Searching against a multi value list data type

Good morning!

I currently use the multi value list data type for a product line property in my Part item type. Our products share a lot of subassemblies and components, so any particular part could be assigned to multiple product lines. This makes sense on the part form, where the user can see Part 123 is a member of Product Line A, B, and C for example.

However, this data type has one major drawback that I have not figured out how to overcome: searching. By default, the multi value list uses the 'AND' operator when evaluating multi value list selections as search critera.

For example:

In the Part search grid, if you select Product Line A and search, Aras will return parts with ONLY Product Line A selected; Parts with Product Line A & B, or A B & C will be excluded.

In addition, because the data type is a multi value list and not text, users cannot use wildcard characters in the search bar for this property.

These 2 issues severly limit the usability of the multi value list data type as search criteria. Intuitively, I believe users select Product Lines in their search criteria under the assumption of the 'OR' operator: selecting Product Line A, B means I would like to see parts that are under either Product Line A OR Product Line B OR both.

I've thought about a method that copied the multi value list to a separate property that is text (ex: 'A, B, C'). This would give the user the ability to search with wildcards, but would not help when searching multiple values because then the order of the values in the list would determine the results (ex: with A, B, C  = searching *A*C* will work, but searching *C*A* will not).

Has anyone else run into this scenario and come up with a solution?

Currently running 12SP7.

Thanks!

Paul Sheehy

  • Yes I agree the standard behavior of the multi value list is no help at all. It´s a known bug since probably the very first Innovator versions. But I thought Aras finally had mercy and fixed this one in any of the latest versions? I am not sure, but you should check the release notes.

    It´s possible to fix this one by extending the SimpleSearch search mode item. By default searches in multi-lists were handled like normal list searches.