Files in the repository, both structured and unstructured, are indexed using the full-text search scanner. (This is different from, and complimentary to, the search functionality provided by SQL queries, which we will begin to explore in the next step.)

In this step you will search your files using full-text search and you will add tags to files to support more advanced search options.

Add Search User Interface

Search the Data

  • Enter "serum" into the search box.
  • The search results show a variety of documents that contain the search term "serum".
  • Click the links to view the contents of these documents.
  • Try other search terms and explore the results. You might see an empty result for "Darwin" or "Mendel" before you complete the next part of this tutorial.
  • Click Advanced Options for more options including:
    • narrowing your search to selected categories of data.
    • specifying the desired project and folder scope.
  • See an interactive example: Search LabKey documentation for "serum".

File Tagging

In many cases it is helpful to tag your files with custom properties to aid in searching, for example, when the desired search text is not already part of the file itself. For example, you might want to tag files in your repository under their appropriate project code names, say "Darwin" and "Mendel", and later retrieve files tagged for that project.

To tag files with custom properties, follow these steps:

Define a 'Project' Property

  • Click the File Repository link.
  • In the Files web part header, click Admin. If you don't see it, try the >> pulldown menu.
  • Select the File Properties tab.
  • Select Use Custom File Properties.
  • Click Edit Properties.
  • In the Name field, enter "Project".
    • Click Save & Close.

Apply the Property to Files

  • Open the folder tree toggle and expand directories.
  • Select any two files using their checkboxes.
  • Click (Edit Properties). It may be shown only as a wrench-icon. (Hover over any icon-only buttons to see a tooltip with the text. You might need to use the files web part Admin > Toolbar and Grid Settings interface to make it visible.)
  • In the Project field you just defined, enter "Darwin" for the first file.
  • Click Next.
  • In the Project field, enter "Mendel".

Retrieve Tagged Files

  • In the Search web part, enter "Darwin" and click Search. Then try "Mendel".
  • Your tagged files will be retrieved, along with any else on your server that contains these strings.

Turn Search Off (Optional)

The full-text search feature can search content in all folders where the user has read permissions. There may be cases when you want to disable global searching for some content which is otherwise readable. For example, you might disable searching of a folder containing archived versions of documents so that only the more recent versions appear in project-wide search results.

  • To turn the search function off in a given folder, first navigate to it.
  • Select (Admin) > Folder > Management, and click the Search tab.
  • Remove the checkmark and click Save.

Note that you can still search from within the folder itself for content there. This feature turns off global searches from other places.

Previous Step | Next Step

Was this content helpful?

Log in or register an account to provide feedback


previousnext
 
expand allcollapse all