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Epicor® Quick Searches

What is an Epicor® Quick Search:

A quick search is a BAQ that the user can manipulate by entering in parameters.  It works similarly to a BAQ Report or a Crystal Report, but is used EXCLUSIVELY as a search tool.

When to develop an Epicor® Quick Search:

It is best to develop a Quick Search when the user wants a BAQ to display data after entering in parameters.

Get Help with Quick Searches

How to Create an Epicor® Quick Search:

Wherever there is a ‘searchable button’ you can create an Epicor® Quick Search.  For example, on the Customer Maintenance Screen there is a button labeled “Customer.”  After pressing it a “Customer Search” window will open up.  There, you will see several tabs, one of which is “Quick Search.” When finished, this is where the Quick Search will appear.

Before starting your Quick Search (QS), you must ask the user WHERE they want the quick search to operate, the application name, AND the field/button where they want the QS to appear.  For this example, the user would want a “Customer Search” in the Customer Maintenance screen.

To start creating a QS, open the application where the user wants the QS to appear.  Then click on Help à field help, make sure that “Technical Details” is highlighted, and click on the field next to the search button.  This should be the field that the search button ‘feeds’ (more on ‘should’ later).  In field help, you will see the table.field that is associated to this box. Make a note of the table.field because you will use this later (exa Customer.CustID).  This is the ‘Key’ your QS will use.

Now you are ready to build the Epicor® Quick Search.

There are two applications involved in creating a quick search:  the BAQ Designer and Quick Search Maintenance.

BAQ Designer for Quick Searches

Once you have the user’s goals, and know what table.field the search button is tied to, start creating the BAQ that the QS will use.  For the example, the user wants to search Customers by their BillTo Information.  Since you know that the ‘Key’ (exa Customer.CustID) is in the Customer table, and the BillTo records are also in the Customer table, it appears the only table needed is the Customer Table.

After adding the table, navigate to Display à column Select.  Here you will select the fields that this BAQ will show.  Be sure to include the table.fields that the user wishes to see as well as the table.fields the user wishes to query by.  Also, ENSURE THAT THE ‘KEY’ IS ALSO IN THIS LIST (exa Customer.CustID).  If the KEY is not in the list the QS won’t work.

Save your BAQ and exit.

Quick Search Maintenance

Go back to the application that the user wants this QS to appear (exa Customer Maintenance).  RIGHT-click in the field next to the search button that you got the table.field from earlier, then select Quick Search Entry.

Fill in the fields on the Detail tab.  Make sure the BAQ is ‘pointing’ to the BAQ you created earlier.  Now, the “Return Column” is the ‘Key’ that we talked about earlier.  Make sure that this table.field matches the “Context Key” that comes from the field you right-clicked on (NOTE: this does not have to be a 100% match.  But the table.fields MUST be at least ‘like’ eachother.  For example, we have created a QS where the Return Column = CustCnt.CustID and the Context Key was Customer.CustID). 

 The “Context Key” is AUTOMATICALLY filled in based off the field that you launched Quick Search Maintenance from, which can cause issues.  As mentioned earlier, “This should be the field that the search button ‘feeds’.”  If you find that your QS is not appearing in the QS tab, it likely means the Search button is querying a different ‘Key’ than what is in the box next to it.  Investigate the button to figure this out.  Go to other applications that use the same button and use them to figure out what the button is querying.

The checkboxes to the right: Shared, All Occurrences, Context Default, Base Default, Suppress Base, Validation only do different things.  Basically, if the user wants the QS to appear in only the specific application, don’t check any of these boxes.  If the user wants this QS to appear for ANY search (this is the likely scenario) that returns the same ‘Key’, check Shared and All Occurrences.  In the example, since the return column is Customer.CustID, this QS will appear in all QS tabs that query the CustID.

Save your QS.

Next, navigate to the ‘Criteria tab, click on the new button and select, “New Quick Search Criteria.”  This is how you add your parameters.  YOU MUST CREATE AT LEAST ONE CRITERIA FOR THE QS, IN ORDER FOR THE QS TO APPEAR IN THE TAB!  Add each parameter that your user wants to search by through this process.

When adding a Parameter (Criteria) choose the table.field that the parameter will query against, and the caption of the parameter.  Next is the condition. Choose appropriately here, but a good rule of thumb is to always go with ‘BEGINS’ because it gives the user flexibility in their search.  The only likely reason we would NOT using BEGINS is if the parameter is a true/false.

Save your QS after entering in all of your Criteria then log off of and back onto Epicor®.

Now, when you go to the application you created your quick search in, click on the search button and then the Quick Search tab. You will see your created QS.  Select it, and click ‘Search’

Then the QS will appear.  You’re done!

Need help with Epicor® Quick Searches or with customizing Epicor® for your business? Contact PracticalTek today. Our consultants offer professional training, development, upgrades, customization and more.

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