Searching - Portal v6.1

Portal, V6.1

Searching

Formulate your queries and restrict your search to a given scope to help improve your search results.
Table 1. Search tasks in the information center
Task Description Demonstration
Searching the information center
To search the information center topics that are included in the table of contents, enter a search term in the Search box of your information center border, and click Go.

The search results are displayed in the navigation area, replacing the table of contents. When you select a topic from the search results list, optionally click the Show in Table of Contents (
) icon on your information center border to show the location of the topic in the table of contents. Use additional buttons to toggle between search results and the table of contents in the navigation area.

Show table of contents

Show
search results

Searching part of the documentation
By default, each topic shown in the Contents view is searched. However, you can narrow your searches to a particular set of topics, called a search list and save search lists to use again later. To create a search list...

Click the Search scope link next to the Search field. The Select Search Scope window opens.
Select the Search only the following topics button and click New. The New Search List window opens.
In the Topics to search list, select the navigation categories that you want to include in your search. You can expand categories to select only certain subcategories.
Name your new search list, using the List name box.
Click OK.
Click OK again.

The search list that is currently active is always displayed at the beginning of the help browser, beside the Search scope link.
The search list that you last used persists across sessions.

Showing and hiding article summaries
You can show or hide the summaries of articles in the Search Results view. In the Search Results view, complete the following actions:

Click the Show Summary link to show a summary of each article in the list. The summary is displayed after the article title.
Click the Hide Summary link to hide the summaries of all the articles and display the titles of the articles only.

Grouping the search results Group your search results by clicking Platform, Product or None in the search results view.
The search results are displayed according to the selection criteria.

Searching a topic and its subtopics You can search a topic, or a topic and its subtopics, from the Navigation view.

Move your cursor to the topics in the Navigation view. The Open Quick Menu icon (
) is displayed to the right of a topic.
Click the Open Quick Menu icon.
Complete the following actions:

Click Search this topic to search the topic without subtopics.
Click Search this topic and subtopics to search the topic and its subtopics.

The Search this topic dialog box is displayed.
In the Search this topic dialog box, enter the query in the Search field and click OK to begin the search.

If you search on the topic, and the search finds a match, then the topic displays. If no match exists, a dialog box displays Nothing found. Click OK to close the dialog box.
If you search a topic and its subtopics, and the search finds a match, then the Search Results view displays up to 500 results. Select a topic from the search results to display that topic. If no match exists, then the left pane displays Nothing found.

Enabling and disabling search highlighting The search highlighting feature highlights the occurrences of your search terms in a topic you selected from the search results list. When many occurrences of your search terms exist in a topic, you might want to disable this feature. Complete the following actions:

To disable highlighting, click Turn Highlighting off (
) on the information center border.
To enable highlighting, click Turn Highlighting on (
).

Alternatively, remove highlighting from a topic by locating the topic in the table of contents, using Show in Table of Contents (
).
Select the topic from the table of contents. The topic is reloaded into the content area, with the highlighting removed.

Searching for exact words or phrases
You can identify a search phrase as an exact string by enclosing it in double quotation marks. For example, enter "log file" to search for the string log file, not the separate words log and file. Without the quotation marks, the search term is interpreted to find instances of both the word log and the word file in the topics.
In English and German languages only, the search engine "stems" other forms of a single search word. For example, a search for the word challenge, also finds the word challenging. Surround the terms you enter in the search field with double quotation marks when you do not want your
search results to include such variations of the terms.

Searching with wildcards Use the following wildcard characters:

(*) Asterisk - for multiple unknown or variable characters in the term. For example, the search term par* returns partly, participate, partial, and other words beginning with par.
(?) Question mark - for a single unknown or variable character. For example, the search term par? returns part but not partial or partly.

Searching with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) You can insert the binary operators: AND, OR, and NOT in your search term. For example:

database AND "log file"

Narrows the search to include topics that must contain both of the terms database and log file anywhere in the document.

database OR "log file"

Widens the search to include topics that contain either the term database or the phrase log file anywhere in the document.

database NOT "log file"

Searches for topics that contain the term database and do not contain the phrase log file anywhere in the document.

database OR "data base" NOT "log file"

Searches for documents that contain the term database or the phrase data base and do not contain the phrase log file anywhere in the document.

