. For a company, the company name information is the only name information available – companies do not have first, last, etc. names. For a person, the company name is the name of the company the person works for.
What Happens When I Search by Company Name?
This depends on the search:
- If the search form is one that only returns people (such as the out-of-the-box People search), then searching on company name finds people who work at the specified company.
- If the search form returns both people and companies (such as the out-of-the-box Clients search), then searching on company name finds companies with the specified name. It does not find people who work at companies with the specified name.
What Does the Find Bar Search Do?
The Find Contact search just has one field for entering a name, so it searches for both people and companies. However, InterAction only looks at the contact names. So InterAction finds the following:
- Any person that has the specified name in his or her person name fields.
- Any company that has the specified name in its company name fields.
In this case, searching for “Justus” would return both the person “Kristine Justus” and the company “Justus Software, Inc.” It would not return all the people who work at Justus Software since InterAction is only looking at the person name fields for people.
Address and Email Address Fields
Including address fields on a form is very useful for users who need to narrow down a search to a geographic area. For example, including City and State / Province on the clients search gives users an easy way to find a list of all clients in a particular area.
There are five address criteria fields you can include on a search form:
- City
- State / Province
- ZIP Code
- Country
- E-mail address
Similar to name fields, you add these fields in a single dialog box, but they can be arranged on the form independent of each other.
Address Items on a Search Form
[A] Select the address fields to include on the form.
[B] The form displays the selected fields. You can arrange these four fields independently of each other.
[C] In this example, a default value for the Country field has been provided.
[D] Note that the State drop-down list always displays states or provinces appropriate for the user’s country, not the country selected in the Country list. To search on states from a different list, the user can choose the ... button and select a different country.
Drop-Down Lists for State/Province and Country Fields in the Web Client
The Country and State / Province fields displayed on the form in the Web Client use drop-down lists. The label and items available in the State / Province field depend on country specified in the user’s regional settings. Users can search for states in other countries by choosing the ... button and selecting a different country.
Using the State Drop-down List on a Search Form
The label and contents of the State/Province drop-down list depends on the country specified in the user’s regional settings.
[A] In this example, the user’s country is the United States. Therefore, the field is called State and lists US states.
[B] In this example, the user’s country is the United Kingdom. Therefore, the field is called County and lists UK counties.
[C] In both cases, the user can choose the ... button to select a different country. A United States user who wants to search for contacts based on UK counties would need to choose this link, then select United Kingdom.
Setting Defaults for State/Province and Country Fields
When setting a default for either the State / Province or Country, you can select a value from a drop-down list. The same validation rules defined for countries and states is used. For example, assume you want to set a default for both of these fields. If the country you select as the default has been configured to require valid states, then you must select a valid state as well.
InterAction is configured to not allow countries that don’t match the set of defined countries, then you must select a valid country from the list for the default. You define countries and states and the validation rules in InterAction Administrator.
Mailing Addresses
Contacts in InterAction can have many addresses. When you include the address fields on a search form, you can choose which addresses will be searched:
- Only Mailing Address – InterAction looks at the global mailing addresses for Firm contacts and the mailing addresses stored with the user’s contacts.
- All Addresses – InterAction looks at all addresses for both Firm contacts and the user’s contacts.
For an example, see What Addresses Does InterAction Search?
The out-of-the-box searches are configured to search just mailing addresses. You can change this by editing the searches if necessary.
The automatically-generated searches for marketing lists and working lists also search just the mailing addresses. These searches are not configurable.
What Addresses Does InterAction Search?
When using one of the contact searches (such as the People search), the addresses searched depends on how the search is configured. When adding the address fields to the search form, you can choose one of the following options:
- Only Mailing Address – InterAction looks at the global mailing addresses for Firm contacts and the mailing addresses stored with the user’s contacts.
- All Addresses – InterAction looks at all addresses for both Firm contacts and the user’s contacts.
Example—Searching Mailing Addresses Only
Assume you are using a search form configured with the Only Mailing Address option.
The company TeleNorth has offices in Chicago and New York. The Chicago address is set as the mailing address. If you enter “Chicago” as search criteria, InterAction finds TeleNorth. If you enter “New York,” InterAction does not find TeleNorth.
