Query Operations

Once you specify the query criteria used to select the ARs on which you want to perform an operation, you use the Query menu to select the operation. The Query menu is shown below.

Figure: Query Menu

You can select any of the following operations:

Table: Query Operations
Operation	Action
List	Displays a one-line summary of each AR.
Display	Displays a read-only view of each AR.
Modify Individual	Displays an editable view of each AR.
Modify All	Displays a blank schema that allows you to make modifications to all ARs that match the query criteria or were selected.
Report	Opens a Report window that allows you to generate a formatted report on the ARs that match the query criteria or were selected.
Delete	Deletes ARs (administrator and subadministrator only).

When you select an operation, the system executes the search according to the criteria you specified and opens a window that relates to the operation you selected. Depending on the operation, you may need to perform additional tasks. For example, if you select Report, you need to specify the report format. (See Reports for more information on report formats.)

You can specify how your query operation results are sorted by selecting the Sort Options menu item on the Actions menu. You can also specify the maximum number of ARs to return in your query operation using the Max in Query preference on the Preference dialog box which you can display by selecting Preferences on the File menu and then selecting Query.

After performing an operation, you can return to the Query window and select another operation (changing the criteria if you wish).

The results of each new query appear in a separate window, as illustrated in the figure below. All windows remain open until you close them or log in as a different user. You can also minimize any window.

Figure: Results of Multiple Query Operations

The following sections describe how to sort your query operation results as well as how to specify the maximum number of ARs to return in your query operation. They also describe the List, Display, Modify Individual, Modify All, and Delete operations in detail. For more information about the Report operation, see Reports.

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Sorting Query Operation Results

You can specify a sorting order that affects how the results of your query operations are displayed. You can specify up to five fields with each field ordered either in ascending or descending order and you can define a different sort order for each schema. Once you specify a sorting order, if you specified Permanent in the Status field it remains in effect until you change it. You can specify that the sort order take effect only in the next operation by specifying Next Operation in the Status field. You can sort by any field with the exception of status history, diary, or character fields with a maximum length of over 255 bytes.

Once you specify a sorting order, the next time any open Query List windows with the Polling field set to On automatically reissues the query, the Query List window changes to reflect the new sorting order. The next time you manually reissue a query from a Query List window by selecting Refresh on the Query menu, the Query List window changes to reflect the new sorting order. Also, any Query List windows that you open after you specify or change the sorting order reflect this new sorting order. For more information about opening new Query List windows, or about automatically and manually reissuing a query from a Query List window, see Listing Action Requests.

By default, all ARs are sorted by entry ID in ascending order, thereby listing all ARs in ascending order by create date (oldest AR first with the newest AR last). Once you specify a sorting order, you can disable it by selecting Disable in the Status field. One example where you might want to sort the results of your query operation is if you want the most recently entered AR at the top of your query list, or to be the first AR in the Display or Modify Individual window. To do this, you can list all ARs in descending order by entry ID or create date. Click here to see a figure that illustrates a Query List window with this type of sorting.

Another example would be if you were a Help Desk Manager and you needed to produce a report that sorted all help call ARs first by who submitted them (responsible employee), then by the status of the AR, and finally in descending order by date (most recent AR first). To accomplish this, using the DemoHelpDesk schema, first sort by the Assigned-to field, then by the Status field, and finally by the Arrival Time field in descending order. (Since your AR System administrator specifies the fields that are contained in a query list, to see all of these fields in your Query List window, see your AR System administrator.) Sorting like this allows you to see quickly the number of calls your employees are logging and how many ARs they have in each status setting.

Click here to see a figure that illustrates this type of sorting.

If you needed to produce this report on a regular basis, you could create a custom report and specify these sorting options to only go into effect when the custom report is run. This way you can specify one sorting order for your normal query operations and a separate sorting order for each of your custom reports. For more information about specifying sorting options when creating custom reports, see Reports.

Specifying the sorting order in query operations

Select Sort Options from the Actions menu to display the Field Sort Order dialog box, as shown in the figure below. The example below shows the sort order used in the previous sorting example (click here to view).

Figure: Field Sort Order Dialog Box

Select the menu symbol to the right of the Field Name field. All of the fields on the current schema that you can sort by are displayed.
Select the field you want to sort by.
Select either the Ascending or Descending Sort Order radio button next to the Field Name field you just edited.
To delete a specified sorting criteria, delete the value in the Field Name field.
Continue specifying up to five fields with their sort order.

The first field you select to sort by is the first criteria used for sorting, the second field is the second criteria, the third field is the third criteria, the fourth field is the fourth criteria, and the fifth field is the fifth criteria used for sorting.

Select Permanent in the Status field to apply this sorting order to all operations.

Select Next Operation to apply this sorting order to the next query operation only, and then return to the previous sort order.

Select Disable to return to the default sort order. If no sort options are specified or if Disabled is selected, the items in the query operations are sorted in ascending order by entry ID.

Once you are finished specifying your field sort order, select the OK button.

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Specifying a Maximum Number of ARs

You can specify a maximum number of ARs that you want displayed when doing one of the query operations. By doing this, you can control the number of ARs that match your query criteria that are displayed at any one time. Should you perform a query operation that matches more than this specified maximum value, you receive a warning message letting you know that there are more ARs that match your specified query criteria that are not being returned in your results. Specifying a maximum number of ARs is useful if issuing an unqualified query would return too many ARs and impact the performance of your AR System by slowing down the server. For more information about specifying a maximum number of ARs, see the Max in Query desktop preference in the section entitled Setting User Preferences.

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