Untitled Document

	Searching (Lookups)

Program Navigation : Various

Section Description

Searching for records is one of the most common operations when using databases. After all, having hundreds of records at your fingertips does you no good if you can't find the one that you are looking for.

Steps

Most of the screens in the Windows Stock System have a search bar at the top of the window. The one in the stock file is shown below.

The search bar consists of two fields, the index field and the search field. The index field in this case is set to description. The index field is what type of information that you are searching for, in this case the description of an ingredient. The search, choose what you are looking for in the index field, and then type in what you need into the search field, and hit enter.

For example, if I wanted to find Self-Raising Flour in the stock file, I would type in "flour" in the search field, and then hit enter. This search would return several results, in a list on the screen. I could then double-click on the item that I want, and the stock file will jump to that record. If the search only returns one value, the the stock file will jump there automatically.

Alternatively, if I knew the Item number of the item that I was searching for, I could choose Item number in the index field, and then type in the number in the search field, and hit enter, and this would return the item with that item number.

The arrow buttons to the left and right of the searching bar are used for stepping through the database. The two single arrows jump back and forwards one record, and the two outer buttons jump to the first and last records in the database.