Searching the Help
To search for information in the Help, type a word or phrase in the Search box. When you enter a group of words, OR is inferred. You can use Boolean operators to refine your search.
Results returned are case insensitive. However, results ranking takes case into account and assigns higher scores to case matches. Therefore, a search for "cats" followed by a search for "Cats" would return the same number of Help topics, but the order in which the topics are listed would be different.
Words and Phrases
| Search for | Example | Results |
|---|---|---|
| A single word | cat
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Topics that contain the word "cat". You will also find its grammatical variations, such as "cats". |
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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. |
Using Boolean Operators
| Search for | Operator | Example |
|---|---|---|
|
Two or more words in the same topic |
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| Either word in a topic |
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| Topics that do not contain a specific word or phrase |
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| Topics that contain one string and do not contain another | ^ (caret) |
cat ^ mouse
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| A combination of search types | ( ) parentheses |
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- Link maintenance
- Data relationships and the link file
- Types of links
- Find functionality
- Fill functionality
- Fill functionality with multi-select
- Turn off multi-select functionality
- Virtual joining functionality
- Us.link
- Variables used in links
- Calling the us.link
- Skipping query writing
- Accessing $File/dates
- Find from and fill to a $ variable
- Find from and fill to an array structure
- The $fill.display and $fill.display.add functionality
- Access the link record
Types of links
Find, Fill, and virtual join links are the basis for the most powerful features of Service Manager.
- The Find function uses the value of the field in which the cursor is placed to query for information based on data stored in existing records. Security parameters restrict a user’s access to the requested data. If information is found, a record list of matching configuration item (CI) records opens. If no information is found, a negative message opens.
- The Fill function selects information from existing records and copies it into the current record. For example, incident documents are populated with device information when a logical name (logical.name) is specified.
- The virtual join combines information from many files and presents the results on a single form. At the service desk, a vendor’s telephone number can display in an incident document without occupying any space in the actual record. The information presented does not reside in long-term memory and is another way of viewing Configuration Management data.
Linking ensures current and consistent data across all incident documents. A change to the original configuration item (CI) record automatically updates the incident document. Each time an incident document opens or updates, the applicable fields displaying linked data pick up the most recent Configuration Management data.
Important: Queries for Find, Fill and virtual joins are performed only when run on fields that have been set up as unique keys in the database dictionary record for the target files. These unique key definitions allow data to be stored using certain markers. Link queries need to locate these markers in order to retrieve the applicable data.
Search the Help for more information on setting up unique keys and other definitions in the database dictionary record.
Related concepts
Link maintenance
Find functionality
Fill functionality
Virtual joining functionality
Us.link
Variables used in links
Calling us.link
Find from and Fill to a $ variable
