This allows you to partition searches and may be preferable over using multiple indexes for this purpose.
The physical path name of a document is central to the use of filename filters. If you are unsure of how filters work read the Perceptive Enterprise Search Query Online Help and experiment with Perceptive Enterprise Search Query.
For example, assume your documents are in the folder:
F:\CORPDB\
Underneath that folder your documents may be partitioned into a set of sub-folders. For example:
F:\CORPDB\LIT F:\CORPDB\LEG F:\CORPDB\COR F:\CORPDB\KB
When designing your index you may select the top most folder to encapsulate it and all child folders. Filtering allows you to restrict searches to one or more sub-folders based on their name.
<b>Search in:<p></b> <input type="CHECKBOX" name="IW_FILTER_PATH" value="\LIT\">Litigation <br> <input type="CHECKBOX" name="IW_FILTER_PATH" value="\LEG\">Legal<br> <input type="CHECKBOX" name="IW_FILTER_PATH" value="\COR\">Correspondence<br> <input type="CHECKBOX" name="IW_FILTER_PATH" value="\KB\">Knowledge Base<br> <div class="separator"></div> Search for: <input name="IW_FIELD_TEXT"> <input type="submit" name="IW_FIELD_OK" value="Search">
If no filter is selected then the search is unrestricted and occurs across all folders. If more than one filter is selected then documents may occur in any of those folders.
Further filter methods are:
| IW_FILTER_OMIT_PATH | Discard results from this folder. |
| IW_FILTER_PATH | Include results from this folder. |
| IW_FILTER_FNAME_LIKE | Include results with filenames like this. |
| IW_FILTER_FNAME_UNLIKE | Discard results with filenames like this. |
| IW_FILTER_DATE_BEFORE | Include results with dates before this. |
| IW_FILTER_DATE_AFTER | Include results with dates after this. |
| IW_FILTER_FIRST_DATE_BEFORE | Include results when the first date in the document is before this. |
| IW_FILTER_FIRST_DATE_AFTER | Exclude results when the first date in the document is before this. |
| IW_FILTER_INDEXED_DATE_BEFORE | Include results indexed before this. |
| IW_FILTER_INDEXED_DATE_AFTER | Include results indexed after this. |
| IW_FILTER_CATEGORY_LIKE | Include results that belong to a category like this. |
| IW_FILTER_CATEGORY_UNLIKE | Exclude results that belong to a category like this. |
Note that the supplied date must be in 'YYYYMMDD' format or as an offset from "Now" formatted as [+|-][D|M|Y]n.
E.g. To include only files last modified since November 1st, 2004:
<input type="hidden" name="IW_FILTER_DATE_AFTER" value="20041101" />
To include only files modified in the last month:
<input type="hidden" name="IW_FILTER_DATE_AFTER" value="-M1" />
You can also create links that will apply filters from the results list. The links must be structured in the following manner:
/isysquery/RESULTID/FILTERVALUE/filter/FILTERTYPE/
Where RESULTID is the results list ID, FILTERVALUE is the value of the filter, and FILTERTYPE is the filter
method you wish to use.
For example:
<a href="/isysquery/{RESULTID}/Research/filter/categorylike/">Show Documents from Research Only</a>
Note: The efficiency considerations for filters versus chained indexes are symmetrically opposite. This offers some interesting design opportunities. Specifically, searching a chain of indexes has a small added overhead compared to searching a single larger index. On the other hand, searching a smaller amount of data via a filter has a small added overhead compared to an unfiltered search. Both methods result in a small loss of performance.
Note: Filename filters are subject to a limitation: the total length of all the filters you are using must be less than 100 characters.