Advanced Search - Metasys - LIT-12011953 - Server - Metasys UI - 7.0.50

Metasys UI Help
Product
Building Automation Systems > Graphics and Interfaces > Metasys UI
Document type
User Guide
Document number
LIT-12011953
Version
7.0.50
Revision date
2024-03-19
Product status
Active

What is Advanced Search?

With Advanced Search you can gather and analyze data for any object in the system with the use of filters. Advanced Search provides an easy way to navigate to associated Building Network objects, spaces, and equipment.

Where do I find the Advanced Search?

  1. Open the User menu.
  2. Click or tap Advanced Search & Reporting.

See also What are auto-populated Advanced Search filters and how do I use them? for an alternative way of accessing Advanced Search.

What filter types are available in Advanced Search?

There are five different filter types that you can use to narrow your search results, including Space & Equipment, Object Type, Equipment Definition, Name/Label, and Search Locations. In addition, you have the option to choose to exclude extensions and to include child objects. You can use multiple types of filters within one search. For example, you can search in two different spaces. Using multiple filters within one search acts as an AND function.

See also What are auto-populated Advanced Search filters and how do I use them?.

How do I use the Space & Equipment and the Name filter types?

  1. Type your required filter in the respective filter type's search bar.
  2. Click or tap on the filter, or press Enter to select that filter.
Note:
  • In the Name filter type, items only appear if the browser auto-fill option is set to true or on.
  • You can use wildcards when searching with the Name filter type. For example, ZN* retrieves all results with a name starting with ZN.
  • For points mapped to equipment objects, the Name filter type applies to the equipment definition's point name. For points unmapped to equipment objects, the name filter applies to the object's Name attribute.

How do I use the Equipment Definition filter type?

  1. Click or tap Select in the drop-down menu.
  2. Select one, several, or all of the Equipment Definitions from the available options, or type the required Equipment Definition in the search bar, and click or tap on the Equipment Definition you want to use. The selected Equipment Definition appears as a drop-down menu.
    Note: If you want to use Select All on an iPad with more than 200 Equipment Definitions, double-tap Select All to select all of the Equipment Definitions. A simple tap may not work in this case.
  3. Select point names in the drop-down menu to add them to the filter.

Once you select the points, the count of selected points appears next to the Equipment Definition. The following figure illustrates the selection of two points for the Equipment Definition AHU.

Figure 1. Equipment Definition point selection

Note:
  • If you do not select a point in the drop-down menu, all points relating to the selected Equipment Definition appear in the search results.
  • If the points of two Equipment Definitions are similar, the search results only show the selected point in the respective Equipment Definition.

How do I use the Object Type filter type?

  1. Click or tap Select in the drop-down menu.
  2. Select the required filter from the available options, or type the required filter in the search bar, and click or tap on the filters that you want to use.

How do I use the Search Locations filter type?

To use the Search Locations filter, complete the following steps:
  1. Click or tap CHOOSE ITEMS.
  2. Navigate through the Network tree or Views in the Search Locations window to find the objects that you want to filter with.
  3. Select the required objects and click the arrows to add or remove objects as filters.
    Note: You can add a maximum of 100 objects to the Search Locations filter.
  4. Click or tap SAVE.

How do I use the Exclude Extensions filter?

Select the Exclude Extensions check box to condense your search results for objects that have extensions configured. If you select the check box, the search result contains objects only. If you clear the check box, the search result contains objects and their extensions, such as trend, alarm, totalization, load, averaging, and resource file.

If you select the check box in combination with the Space & Equipment filter or the Equipment Definition filter, the search result contains mapped points only. If you clear the check box and use the Space & Equipment filter or the Equipment Definition filter, the search result contains mapped points and their extensions.

How do I use the Include Child Objects filter?

Select the Include Child Objects check box to get a comprehensive search result that includes all the objects present under a site object, for example. If you clear the check box, the search result contains the first level child objects only.

What are auto-populated Advanced Search filters and how do I use them?

You can initiate an Advanced Search directly from certain widgets. This uses auto-populated Advanced Search filters, instead of manually adding filters and finding related items in Advanced Search. The system applies the appropriate filters, based on the widget in which you initiate Advanced Search, and automatically starts the search. This feature is also known as Smart Filtering.

See the following tables for information about the supported widgets and the corresponding auto-populated filters:
Table 1. Widgets and automatically applied filters
Widget Applied filters
Equipment Summary Selected Equipment Definition and Space
Equipment Serving Space Equipment
Graphics Space
Equipment Data Equipment
Graphics Equipment
Summary View, Standard summary Search Locations: Device
Summary View, Tailored summary Select the column heading link to open Advanced Search for objects in that column.
Note: The Options filters are also dynamically checked or unchecked to best maintain the result set of the source destination.
To initiate an Advanced Search directly from these widgets:
  1. Click or tap View In ().
  2. Click or tap Advanced Search on the drop-down menu. The Advanced Search feature opens and you can see that the filters Equipment Definition, Equipment, Space, or Search Locations, respectively, appear in the filter menu and automatically define the search.
Note: If you want to change the filter parameters during the search, click or tap Cancel and manually change the parameters in the filter menu.

What do Advanced Search results look like?

The following figures show the Advanced Search filter screen and the results screen.
Figure 2. Advanced Search filters callouts
Figure 3. Advanced Search results callouts
Table 2. Advanced Search callouts
Number Name Description

1

Search tab

This tab is the default view. The Actions menu and the Filter menu show below this tab.

2

Actions button menu

You can select items from this menu to perform actions on the returned search results. Actions include bulk commanding, bulk modifying, and creating reports.

3

Reports tab

You can run various base reports on specific devices or on the entire site.

You can also view and edit your scheduled reports under Saved From Search, and view report templates that are not scheduled.

4

Filter button

This opens the Filter menu to show the available filter options.

5

Search button

This searches your Metasys site for objects that meet the filter criteria.

6

Filter menu

You can apply filters to narrow down your search.

7

Results columns
This lists the Type, Name/Label, Item Reference, Value, Units, Status, Description, Authorization Category, Spaces and Equipment related to the search results.
Note: You can sort the results by clicking on the column header. For example, click on NAME/Label once to sort from A-Z, or twice to sort from Z-A. If you click on the column header a third time, the list reverts to the default order.

8

Filters

This shows the applied filters for the performed advanced search.

9

Clear All hyperlink

This clears all applied filters.

10

Returned Results count

This shows the number of returned results from your search. A maximum of 2000 results can be returned.

11

Export button

Exports the search results to a .csv file.
Note: The export functionality is not supported on tablets and smartphones.

12

Object icon

This shows the types of object returned in the results.

13

Check box

You can use this box to choose objects in conjunction with the Actions menu items.

14

Data Generated

This shows when the search results were last updated. The Data Generated information appears only when more than 200 results were returned.

Note:
  • The maximum returned results is 2000. A message stating Maximum numbers of rows reached. Please refine your search within filters. appears if you reach the maximum.
  • Data is dynamically updated if there are 200 or fewer items in the results table.

Can I export or print the information that appears in the Advanced Search results?

Yes, you can export information that appears in the Advanced Search results on a computer. The export functionality is not supported on tablets and smartphones. To export all the information that appears in the Advanced Search results to a .csv file, click the export button. To export certain results only, select the results you want to export and click the export button.

In addition, you can export and print information that appears in the Advanced Search in the form of a report. See How do I create a report?