About Filter Options

If you leave all fields blank, the collection is unfiltered, and the system retrieves all records up to the current cap on data records. This is often undesirable, so the system provides several means to filter and thus limit the return results for a search:

• You can use wildcards in filter criteria as you would in a query form. The default wildcard is *.

• You can use operators such as > (greater than), < (less than), and <> (not equal to) to augment your filter criteria.
  Note:  Unlike query forms, Filter-in-Place does not support the logical operators AND and OR. If you need to specify multiple criteria for one field or perform Boolean searches, use the Additional Criteria tab of the query form associated with your form, instead of Filter-in-Place. Also, validators do not run in Filter-In-Place mode.
• To find records that have blank values in specific fields, use the null keyword.
• To retrieve filtered criteria values in certain drop-down list fields, use the Find command on the right-click menu.
• To refine your search, you can use as many fields as necessary.

  For example, you could: use all of these options in one search:

  • Specify 41* in a Postal Code field to retrieve all customers in a particular set of zip codes.
  • Specify <>null in a Past due field to limit the search to customers who are past due on their payments.
  • Specify >4999 in a Past due amount field to further limit the search to customers who are more than $5000 in arrears.

  The results of this search would return the records of all customers who have a postal code beginning with the numbers 41, and who are $5000 or more past due on their accounts.