The mgiSearchDatabase Tag Tag Behavior Use the mgiSearchDatabase tag is used to search a database and display the results. Tag Syntax The mgiSearchDatabase tag has a beginning tag with one required parameter and thirteen optional parameters, a body, and an ending tag . The tag form is: <mgiSearchDatabase databaseName="Database" keyFieldName="Field Name" fieldValue="Value" keyFieldName="Field Name" pageVariableName="Variable Name" keyFieldName="Field Name" pathArgumentName="Path Argument Name" keyFieldName="Field Name" postArgumentName="Post Argument Name" orderByField="Field Name" reverseOrder="Yes/No" resultsPerPage="Integer" page="Integer" resultVariableName="Variable Name" odbcDatasource="Source Name" odbcUsername="Name" odbcPassword="Password"> Template for Results Display </mgiSearchDatabase> or <mgiSearchDatabase databaseName="Database" searchString="String" resultsPerPage="Integer" page="Integer" resultVariableName="Variable Name" odbcDatasource="Source Name" odbcUsername="Name" odbcPassword="Password"> Template for Results Display </mgiSearchDatabase> Required Parameters: databaseName - The database is the name of the database to search. Optional Parameters: keyFieldName - The keyFieldName is the name of the database field to search. Multiple keyFieldName parameters may be included in one mgiSearchDatabase tag, but each keyFieldName parameter must be immediately followed by a fieldValue, pageVariableName, pathArgumentName, or postArgumentName parameter that contains the search criteria for that field. When multiple keyFieldName and value pairs are present, an AND search is performed. To perform an OR search, you must use the searchString parameter. fieldValue - The fieldValue is the search criteria for the preceding keyFieldName parameter in the mgiSearchDatabase tag. pageVariableName - The pageVariableName is the name of the page variable that contains the search criteria for the preceding keyFieldName parameter in the mgiSearchDatabase tag. pathArgumentName - The pathArgumentName is the name of the path argument that contains the search criteria for the preceding keyFieldName parameter in the mgiSearchDatabase tag. postArgumentName - The postArgumentName is the name of the post argument that contains the search criteria for the preceding keyFieldName parameter in the mgiSearchDatabase tag. searchString - The search string is a fully formatted search string containing the field names to search, the search criteria, and the search operations. If the searchString parameter is specified, the keyFieldName, pageVariableName, pathArgumentName, postArgumentName, orderByField, and reverseOrder parameters are ignored. Search strings should contain field name and search criteria in the format keyFieldName='criteria'. Valid operators are "=" (equals), ">" (greater than), "<" (less than), ">=" (greater than and equal to), and "<=" (less than and equal to). Field name and search criteria pairs should be separated by the search operator "AND", "OR", or "NOT". To order the results from a search string, include the order by field in the format ORDER BY keyFieldName. By default, search results are in asending order (ASC). To reverse the order of results in a search string, specify descending order by including DESC after the ORDER BY field. You may not enter quotes ("") in the value of the search string parameter. The following are example search strings: searchString="LastName='J*' OR LastName='L' AND Registration='Yes' ORDER BY CustID DESC" searchString="FirstName='Ken' AND NOT LastName='Barker' orderByField - The orderByField is the name of the database field that is used to order search results. Only indexed fields can be used to order search results. reverseOrder - The reverseOrder parameter specifies if the results are listed in ascending or descending order. If the reverseOrder parameter value is "Yes", then results are listed in descending order. If the reverseOrder parameter value is "No", then results are listed in ascending order. The default value is "No". resultsPerPage - The resultsPerPage is the number of search results to display. The default value is 25. The maximum value of this parameter is controlled by the region settings for the Database Module. The default maximum is 100 and must be specifically overridden in the region settings to be able to return more than 100 records. page - The page is the set of search results to display. For example, if the resultsPerPage is set to "25", then page 1 displays results 1 to 25 and page 2 displays results 26 to 50. The default value is 1. resultVariableName - The resultVariableName is the name prepended to result variables that contain