Search for	Example	Results
A single word	`cat`	Topics that contain the word "cat". You will also find its grammatical variations, such as "cats".
A phrase. You can specify that the search results contain a specific phrase.	`"cat food"` (quotation marks)	Topics that contain the literal phrase "cat food" and all its grammatical variations. Without the quotation marks, the query is equivalent to specifying an OR operator, which finds topics with one of the individual words instead of the phrase.

Search for	Operator	Example
Two or more words in the same topic	`AND` `and` `+` (plus symbol) `&` (ampersand)	`cat AND dog` `"cat food"+milk` `"cat food"&"dog food"`
Either word in a topic	`OR` `or` `\|` (pipe)	`cat OR dog` `cat \| dog`
Topics that do not contain a specific word or phrase	`NOT` `not` `!` (exclamation point)	`NOT cat` `! dog`
Topics that contain one string and do not contain another	`^` (caret)	`cat ^ mouse`
A combination of search types	`( )` parentheses	`cat + (dog \| mouse)` `cat \| dog + (! mouse)`

Service Manager

Develop > Tailoring > Links > Posting > Automatic updates using Format Control subroutines

Automatic updates using Format Control subroutines

You can use posting to update Service Manager tables from any other part of Service Manager. For example, new contact information from a request can post directly to related fields in the contacts file without any user interaction. If you are opening a request for a new contact, posting creates a new Contact record and populates the common fields defined in the Link record. Posting from Request Management can occur when new requests are opened.

In this example, ocmq.open.newemployee.quote.g is our Source Format (accessing the ocmq file) and contacts is our Target form (accessing the contacts file). Both files contain such contact information as contact name, company, first name, last name, and department. The relationship between the two files is based on a single common field—the employee.id field in this example (Employee Number). When Posting initiates from a request, the system attempts to find a Contact record in which the value of the user.id field matches the value of the employee.id field in the request. If a match is found, the system updates the Contact record. If no match is found (as in the case of a request from a new person), the system creates a new Contact record based on the values in the request.

Posting should NOT be performed on the probsummary table when set up using a subroutine in Format Control as this causes the system to clear the variable, $file.

Use the procedures in the following help server topics to create automatic updates using Format Control subroutines:

Related concepts

Posting
Posting link records
Posting link line definition file
Types of posting available in Format Control
Confirming the posting routine
Automatic updates using Format Control subroutines
Manual posting using Format Control additional options