Now assume you added TeleNorth to your contact list. The contact is now considered a user contact. Because you primarily deal with the New York office, you enter the New York address in the Business address field and mark this as the mailing address you want to use.
Now when you search for contacts with New York for the city, InterAction does find TeleNorth.
Example—Searching All Addresses
Assume you are using a search form configured with the All Addresses option.
The company TeleNorth has offices in Chicago and New York. The Chicago address is set as the mailing address. If you enter “Chicago” as search criteria, InterAction finds TeleNorth. If you enter “New York,” InterAction again finds TeleNorth.
In this case, it does not matter which address is set as the mailing address.
Contact Types and Folder Inclusion as Criteria Fields
Contact types and folders are used to categorize and organize contacts in InterAction. You can use these attributes of contacts in searches. This is useful for finding all contacts assigned a particular contact type or all contacts in a particular folder.
Most searches use one of these criteria fields as a hidden default. For example, most of the out-of-the-box searches have a hidden contact type field to limit the search to contacts classified in a particular way. End users don’t need to know how the data is organized behind the scenes to find the contacts. You can choose any contact type or any folder to use as a default value.
For contact types, you can either hide the criteria field or show it on the form. If the field is shown on the form, it appears as a drop-down list containing all applicable contact types defined in your environment. For example, if the search form is defined to only find people, then contact types that only apply to companies are not included in the list.
For the folder inclusion criteria field, you always must specify a default and the field is never shown on the form.
Contact Type Field on a Search Form
Using Additional Fields as Criteria Fields
Additional fields are commonly included on Web Client search forms. Users can find all contacts that have a particular value in an additional field. You can add either global or folder-specific fields to a search form. As with other criteria fields, you can include a default value for an additional field and either hide or show the field on the form.
When adding an additional field to a search form, you can set other options depending on the additional field data type (date, number, etc.). For example, date and number fields include options for choosing a comparator to use in the search (greater than, less than, etc.).
For details about additional field data types, see Types of Additional Fields.
The way in which a field appears on the search form and the controls used to collect the user’s values also depend on the additional field data type.
If you change the name of an additional field that is already included on a search form, the updated label will appear in the Web Client after the next cache refresh. However, the updated name does not appear in the Edit Search dialog box in the Windows Client.
The following table summarizes additional field options:
Options for Additional Fields on Search Forms
| Field Data Type | Options |
|---|---|
| Date |
You can select the comparator (on, before, after, etc.) that will be used to compare the search value with the InterAction contacts. For details, see Comparators for Additional Field Criteria. When setting a default value for this field, you can either enter a specific date, or enter a relative date, such as “Today,” “Yesterday,” or “Today + X days.” There are several relative dates to choose from. When the Web Client displays the form, it uses a calculated default value based on the current date. Note that this calculation is done using the date on the Application Server machine, not the end user’s workstation. Also note that the Application Server recalculates the default value each time it refreshes the cache. |
| Decimal |
You can select the comparator (equal to, greater than, etc.) that will be used to compare the search value with InterAction contacts. For details, see Comparators for Additional Field Criteria. When setting a default value, you can enter any decimal value that is valid for the field. For example, if the additional field only allows values within a certain range, your default value must fall within that range. |
| Extension | For a custom extension, you can just provide a default value. For an additional field that uses the Variable Field Additional Field Extension provided with InterAction, you can select which “fields” you want to search. For details, see Searching the Variable Field Additional Field Extension. |
| InterAction User |
The comparator for this field type is always “equal to.” When selecting the default value, you can specify either a specific user or the current user. If you select the current user option, InterAction Web Client determines the default value based on the currently logged in user when displaying the form. If you select the specific user option, the default value must be a user valid for the field. For example, if the additional field is defined to only allow active users, you can only enter an active user for the default value. |
| List | The comparator for this field type is always “equal to.” You can select any existing item as the default value for the field. |
| Number |
You can select the comparator (equal to, greater than, etc.) that will be used to compare the search value with InterAction contacts. For details, see Comparators for Additional Field Criteria. When setting a default value, you can enter any integer value that is valid for the field. For example, if the additional field only allows values within a certain range, your default value must fall within that range. |
| Text |
You can select the comparator (starts with, equals, or includes) that will be used to compare the search value with InterAction contacts. When setting a default value, you can enter any text value that is valid for the field. For example, if the field only allows 50 characters of text, your default value must be within that range. |
| Yes/No | The comparator for this field type is always “equal to.” If you select a default value for this field, the field is automatically hidden on the search form. |
Comparators for Additional Field Criteria
The comparator for each additional field included on a search form specifies how InterAction compares the value entered in the form with contacts in InterAction. The different field data types handle the comparators differently.