information about the search. You may choose any name for the result variable prefix. To display result variables use the mgiGet tag. In the following list of available result variables, the resultVariableName value is "resultvar". Result variables are created and available anywhere on the page after the mgiSearchDatabase tag. resultvar_ResultCount - A page variable with the total number of results. resultvar_FirstIndex - A page variable with the index number of the first result shown on the page. resultvar_LastIndex - A page variable with the index number of the last result shown on the page. resultvar_PrevPage - A page variable with the number of the page preceding the current page. The value of this variable is zero (0) if the current page is 1. resultvar_Page - A page variable with the number of the page currently displaying resultvar_NextPage - A page variable with the number of the page following the current page. The value of this variable is zero (0) if the current page is the last page. resultvar_LastPage - A page variable with the number of the last page. displayPrecision - The displayPrecision parameter specifies the precision that should be used to display a decimal number. The format is "fieldName, precision". Multiple displayPrecision parameters may be specified, one for each decimal number field that is to be formatted with a certain number of decimal places. If the specified precision has less decimal places than the actual number, the number is rounded. If the specified precision has more decimal places than the actual number, the number is padded with trailing zeroes. For example, use displayPrecision="Price, 2" to display the Price field formatted with two decimal places. odbcDatasource (NT only) - The odbcDatasource is the name of datasource on the server that provides access information for an external ODBC database. If the odbcDatasource parameter is included, database information will be searched in the specified ODBC database rather than the internal MGI database. Inquire with the server administrator for additional information about the use of ODBC databases. If you include the odbcDatasource parameter, the odbcUsername and odbcPassword parameters are required. odbcUsername (NT only) - The odbcUsername is the username required to access the ODBC datasource. The odbcUsername parameter is required if you include the odbcDatasource parameter. odbcPassword (NT only) - The odbcPassword is the code required to access the ODBC datasource. The odbcPassword parameter is required if you include the odbcDatasource parameter. Results Display: The body of the mgiSearchDatabase tag contains a template display that is repeated for each search result. To retrieve a field value for a result, use the placeholder format of &mgiDBFieldEnterFieldNameHere; in the body of the mgiSearchDatabase tag. Each placeholder will be replaced with the specific information in that field for each result. For example, to include values from the FirstName field in the database for each result, you would enter the following in your template: &mgiDBFieldFirstName; To display the unique database ID for a result, use the field name "MGIIDFIELD". Example Usage and Output <mgiSearchDatabase databaseName="Homes" keyFieldName="Style" postArgumentName="StyleSearch" resultsPerPage="25" page="1" resultVariableName="HomeSearch"> <P>House Address: &mgiDBFieldAddress; <P>House Style: &mgiDBFieldStyle; <P>Price: &mgiDBFieldPrice; <BR> </mgiSearchDatabase> Results found: <mgiGet name="HomeSearch_ResultCount"> In this example, a user selects search criteria for a home based on home styles. The Homes database is searched and the following would display if there were three matching results: House Address: 128 B Lane Ave House Style: Ranch Price: 120,000 House Address: 8827 Main St House Style: Ranch Price: 80,000 House Address: 3289 Octavia St House Style: Ranch Price: 200,000 Results found: 3 In the following example, the Homes database is searched using a string search with ordering. <mgiSet name="SearchString"> Style='<mgiPostArgument name="StyleSearch">' ORDER BY Price DESC </mgiSet> <mgiSearchDatabase databaseName="Homes" searchString={mgiGet name="SearchString"} resultsPerPage="25" page="1" resultVariableName="HomeSearch"> <P>House Address: &mgiDBFieldAddress; <P>House Style: &mgiDBFieldStyle; <P>Price: &mgiDBFieldPrice; <BR> </mgiSearchDatabase> The results of the string search would be: House Address: 3289 Octavia St House Style: Ranch Price: 200,000 House Address: 128 B Lane Ave House Style: Ranch Price: 120,000 House Address: 8827 Main St House Style: Ranch Price: 80,000 Suggested Usage Database Searches