Advanced Search
You can use the advanced search in the WebClient UI to search for business objects.
Features
On the search page, you can define the search criteria and start the search. You have a variety of search criteria and search operators with which you can refine your search to find precisely the data you are looking for. In the result list, you can see the data that matches your search criteria.
You can show and hide the search criteria, by clicking the corresponding hyperlinks. You can add or remove search rows, by choosing the icons next to the search row. You can enter the maximum number of business objects that should be in the result list of this search.
You can save your current search, which can be made available as saved search in the central search.
You can define default search criteria in the personalization of an advanced search page. For more information, see Advanced Search Personalization.
To adapt the result list to your personal requirements, you can make the necessary entries in the personalization dialog box.
Search Criteria Displayed as Read-Only
To indicate that certain search criteria that have an impact on the search result may not be changed, certain search criteria can be displayed as read-only. This cannot be modified by users. Plus or minus buttons to add or delete a row in the search criteria are not available.
Note
In the SAP standard system, the search criteria are not displayed as read-only. This feature is used only in special cases.
Mandatory Use of the Input Help
To ensure that certain search fields are only filled by using the input help, the use of the input help in these fields is mandatory. In this case, the look and feel of the search field is as if it is read-only, and users cannot manually place the cursor focus on the search field.
If users click the search field or the input help icon, the input help is automatically started. If users press ENTER in the search field, the input help is also started, instead of executing the advanced search. When users tab to the search field, the focus lies on the search field and the input help icon, because they are one entity. In this case, the input help can only be started by pressing ENTER. If the input help is closed and the focus is still on the input help icon, pressing ENTER restarts the input help, instead of executing the advanced search.
Note
In the SAP standard system, the use of the input help is not mandatory. This feature is used only in special cases.
Example
You are logged on to the system as sales professional: You start the account search page or the contact search page and select search attribute Marketing Attribute
. You can now use the input help in the search field.
You start the account search page and select search attribute Account Classification
. You can now use the input help in the search field.
Pasting of Multiple Values as Search Criteria
You can copy a list of values from another application, such as spreadsheet or text processing application, and paste them as search criteria in an advanced search by pressing CTRL + V. The values are handled as separate search criteria.
In the source application, each value should be in a new row separated by tab or new line. Non-adjacent row selection support depends on the source. After pasting the search criteria into the search, they are shown as separate search criteria in individual rows.
You make the settings for this function in Customizing for UI Framework
under 
Technical Role Definition
Define Parameters
. By default, the system limits the number of
rows that can be pasted at once to 200 to avoid accidental pasting of an overly large amount of data. You can override this default maximum number by adding parameter SEARCH_MAX_ROW_PASTE
in function profile PARAMETERS
of the relevant business
role.
Groups of Rows
For usability reasons, when a large number of search criteria rows have been created by pasting multiple search criteria, successive rows that have the same attribute and the same operator are grouped. These rows are collapsed and appear with an arrow icon pointing to the right of the root
row. A row group that results from pasting is by default collapsed and shown in display mode. To edit the rows that were created, you have to expand the row group. With -
(Remove Line
), you can delete all rows of the group. With +
(Copy
Line
), you can expand the group and add a new row at the bottom of the expanded group. By default, the rows are grouped if there are more than two rows of search criteria that have the same attribute and operator.
To use this function, you must activate the business function UI Framework (UI_FRW_1
).