Parent topic
Use the information center

Task	Description	Demonstration
Searching the information center	To search the information center topics that are included in the table of contents, enter a search term in the Search box of your information center border, and click Go. The search results are displayed in the navigation area, replacing the table of contents. When you select a topic from the search results list, optionally click the Show in Table of Contents ( ) icon on your information center border to show the location of the topic in the table of contents. Use additional buttons to toggle between search results and the table of contents in the navigation area. Show table of contents Show search results
Searching part of the documentation	By default, each topic shown in the Contents view is searched. However, you can narrow your searches to a particular set of topics, called a search list and save search lists to use again later. To create a search list... Click the Search scope link next to the Search field. The Select Search Scope window opens. Select the Search only the following topics button and click New. The New Search List window opens. In the Topics to search list, select the navigation categories that you want to include in your search. You can expand categories to select only certain subcategories. Name your new search list, using the List name box. Click OK. Click OK again. The search list that is currently active is always displayed at the beginning of the help browser, beside the Search scope link. The search list that you last used persists across sessions.
Showing and hiding article summaries	You can show or hide the summaries of articles in the Search Results view. In the Search Results view, complete the following actions: Click the Show Summary link to show a summary of each article in the list. The summary is displayed after the article title. Click the Hide Summary link to hide the summaries of all the articles and display the titles of the articles only.
Grouping the search results	Group your search results by clicking Platform, Product or None in the search results view. The search results are displayed according to the selection criteria.
Searching a topic and its subtopics	You can search a topic, or a topic and its subtopics, from the Navigation view. Move your cursor to the topics in the Navigation view. The Open Quick Menu icon ( ) is displayed to the right of a topic. Click the Open Quick Menu icon. Complete the following actions: Click Search this topic to search the topic without subtopics. Click Search this topic and subtopics to search the topic and its subtopics. The Search this topic dialog box is displayed. In the Search this topic dialog box, enter the query in the Search field and click OK to begin the search. If you search on the topic, and the search finds a match, then the topic displays. If no match exists, a dialog box displays Nothing found. Click OK to close the dialog box. If you search a topic and its subtopics, and the search finds a match, then the Search Results view displays up to 500 results. Select a topic from the search results to display that topic. If no match exists, then the left pane displays Nothing found.
Enabling and disabling search highlighting	The search highlighting feature highlights the occurrences of your search terms in a topic you selected from the search results list. When many occurrences of your search terms exist in a topic, you might want to disable this feature. Complete the following actions: To disable highlighting, click Turn Highlighting off ( ) on the information center border. To enable highlighting, click Turn Highlighting on ( ). Alternatively, remove highlighting from a topic by locating the topic in the table of contents, using Show in Table of Contents ( ). Select the topic from the table of contents. The topic is reloaded into the content area, with the highlighting removed.
Searching for exact words or phrases	You can identify a search phrase as an exact string by enclosing it in double quotation marks. For example, enter "log file" to search for the string log file, not the separate words log and file. Without the quotation marks, the search term is interpreted to find instances of both the word log and the word file in the topics. In English and German languages only, the search engine "stems" other forms of a single search word. For example, a search for the word challenge, also finds the word challenging. Surround the terms you enter in the search field with double quotation marks when you do not want your search results to include such variations of the terms.
Searching with wildcards	Use the following wildcard characters: () Asterisk - for multiple unknown or variable characters in the term. For example, the search term par returns partly, participate, partial, and other words beginning with par. (?) Question mark - for a single unknown or variable character. For example, the search term par? returns part but not partial or partly.
Searching with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)	You can insert the binary operators: AND, OR, and NOT in your search term. For example: database AND "log file" Narrows the search to include topics that must contain both of the terms database and log file anywhere in the document. database OR "log file" Widens the search to include topics that contain either the term database or the phrase log file anywhere in the document. database NOT "log file" Searches for topics that contain the term database and do not contain the phrase log file anywhere in the document. database OR "data base" NOT "log file" Searches for documents that contain the term database or the phrase data base and do not contain the phrase log file anywhere in the document.