Run a search using a finder
- Juan Tomás Alonso Nieto (Deactivated)
Finders are the most intuitive and visual way of accessing data tables. In Devo, finders are divided into different lists, each one including a tag level. In this way, you can navigate through the lists and select the tag levels of the data table you want to access. Finders are located in the Finders tab of the Data search → Explore your data area, which is displayed by default.
What permissions do I need to use finders?
To access this area and use finders you need at least the view level of the Finders permission, otherwise the option to access the Data Search will not appear in the navigation pane on the left.
Finders explained
The four lists, from left to right, correspond to the four tag elements: technology, brand, type, and subtype.
To start a search, select the elements of each tag in the finder boxes, also known as levels. When you select a tag level in the first box on the left, the lists in the other boxes will be filtered to display only the elements that can be used with your selection. To undo your selection, click Unselect on the tag list header or simply click a tag in any level above.
Click to open the time menu and select the time period over which you want to search (see the section below for more info).
Once you select the final level of the tag, the search window will open displaying the contents of the selected data table.
How are tags displayed?
When using finders, you will notice that tags are shown in different colors and sometimes with icons in front of them. Furthermore, those colors and icons change as you click the different tag levels to reflect different behaviors. This is what they mean:
If a tag is written in black, it does not represent a table by itself but a tag level. Select it to make further selections in the levels below until you find a table.
If a tag is written in green, it represents a table by itself. Selecting it will open that table. Hover over the tag level to check the whole table name.
In case it is written in green and also presents this horizontal arrow, it is both a table by itself and a part of a table with more levels below. This always appears in combination with the text in green to let you know that you can open that table or keep selecting levels below (text in black by itself would already imply more levels below).
Click it to mark it for further tag level selections or hover and click the magnifying glass icon that appears to open the table.
If a tag presents this vertical arrow, no tag has been selected in the level above and there is more than one containing it (the number of possibilities is expressed between brackets).
Click it to see which are the possibilities and then click the desired one. They comply with the color code explained above (black-green).
If a tag presents this folder tray icon, it is a union table. Hover over the icon to see the tables composing it. To know more about union tables, click here and check the dedicated article.
Filter tags
You can use the time buttons above the tag level lists to display only tables that have received data over the last day, last week, etc. This is applicable to all finders except for the aliased, which show always all of them regardless of time.
You can filter the tag level lists to help you find the desired table. Write inside the Filter table field and all tag lists will be filtered as you type to show only those tables containing the specified string in any of their tag levels.
Setting time ranges for finders
When setting time ranges, it is important to consider different aspects related to the type of time range specified and the method chosen to do it. You can use the interface to set absolute, relative, or snap-to dates:
Absolute: a specific interval with fixed start and end dates to see data from a specific time period.
Relative: a period of time relative to the current date (last 5 minutes, last day, etc.) to see data progression up to the present.
Snap to: a period of time that goes back to the starting point of the selected time frame to see data without unrepresentative data samples resulting from analyzing incomplete periods. For example, if it is 10:53:17 on a Tuesday:
Snap to the day: you will see data beginning at 00:00 on that same Tuesday.
Snap to the hour: you will see data beginning at 10:00.
Snap to the minute: you will see data beginning at 10:53:00.
You can set a time range using the interface or manually introduce time expressions. Select the corresponding tab below to see the desired method.
Select the fields to be displayed before opening the table
Tables with a large number of fields can be cumbersome to work with when using the search window and, often, many of the fields will not be relevant to the query you want to create. In this case, you can select the fields that you want to show in the search window before opening the table.
To do this, select the ellipsis icon on the final level of the tag and choose Select fields.
This opens a window that lets you select the fields you want to show. All fields are automatically checked, if you manually uncheck a field then it will not be displayed. You can also reorder the fields by dragging them to the required place. Click Apply and the table opens in the search window showing only the fields you selected. You can also hide and show fields in the search window without affecting the query. See the Hide and show article to know how.
Types of finders
There are three types of finders in Devo.
Default finder - the main finder in Devo, where you can easily locate and access all the data tables available in your domain.
Custom finder - you can select a subset of data and create a custom finder for specific user profiles. Check the Use a custom finder article to know more about this type of finder.
Aliased finder - a finder that can be used to easily access those searches you use most frequently. You can create alternative tags, or aliases, for the tables and searches that you choose to include. Check the Use the aliased finder article to know more about this type of finder.
You can select the one you want to use as shown in the picture below.