Searching in Index Manager archives

Extra search functionality with Index Manager

When creating custom search strings in a Fotoware client application or using the Archive Agent, you can also insert logical operators directly into the search field. This gives you more control over the search and makes the search more specific. Make sure that you choose where the search should be performed (in all metadata fields, or in a specific field) when you enter the advanced search directly in the search text field.

Tip: If you have not already configured an archive that connects to an Index Manager index, you must do so first. For information, see How to connect to an Index Manager or FotoWeb archive.

Basic searching

When delivering a basic search to Index Manager without a field specification, the search is performed across all fields in the Metadata configuration. A basic search in Index Manager could look like this example:

Summer holiday 2010

Index Manager interprets this as a string that has to appear in the files' metadata exactly as is. You will see the search string as (summer holiday 2010) in the Index Manager Settings app.

It may be more practical to search for files where all those words occur, but not necessarily in that exact order. You can rephrase your search and add logical operators to your search string:

summer AND holiday AND 2010

This will search for files where all three words occur, but not necessarily as a continuous string.

Logical operators

Below is a list of logical operators and examples that illustrate how they are used in building the search string.

• AND

 (apples AND pears)

Both apples and pears must be present in the text

• OR

(apples OR pears)

One of the two words apples and pears must be present in the text.

• NOT

(apples AND NOT pears)

The word apples and not the word pears must be present in the text.

• NEAR

The syntax when using the “near” operator is w/# where # is a number describing how far apart the two words can be.

(apples w/7 pears)

The words apples and pears must both appear in the text. In addition, apples and pears can not be more than 7 words apart.

• XNOWORD

This operator must be used alone in a text field. Use this option if you would like to find files where one specific metadata field is empty. You can also combine this option with other searches. Use XNOCAP or XSMALLCAP to find none or small (< 30 characters) metadata in all fields.

Note: The XNOWORD option must be used according to how the Index Manager archive is set up. You can only search for an empty field if Index Manager is set up to index this field as empty.

Avoiding ambiguous search strings

When you are performing advanced searches, make sure to insert parentheses if there is the slightest chance that the search is ambiguous. The search string apples AND pears OR orange juice is an example where it is not clear what you are searching for. You could be looking for apples and pears or orange juice. Then you should write (apples AND pears) OR (orange juice), or you are looking for apples and pears or orange and juice. Then you should write apples AND (pears OR orange) AND juice.

Searching in a specific field

With a powerful search engine, it makes good sense being about to single out the field you want to search in. This is done by referring to the field ID according to its definition in the server's Metadata configuration.

Example: Byline / Photographer is field 80. To search for a name in that field, use the following syntax:

(IPTC080 contains (John Smith))

Similarly, to find files where the photographer's name is NOT John Smith, enter the following string:

(IPTC080 contains (NOT John Smith))

You can also combine searches across several fields:

(IPTC080 contains (John Smith)) AND (IPTC120 contains (snow AND winter))

This would find files with the name John Smith in the Byline field and where both the words snow and winter occur in the Caption field (no. 120).

Note: Searches are not case sensitive.

Using wildcards when searching

When you are searching, you use some special characters to help you find what you are looking for. These special characters are:

(FQYRD contains (20110101~~20111231))