Hello,
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Bob Farrell and I am the Product Manager for TMS. I hope to be able to participate in some of the discussions on this ListServ and will start by addressing the "Searching question" thread.
First, I would like to thank Dee Dee, Jeri, Jenny, Mary Ellen, Jon, Ella, Jeff and André for their questions and input. The dialogue provoked some in-depth discussion here at Gallery Systems and will result in some improvements to TMS.
There were a number of issues raised in that thread and some constructive suggestions. We have reviewed each of the items and have some additional information. Please forgive the length of this posting. I strived for brevity but wanted to provide complete answers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dee Dee asked "How do you search for a list of objects that have no media attached to them?"
Response:
The answer Jeri gave works as well as any:
In advanced search,
Search on LoginID (MediaXrefs) <not equal to> *
As Jeri points out, you may have to add the MediaXrefs.LoginID to your search group using the DB Config utility.
The main issue is being able to do IsNull searches for fields that are related to objects. In TMS 9.35 we have made some changes in this area in regards to 'Not Equal to *' searches which make the 'Not Equal to *' search return records where the searched field had a space ' ' character (Oracle) or empty string (SQL Server) in addition to records where the field was Null. This more consistent handling should alleviate some of the challenges with negative searches, though we understand that this doesn't totally address the request for an IsNull search. As we further develop plans for future releases we will give this request a high priority based on your feedback.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dee Dee also asked "How do you find all of the objects that don't have a specific type of constituent attached? (e.g. objects with no donor)"
Response:
Again, Jeri's answer works:
So - the trick is to first search for all records with Role = Donor and make an object package of those records.
Then, go to advanced query and search for all objects where
"Object Package Name <is not equal to> XXX (the name of your saved package of objects with donors)". From that point, you can narrow the search further. Of course, object packages are not dynamic, so you have to update the object package each time you run the query.
There are some limitations to relying on Object Packages for searching, such as the maximum number of objects in an object package is limited to 32,768. We will look to provide a solution without the need of Object Packages.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Jenny commented that "The lack of ability to do negative searches (on fields with one-to-many relationships) for absence of images, constituents, attributes, status flags, inventory stamp, etc., is one of the few major problems we have with TMS."
"We are at the point of wanting to search for records [objects] with images of a publishable quality (here defined as rank < 4). Cannot do it."
Response:
You can search on the Rank field (from MediaXrefs) and specify <less than> 4. This returns all object records with at least one MediaXref of Rank < 4.
We checked with Jenny, and she clarified that they are looking for object records that have NO records with Rank less than 4. Currently, TMS returns all object records which have ANY MediaXref with a Rank < 4.
We will do further research into this NONE/ANY/ALL issue and provide a solution in the future.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mary Ellen said: "I have another work around. It involves creating 3 object packages and populating the third package with the records I want in SQL. See attached syntax. As Jenny points out, object package doesn't work if you are dealing with very large groups of records."
Response:
There is an easier way that works in TMS 9.2 or greater:
To find the Objects in one large Object Package that are not included in some other, smaller package (i.e. show the missing subset of Objects from Large Package not included in Small Package):
1. Using Advanced Query, search on
Object Package Name <not equal to> 'Small Object Package name'
2. Execute your search. You now have everything in your entire collection except the list of objects in Small Object Package.
3. Choose Query Assistant, and select "Refine current selection" option. Search on:
Object Package Name = 'Large Object Package name'
You now have just the Objects in Large Object Package that are not also in Small Object Package. The one thing to remember is that you have to do the NOT query first.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Jon wrote " ...our standard gripe is that it's not possible to query for the statuses related to objects, displayed on the Objects tab of an exhibition record, from within the Objects module."
Response:
In TMS 9.2 these fields are not listed in Available Hierarchies in the DB Config utility, and therefore can't be configured for searching.
I am glad to report that these fields have been made available in the current development version of TMS (9.35 due in Autumn 2006) and are fully searchable.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff noted that "one other tricky junction in the data structure between exhibitions and their related loans and objects is that ExhObjXrefs, ExhLoanXrefs, and LoanObjXrefs all contain information that is really of one piece in planning and managing exhibitions and their objects. When planning both database and report use, it's wise to have a hard look at this."
Response:
I have some good news in this area. For the 2007 release of TMS we are planning to integrate the structure of the Exhibitions and Loans modules. We will address the searching and reporting requirements as we design the new architecture.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for the feedback. It is valuable and will help us deliver an ever improving product.
Best Regards,
Bob Farrell
|
