Searching for rules and folders

You can do a text search to find action rules, decision tables, or folders. The search can look across linked projects, and for rules that support different locales.

Searching for rules

The search makes a list of matching elements, and you use display filters to control the content of the list. The order of the list depends on how closely the elements match your text.

Type the text you want to find in the search bar from a release, change activity, or ungoverned branch. The search function takes into account the language of your profile, either chosen by you or the language of your browser. If the language is not supported by the searched project, the search function uses the default language of Decision Center.

If you want to find only specific elements, you can filter the search results by:

Type: Filter by action rules, decision tables, or folders. Clear the All check box to select individual types.
Status: Filter by the status property of a rule. Clear the All check box to select a specific status.
Found in: Filter by content or properties. The search function looks for search strings in the content of rules, or only in the properties of project elements.
Projects: Filter by the projects that are linked to the current one. All the projects of a decision service are linked.
Last edited: Indicate a time period for the results. The filter includes calendars for selecting the start and stop dates of the period.

The search automatically updates the list of results. The elements are listed by the number of times your search string occurs in them. For example, the search lists a rule with 10 occurrences before a rule with fewer occurrences.

The search page shows the total number of project elements that match your search string. As you scroll to the bottom of the page, the search retrieves the succeeding results and appends them to the list. The page lists up to 25 entries at a time.

Search strings and syntax

You can use words, numbers, or combinations of both. For best results, use uniquely identifiable search strings. The search ignores articles (a, an, the...), prepositions and conjunctions (and, or, of...), and words that are common to most rules (if, then, else...).

Multiple search strings: If you enter more than one string of characters, the search looks for elements that contain all the strings, and the strings individually. For example, if you enter the word loan, the search looks for only those rules that contain the word loan. If you enter loan and duration, the search looks for all the rules that contain both words, and the words individually.

Names: You can search for elements by file name or author. When you search by author, you can use the user name or display name. The user name is the name that is used to sign in to Decision Center, while the display name is the name displayed with messages and elements.

Types of text and syntax

The search lists the results that are based on how closely they match your text. It lists the project elements with all the strings before the projects with individual instances.

You can type a string that consists of letters, numbers, or both into the Search field. You can search for a whole string or just part of a string. You can also use special syntax to prioritize or exclude text, or to search for an exact match.

The following table lists the types of text and search syntax that you can use in search strings.

Table 1. Types of text and search syntax
Text or search syntax	Description
Letters	Individual letters or groups of letters that do not form words. For example, `WYSIWYG`.
Words	A complete word or words. For example, `loan`, `miniloan`, or `user name`.
Uppercase and lowercase	The search ignores case. You can use uppercase and lowercase letters together. For example, `New Loan`.
Numbers	One or more numbers. For example, `1`, `2 30`, or `100`.
Alphanumeric combinations	Combinations of letters and numbers. For example, `Y2K` or `Name123`.
Prioritizing text with the plus (+) modifier	You can type a plus sign (`+`) in front of a word to have the search look only for elements with this word. The search treats any other word in the search field as optional. For example, if you type `loan +duration`, the search lists all the elements that contain the word `duration`, and any element that contains both `loan` and `duration`. It does not list elements that contain `loan` but do not contain `duration`.
Excluding text with the minus (-) modifier	You can type a minus sign (`-`) in front of a word to have the search ignore all the elements that contain the word. When the search finds the word, it does not list the element with the word on the search page. For example, if you type `loan -duration`, the search lists only the elements with the word `loan`, and excludes any element that contains both `loan` and `duration`.
Exact matching with quotation marks (" ")	By placing quotation marks (`""`) around a search string, you have the search match the string exactly. For example, a search for `"miniloan rule 3"` lists elements with only the quoted text.