Viz Artist

Version 3.9.0 | Published December 13, 2017 ©

Item Search

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Items can be searched based on various criteria. Four Search editors are located in the upper part of the Search window. Searches can be based on four different criteria:

For information on keywords, see Assign Keywords to Items.

This section contains information on the following topics:

Search Panel

To open the Search panel, switch Server view and select Search from main menu, or click Ctrl+F while hovering the mouse over the Server Panel. The search panel will stay in the foreground until it is closed.

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The Search window is divided in two areas:

Search Parameters Area

The Search parameters area is positioned at the top of the Search panel.

images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_search_top_panel_anno.png

  • Search (1): Click to start a search.

  • Close All Editors (2): Close all search editors.

  • New Search (3): Clear all settings to start a new search.

Search Menu

The Search menu is positioned at the top of the Search parameters area. Select an item type from the menu to narrow the item search.

images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_pulldownsearchtype.png
If, for example, ‘Image’ is selected, only search hits that are Images will be listed.

Clicking ‘All’ on the menu will not narrow down the search, but show hits from all item types.

‘All’ is selected by default.

Property Search

This editor searches the database for items based on the property values entered.

images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_searchproperties.png

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_reset.png Properties Reset: Clear the settings in the Properties editor to start a new search.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_close_edit.png Close Property Search: Close the Properties editor.

  • Name: Search for items with a specified name.

    • Click the asterisk to search with an asterisk wildcard at the start and end of the text string. With the asterisk disabled, only the exact search string is used.

  • Creation Date: Search for items that were created in a specified time period.

  • Modification Date: Search for items that were created in a specified time period.

    Note: The creation and modification dates can be set to; Today, 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, or Older.

  • Owner: Search for items that were created by a specified user.

  • User: Search for items that were last modified by a specified user.

Wildcard Text Description

If the full Name is not known then text Wildcards can be used to make a search:

  • ***: Match any characters. For example ’*item’

  • ?: Match any single character. For example ’El?me?t’

  • [ ]: Match a range or a list of characters:

    • ’Elem[b-g]nt’, or

    • ’Elem[shje]nt’.

Reference Search

Any item can reference to any other item in the Graphic Hub. To find out where any given Graphic Hub item is used, use search by Reference.

Search by reference can be used to search for:

  • Which objects use the selected object(s)

  • Which objects are used in the selected object(s)

This section contains information on the following topics and procedures:

Reference Search Menu

images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_searchbyreference_results.png

Note: Multiple items can be added to the References editor.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_pool_reference_up.png Searches for items which reference to the selected items, for example, Images, Geometries, Fonts, etc.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_pool_reference_down.png Searches for items which are referenced by the selected items, for example, Images, Geometries, Fonts, etc.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_and.png Performs a logical AND search of the items that are added. The result must be in all searched items.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_or.png Performs a logical OR search of the items that are added. The result must be at least one of the searched items.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_reset.png Clears the settings in the References editor, so that a new search can be performed.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_close_edit.png Closes the References editor.

To Search for Referenced items on one or more items

  1. Open the Search panel:

    • Click on Search... in the Server Panel drop down menu, or

    • With the mouse pointer over the Server Panel, press <Ctrl+F>

  2. Click on References.

  3. Drag one or more items from the Server Panel to the search area.

  4. Specify the search criteria:

    • Search only for references common to all items images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_and.png

    • Search for references in all items images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_and.png

  5. Select to search by:

    • Which objects use the selected object(s) images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_pool_reference_up.png

    • Which objects are used in the selected object(s) images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_pool_reference_down.png

  6. Click on the Search button (3).

To Search all References on one item (Context Menu)

images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_searchbyreference.png

  1. Click on an item.

  2. Right-click the item to open its context menu.

  3. Click Search Reference...

  4. The Search Panel opens and shows any items which reference the selected item.

To Delete an item from a Search by Reference

  1. In the Search Panel right-click the item to be removed.

  2. Select Delete from Reference Search.

    images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_delete_from_reference.png

Keyword Search

This editor searches the database for items based on keywords.

images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_keyword_search.png

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_and.png : Do a logical AND search of the keywords that are added. The result must be in all searched items.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_or.png : Do a logical OR search of the keywords that are added. The result must be in at least one of the searched items.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_reset.png : Clear the settings in the Keywords editor, to start a new search.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_close_edit.png : Close the Keywords editor.