Date Fields
Web Client users can select the comparator to use when searching date fields.
The following comparators are available for date fields:
- On
- After
- Before
- From
If you specify a default value for a date field, you can select one of the above comparators or User Choice.
Setting a Default Value on a Date Field
[A] No default value has been set for this field. The Web Client user can select the comparator from a list and enter a value in the field.
[B] A default value has been set for this field, but the comparator is set to User Choice. The user can select the comparator from the list. The user can also change the default value if needed.
[C] A default value has been set for the field, and the comparator is set to After. Note that the user can still change the comparator; the default is only used when the form is first opened.
Number and Decimal Fields
Web Client users can select the comparator to use when searching number and decimal fields.
The following comparators are available for number and decimal fields:
- Equal To
- Greater Than
- Less Than
If you specify a default value for a number or decimal field, you can select one of the above comparators or User Choice. This is similar to the way date fields work.
Text Fields
Web Client users can select the comparator to use when searching text fields. The following comparators are available:
- Equals
- Includes
- Starts With
List, User, and Yes/No Fields
List, user, and yes/no fields let the Web Client user select a value from a specified list of items. Therefore, these fields use the “equal to” comparator and find exact matches.
Requiring Criteria for a Search
You can configure whether a Web Client search requires users to enter at least one criteria item to perform a search. Generally, the search results are more meaningful if users enter at least some criteria to narrow the search.
You should only allow users to search without entering criteria if you are including hidden criteria on the form. The search will then find all contacts that meet that hidden criteria. For example, the Personnel search has one hidden criteria item (Contact Type equals Our Personnel). In the Web Client, running this search without entering any criteria will find all contacts with the contact type Our Personnel.
If the form has no hidden criteria, the search will return all firm contacts andall of the user’s user contacts, which typically is not very useful.
Note that if the search does not allow users to search without criteria, then the search will always require contact criteria. This means the user would be unable to search on just activity criteria; he or she would also need to fill in at least one of the contact fields as well. If you expect users to frequently use the form to find contacts based on activity criteria, you may want to allow searching without criteria.
You set this option by selecting or clearing the Allow users to search with no criteria entered check box when defining the search. Note that the Web Client displays a warning message when a user chooses to search without entering any criteria.
Searching the Variable Field Additional Field Extension
You can include an additional field configured as a Variable Field Additional Field Extension on a Web Client search form. This extension allows you to define additional fields with multiple “columns” of data. Essentially you can define multiple “buckets” in which to collect field values.
For details about this extension, see Configuring a Field to Use the Variable Field Extension.
When you add an additional field that uses this extension to a search form, you can select which of these “buckets” to include on the form. Each column appears as a separate field on the form. You can add the field multiple times to add the separate “buckets” to the form.
Add a Criteria Item to a Search Form
- Log in to InterAction Windows Client as a user with permission to create contact types.
- The Manage contact types permission is required to create or edit Web Client profiles. This is because profiles are typically created in conjunction with contact types.
- This permission is granted using InterAction Administrator. For details, see Give Users Permission to Manage Web Client Searches.
- Edit the search form you want to change, as described in Edit a Web Client Search.
- Under Search Form Items, select the item above where the new item should go and choose New.
-
Select the type of item you want to use. Criteria items are listed on the left side of the dialog box.
For details about the available criteria items, see the following:
- Complete the relevant options for the type of criteria you are adding and choose OK. The item will be added after the currently selected item.
- Use the Up and Down buttons to re-arrange the items.
- Choose OK to close the dialog box and save your changes.
-
Choose Close to close the Manage Web Client Search Forms dialog box.
Your changes become available in InterAction Web Client after the next InterAction Application Server cache refresh. For details about manually refreshing the Application Server cache, see Refreshing the Application Server Cache.