Searching

This page introduces the searching function of codebeamer.

Watch a video on the search-functionality here.

With the full-text search, users can search for the following type of items:

• Projects
• Workspaces for documents
• Tasks
• Bugs
• Forums
• Wiki pages
• Users
• SCM commit comments
• Attachments

The search is based on indexing which takes place in the background, and the new artifacts are searchable within seconds. Once the indexing is complete, the searching automatically synchronizes with any changes made.

The items found can be tagged as well as shared with the relevant teams.

Full-text search is provided for:

• Documents - including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, RTF, PDF, HTML, wiki and text document contents
• Projects - the content of the name, description and category fields
• Tracker items - including all fields, comments and attachments. For attachments the same file formats are supported as for document search
• CMDB configuration items
• Reports - the content of the name and description fields.

Simple Search Syntax

A simple syntax is used for word based searches. The simple search field is found in the upper right corner of almost every codebeamer screen.

By default, codebeamer executes a prefix search. When searching for org, for example, the search returns such issues as org and also organization. To override this, use the Advanced query syntax.

Knowing the ID of the artifact to be found, a shortcut can be used. For example, if the issue id is 2000, type #2000 to the search box and press [Enter]. The only element in the result is the issue with exactly that id.

Tabbed Search Results

In both the simple and the advanced searches in codebeamer, trackers, wikis, accounts and document items are all searched for based on the provided keyword or text. The results are returned in a tabbed table, on separate pages.

For example, a search on bond may give results as shown in the screen capture figure below:

On the All tab, the list of all the different type of matching items are listed.

Quick Filter Options

By clicking on the search box of the toolbar, an overlay is displayed:

• Last Modified section - the search results can be specified to those artifacts that were modified in the last 7, 30 or 90 days. The default setting is Ever.
• Search in Project section - the projects within which the search is to be performed can be selected.
• Searching section - the type of artifacts can be selected to search for.
• Click on the [GO] button to execute the search.
• To access the Advanced Search page, click on the downward pointing arrow on the right side of the [GO] the button.

Advanced Search Syntax and Options

The supported search string complexity ranges from keywords to keyword groups connected by logical operators.

The keywords can be specified by using wildcards, as described below.

In the advanced search, Boolean operators allow terms to be combined through logic operators.

codebeamer search supports the following Boolean operators:

• OR
• AND
• +
• -
• NOT

Filtering Results by Date or Username

Dates and usernames can be used in the search expressions to restrict the number of results.

Dates can be entered in the below formats:

• YYYYDDMM
• YYYYDD
• YYYY

For example, to search for issues that are related to Firefox and are either submitted by or assigned to john.smith65 in 2014 May, use a query like this:

Firefox john.smith65 201405

Wildcard Searches

codebeamer supports single and multiple character wildcard searches.

• To perform a single character wildcard search, use the ? symbol.
• To perform a multiple character wildcard search, use the * symbol. The single character wildcard search looks for terms that match the single character replaced.

For example, to search for the keywords text or test, the following query can be used:

te?t

Multiple character wildcard searches look for zero or more characters. For example, to search for the keywords test, tests or tester, the below query can be used:

test*

Wildcard searches can also be used in the middle of a term:

te*t

Escaping Special Characters

The codebeamer search supports escaping special characters that are part of the query syntax. The following special characters are supported:

+ - && || ! ( ) { } [ ] ^ " ~ * ? : \

When these characters are in the search text, use the \ character in front of them. For example, to search for the term (1+1):2 use the query:

\(1\+1\)\:2

OR

The OR operator links two terms and finds a matching document if either of the terms exist in the document. This is equivalent to a union using sets.

The || symbol sequence can be used in place of the OR word. To search for documents that contain either the jakarta apache or just jakarta strings, use the following query:

"jakarta apache" OR jakarta

The default operator (used when neither OR nor AND is present in the query expression) is AND.

To use OR, either write it in the query, or use the Extended search.

AND

The AND operator matches documents where both terms exist anywhere in the text of a single document. This is equivalent to an intersection using sets. The && symbol sequence can be used in place of operator AND. To search for documents that contain both the jakarta apache and the Apache codebeamer terms, use the following query:

"jakarta apache" AND "Apache codebeamer"

The default operator is AND so the above query is equivalent with this one:

"jakarta apache" "Apache codebeamer"

+ Operator

The + operator requires that the term after the + symbol exists in the document. To search for documents that must contain the jakarta term and may contain the apache term, use the following query:

+jakarta OR apache

- Operator

The - operator excludes documents that contain the term after the - symbol. To search for documents that contain jakarta apache term, but not the Apache codebeamer term, enter the following query:

"jakarta apache" -"Apache codebeamer"

NOT

The NOT operator excludes documents that contain the term after the NOT operator. This is equivalent to difference using sets.

The ! symbol can be used in place of the word NOT.

To search for documents that contain the jakarta apache term, but not the Apache codebeamer term, use the query:

"jakarta apache" NOT "Apache codebeamer"

The NOT operator cannot be used with just one term.

For example, the following search will return no results:

NOT "jakarta apache"

Grouping

codebeamer supports using parentheses to group clauses into sub queries. This can be very useful when defining a more complex Boolean logic for a query.

For instance, to search for one of the terms jakarta or apache, and also for the term website, use the query:

(jakarta OR apache) AND website

Fuzzy Searches

codebeamer supports fuzzy searches based on the Levenshtein Distance or Edit Distance algorithm.

To do a fuzzy search, use the tilde symbol (~) at the end of a single word term.

To search a term the spelling of which is similar to roam, use the fuzzy search:

roam~ 

This search returns terms like foam and roams.

Extended Search

By default, the words in a search expression are connected by AND. That is, the result contains only those items that match all parts of the expression.

To change this setting, go to the Advanced Search page ► Extended search checkbox.

After this, the words of the expression are connected by OR, and all items matching at least one of the words appear in the search result.

Restricting Search Scope with Project Groups

Searching by project group helps to narrow down the scope of the search. See Project Groups for more information on working sets.

Search for Artifacts by Owner or Submitter

To find artifacts created by a particular user, add the relevant codebeamer username to the Owner/Submitter field.

To search for items submitted by the account j.wilson, add it to the Owner/Submitter field of the search form:

j.wilson

Real usernames or other account data such as company name, phone number and others can also be used for searching.

To search for items submitted by the company Intland, add it to the Owner/Submitter field of the search form:

Intland

Search for Artifacts by Creation / Modification Date

Enter dates and intervals to search for artifacts created or modified After and/or Before a specific date or interval:

Examples:

To find all artifacts which were uploaded to the server between 2005-05-04 and 2005-05-30, enter the following values and click on [GO]:

Created / After: 2005-05-04
Created / Before: 2005-05-30

To find all artifacts which were modified on the server between 2005-05-04 and 2005-05-30, enter the following values and click on [GO]:

Modified / After: 2005-05-04
Modified / Before: 2005-05-30

Search for Artifacts by Date and by User

To find all artifacts which were modified by the account j.wilson on the server between 2005-05-04 and 2005-05-30, enter the following search criteria:

Modified / After: 2005-05-04
Modified / Before : 2005-05-30
Owner/Submitter: j.wilson

Search for Source Symbols and Files

The search for source symbols and files supports only simple pattern matching.

Example:

To search for the source code symbol open, enter the following values and click on [GO]: