Please note : This help page is not for the latest version of Enterprise Architect. The latest help can be found here.
Define & Modify Searches
Having created a new Query Builder search, you can define the actions of the search using a series of filters on the Query Builder tab of the search editor. A filter is a statement instructing the search to extract objects of a certain type with a specific property having a specific value or a value within a defined range. You can have a number of filters within one search. If you have copied an existing search as a base for the new search, the tab will contain filters already. If the search is completely new, the tab will be empty.
You build up the search definition in two areas:
| · | The Add Filters dialog, where you can configure the filters to whatever level of precision you require |
| · | The Query Builder tab, where you can modify the filter settings, define how specific a part of the model to search, and test the search |
Access Edit | Search Model ( Ctrl+Alt+A ) | <select search>: 
> Query Builder
Build a Search
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1 |
Click on the If you already have filters in the search, you can add others of the same filter set by selecting the filter set label (such as Attribute) before you click on the icon. The filter items are then refined to that filter set on the Add Filters dialog.
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2 |
If necessary (for example, if you are modifying a copy of an existing search) remove selected filter items. Click on either the filter itself or the filter set heading and click on the
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3 |
If you have edited a system-provided search prior to saving it as your own search, and you have decided that the changes are not appropriate, you can 'roll back' to the original settings. Click on the
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4 |
Click on the
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Edit Search on Query Builder tab
On the Query Builder tab, you can activate, deactivate and modify the individual filters within the search. This is especially useful for 'tweaking' the search as you test it.
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Action |
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Search In |
If the Search contains many filters in a number of filter sets, you can collapse the filter sets you don't want to review, and expand those you do. Click on the expansion box ( Click on the checkbox next to an object property to select it for inclusion in the search, or clear it and omit it from the search.
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Condition |
If you want to change the condition that the property value must satisfy, click twice on the field to display the drop-down list and select the new Condition. The available options are Contains, Equal To, Not Equals and One Of.
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Look for |
In most cases, this field is initially set to <Search Term> to accept a value that the search user types into the Search Term field. If necessary, overtype the current value with one or more specific values to perform the conditional search on. This value should match the selected filter type; for example, the value would be a date for DateCreated or a text value for Name. The search term can consist of multiple values, separated by commas.
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Select the check box to indicate whether the field is mandatory - that is, whether the search results must only include elements with your search term in that field. These examples show uses of the Required checkbox in the default Simple search, which checks the Name, Alias and Notes fields of all elements:
These checkboxes help you to define the filters on a specific feature (such as Element, Diagram or Attribute). You can also set up a filter to check for a defined value in every feature covered by a search (an AND filter) or in any feature covered by the search (an OR filter).
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Notes
| · | When you have set up your search, click on the Save Search icon in the Query Builder toolbar and then the  (Search in Model) icon to run the search and test it |
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