Elementary Search Help

Use

An elementary search help defines the standard flow of an input help. You can define the following components of this flow in the search help:

Where must the data displayed in the hit list come from (selection method)
Which enhanced options should be provided for the search method (type-ahead and full text search)
What information must be displayed in the dialog box for value selection and in the hit list (search help parameters)
Which field contents can be taken into account for hit list selections and which values in the hit list can be returned to the screen fields (search help parameters)
Which dialog steps must be executed in the input help (dialog behavior)

Features

Selection Method

The possible input values displayed for a field in the hit list are determined at runtime by database selection. In the following figure you can see a simple representation of this database selection.

If all the data required in the hit list comes from one single table, it is enough to select this table (or a projection view of this table) as the selection method. If a text table exists for the table, its fields are also available in the input help. A table entry is linked with the corresponding text by the existing foreign key.

If the data required in the hit list comes from more than one table, you must link these tables with a view (database view or help view). You must define this view as the selection method.

If the underlying tables are client-specific, the client field must be contained in the view. Otherwise the selection for the input help would be for all clients.

Search Help Parameters

A search help has an interface consisting of parameters. These parameters define the fields of the selection method that is used in the input help.

A parameter of the search help must correspond to each field in the dialog box for value selection and to each field of the hit list. The parameters are copied from the corresponding selection method, that is, they have the same name as the corresponding field of the selection method.

If the search is restricted with a parameter of the search help, this is used in the data selection for formulating a WHERE condition for the field of the selection method with the same name. Conversely, the parameters of the search help are assigned to the contents of the fields of the selection method with the same name.

Caution

The search help must not contain any parameters for the clients.

If the underlying table is client-dependent, the system automatically selects only those values for the input help that belong to the current client.

A data element must be assigned to each search help parameter. That is, a type must be defined for the search help parameters.

A search help can contain further parameters that do not correspond to any field of the selection method. This is necessary only if the standard flow of the input help described by the search help still has to be modified with a search help exit.

Import and Export Parameters

When an input help is called, the entries that you already made in the input template are taken into consideration. For example, if you call the input help for the flight number and you have already specified the carrier, only the numbers of flights of this carrier are offered.

On the other hand, if you select one row of the hit list, more than one field of the input template has to be filled with data from the selected row of the hit list. For example, if the flight number is obtained from the hit list, the city of departure and the destination must also be returned in the screen template. The following figure explains this using an example.

The interface of a search help defines the context data that can be used in the input help and the data that can be returned in the input template.

A parameter of a search help can be classified as:

Import parameters:
Parameters with which context information from the processed input template (screen) is copied to the help process.
Export parameters:
Parameters with which values from the hit list are returned to the input template.

Note
A parameter can be an input and an export parameter at the same time. A search help can also contain parameters that are neither import nor export parameters. For example, such parameters could be required for the internal input help process.

When you attach a search help, you must define where the import parameters of the search help get their values from, and the fields in which the contents of the export parameters are returned. For more information, see Value Transport for Input Helps.

Description of the Online Behavior

The online behavior defines the steps executed in the input help process as well as the structure of the hit list and dialog box for value selection.

The dialog type defines whether or not the dialog box for value selection is displayed. If you want to skip the dialog box for value selection, the hit list is displayed directly after calling the input help.

When you define an elementary search help, you can define the appearance of the dialog box for value selection and the hit list. For example, you can define the position of a parameter in the dialog box for value selection. You can also define the column position in which the values of a parameter are displayed in the hit list.

Enhanced Search Help Functionality

You can enhance the functionality of a search help object to display possible search results and further values already while typing in a drop-down box beneath the search field. This assists the user who is searching for the desired entry. In addition, for fuzzy searches you can define an error-tolerant value in order to define the deviation of the relevant results.

Note

In transaction SDSH_CONFIG, you can deactivate the enhanced options system-wide by deselecting the “Use proposal search for input field” option. Note that for this purpose the standard authorization 02 (‚change‘) of the authorization object S_DEVELOP is required.

Input fields that have a search help with enabled enhanced options assigned to them indicate this with a magnifying glass.

Input field that supports the enhanced options

Search Methods

In transaction SE11, you can select the enhanced options for each elementary search help. Depending on the enhanced options selected and the capabilities of the database, the following search methods are provided:

Type-ahead search: Input fields using this search help are enabled for the proposal search – that is, a magnifying glass will be shown. The user´s search term is automatically completed and / or possible proposals of the search result are displayed in a drop-down box. From this box you can select the matching database entries already while typing, without the need to invoke the traditional F4 help dialog. This feature uses the standard pattern-based logic of the search help infrastructure and is therefore available on all databases.
Full text search: If the “Multi-column Full Text Search” option is enabled and the relevant database system supports it, a full text search is also performed on the selection method(s). In contrast to the pattern-based logic, the system searches for the search string in all columns that are marked as searchable. The full text search can be executed in an error-tolerant way (see table below for details).

Prerequisites

In order to provide an enhanced search help, you will need to take the following prerequisites into consideration:

SAP GUI version 7.30 for Windows Patch Level 5, recommended Patch Level 6
SAP NetWeaver 7.4 SP06
The fuzzy search is currently only supported for SAP HANA database on ABAP systems.

Limitations

The type-ahead and full text searches are currently only supported for SAP GUI screens on Windows. Other UI technologies such as Web Dynpro are currently not supported. For more information, see SAP Note 1861491.

Enhanced Options

The following enhanced options are provided:

Table 1:
Option	Relevant Search Method	Description
Proposal Search for Input Fields	Type-ahead	This option defines that a search help object is capable of running a type-ahead call. The search results are displayed in a list generated on the basis of the modeled LPos parameters. The values of the parameter that belongs to the input field are always displayed in the first column of the drop-down box, irrespective of the LPos value. All other parameters follow in accordance with their LPos value. Note If only this field is set, or if the "Multi-column Full Text Search" option is not supported by the database used by the system, the search is executed solely on the column of the database that belongs to the field or the assigned search help parameter. Additional selection conditions for other columns of the table(s) or view will only be taken into consideration as follows: If these selection conditions are modeled as additional IMPORT parameters in the search help. If values are stored in the user interface or as default values in the search help and if they can be matched to the IMPORT parameters. In the drop-down box of an entry or search field, by default 10 search results are displayed. Before you activate this option for search help objects that contain exits with complex selection conditions or implement long-running operations, you should test this search help object for its runtime behavior. Moreover, you must ensure that an existing search help exit does not call SAP GUI-specific logic (such as call own dialogs) on its own.
Multi-column Full Text Search (Database-Specific)	Full text search	The system performs a full text multi-column search in addition to the standard pattern-based search. Results of both searches are combined and returned in their order of relevance with respect to the search query. Note You can only select this option if the “Proposal Search for Input Fields” option is already selected and the selection method(s) support(s) full text search. This applies to tables, text tables as well as standard and projection views. Other variants are not supported. The corresponding columns must be marked as `IMPORT` or `SPos` parameters.
Accuracy Value for Error-tolerant Full Text Search	Fuzzy search	The error-tolerant value determines the variation bandwidth of the displayed search results. Thus, spelling mistakes can also be considered. Note This value ranges between 0 and 1. A score of 0 means the search query and the search result do not have anything in common. 1 means that must be a complete match. Thus, the lower the value, the more variations are displayed. The error-tolerant value can only be applied to the multi-column full text search.