    Tip: Keywords can be assigned to items from the Search window. To do so, select the keywords by highlighting them, and then drag them onto an item in the Server Panel. For more information, see Working with Items.

To Search for a Keyword

  1. Type the keyword in the input box and press <Enter>.

    images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_keyword_search.png
  2. Add the required Keyword to the bottom panel:

    • Click and drag the required keyword to the bottom panel, or

    • Click inside the brackets ([ ]), to the left of the required keyword.

  3. Click the Search button. The keyword search is based on the keywords that have been moved into the bottom panel.

Directory Search

The directory search editor narrows down a search to a selected folder.

images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_searchdir.png

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_tree_basic_open.png Expands the currently selected branch and all its sub-branches.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_collapsebutton.png Collapses the currently selected branch and all its sub-branches.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_refresh.png Refreshes the tree.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_recursive.png : Searches for items in the selected folder, and recursively in all sub-folders. When disabled, the search is performed in the selected folder only.

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_db_search_close_edit.png : Closes the Directories editor.

To Search for items in Directories

  1. Click Directories.

  2. Select a folder from the tree.

  3. Click Search.

    Note: If no other search criteria has been entered, when the Search button is clicked the search will show all items in the selected folder (including sub-folders).

Combination Search

With a Combination search, searches can be further refined. A combination search uses up to three search parameters to search the Graphic Hub database. Select from:

images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_combo_search.png
In the example above, the search will be for files that contain the word Text which is in the Vizrt project folder and sub-folders, and also has a keywords image and lighter assigned.

Search Result Panel

The Search Result panel shows all search results.

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Note: A double-click an item in the Result area will also select the item in the Server Panel.

This section contains the following topics and procedures:

Search Results

The amount of search results to show is set in the Database -> Global section of Viz configuration. The default value is 500, and it can be changed to a specific number or set to All. Note that setting to All can produce a large number of search results, which may affect performance. The Search Results panel displays up to 500 search results per page.

If a set amount of results is configured to show (but not All), this message will show:

images/download/attachments/27788062/manage_elements_search_results.png

In this example, only 500 items are displayed in the results panel (500 per page). If there is a large amount of search results, the search results panel will show a text list of results. The number of Items Found can differ from the shown number of files. This is because hidden files , such as base fonts, are also counted in the number of results. However, hidden files are not shown.

Search Results Navigation

When a search result is more than 500, pages are created for each set of 500 results. Use the navigation buttons to go backward and forward through the pages as required:

images/download/attachments/27788062/manage_elements_search_results_search.png

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/manage_elements_search_results_number.png : Click on a number to go to that page

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/manage_elements_navi_search_icon_1.png : Go back or forward one page

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/manage_elements_navi_search_icon_2.png : Go back or forward 10 pages (maximum 10 pages shown at any time)

  • images/download/attachments/27788062/manage_elements_navi_search_icon_3.png : Go to the first or last page

Order Search Results

Use the column header bars to order the search contents as required. Click on each column header bar to order its results ascending or descending. The small arrow shows which way the search results are ordered.

The middle column can be set to show the Modification Date or the Creation Date (see Global in Database of Viz Configuration ( Viz Engine Administrator Guide))

images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_searchresult_order.png

To Use Searched items

Note: To select more than one item press and hold <Ctrl> and click on each required item.

Click on an item(s) in the Results panel and drag directly to various areas where the item can be used, i.e.:

  • The Scene Tree, or

  • The Favorites Bar , or

  • The Scene Editor, or

  • The Container Editor

    IMPORTANT! Be careful when moving a linked item, as the item will be moved from the first folder found to the new destination.

To Copy items

  1. Click on an item(s) in the Results panel

  2. Press <Ctrl> and drag the item(s) from the Result area to the target folder in the Server Panel.

Search Result Menu

The Result area menu is positioned at the top of the Result area and it defines the appearance of the search results.

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  • Detail: By default, items are presented in the Result list with thumbnail and item name. A vertical list shows, with the additional information of date of creation and user name of item owner.

    Note: Click on images/download/attachments/27788062/manage_elements_search_i_icon.png to enable or disable thumbnails.

    images/download/attachments/27788062/import_archive_show_results_icon.png

  • Show Properties: Shows the Properties Panel at the right side of the Result area, with the File Info tab selected.

  • Keep Result: Keeps the current results in the Result list, while a new search is done. The results from the new search will be added to the list.

  • Clear Result List: Clears the Result list.