Actually, I agree with you very much. The problem is that since there ARE the other fields there, getting users here to NOT use them is next to impossible. We've got it defaulted so that you would search keyfield first, but invariably I have people who immediately click down into "Last Name" since they think they're doing the right thing. I guess most of us are used to filling out forms where Last Name is an option, but keyfield is not, so the comfort factor is greater to go to the obvious field that you know. I know I've told the same people over and over again to use Keyfield, but they persist in going to last or first name. Should we start a petition to make the other fields go away? From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Moxley, Jeri Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:23 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Searching alternate names Right - only Keyfields will search the alternate names. Since Keyfields searches everything at once, why do we need the other fields to do the same? I personally wish the other fields could go away, and I very actively discourage my users from searching with anything other than Keyfields because you can't 100% predict how a name is entered, and - why click in another field when you don't have to? -----Original Message----- From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Aylsworth, David Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:42 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Searching alternate names Hi Jeri and Amber, One of the things that it does NOT do, though, is search the alternate names by the fields that you enter information into. At least I can't set it up to do it the way that we think is logical. For instance, I have an alternate name broken out into First Name = Joe, Last Name = Blow (Of course, his main constituent name is "Joseph Blowsalot"). Everything works great when I use the Find Constituent to search "Keyfield = Blow". If I do that, I get the record for "Joseph Blowsalot". It falls apart, though, if I use the Find Constituent and search by "Last Name = Blow". That will NOT return the record for "Joseph Blowsalot", even though I clearly have "Blow" in the alternate name Last Name field. I'm probably not making much sense. I actually had Dimitry exasperated by the time I got him to understand what I was trying to say, but it remains one of those things that seems like it SHOULD work, but doesn't. Not being a programmer, it seems like a simple fix to have the FIND OBJECT search Alternate Names by fields other than just Keyfields, but it probably isn't.. David David Aylsworth Collections Registar Museum of Fine Arts, Houston tel: 713-639-7824 fax: 713-639-7780 From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Moxley, Jeri Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:04 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Searching alternate names Hi Amber, When you use 'Keyfields' in the constituent lookup in Find Object, it searches across constituent name fields (first name, last name, institution, nationality and so forth) as well as all alternate names. Jeri Jeri L. Moxley Manager, Collection and Exhibition Technologies Collection Management and Exhibition Registration THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART 11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019 T: 212.708.9599 I F: 212.333.1102 I [log in to unmask] PPlease consider the environment before printing this email. -----Original Message----- From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Morgan, Amber Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:58 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Searching alternate names Does anyone have their db configured for searching alternate names? In our set up, if you try searching an alternate name from the objects module, or if you go into constituents and search "last names," it only searches the primary name, not the alternate names. I tried playing around with the query groups, but when I add "Alternate Names" into the Query Assistant, it adds another "first name" and "last name" field - so someone doing a search on a last name wouldn't know for sure if they were searching primary name or alternate name. So, question 1: Can I change how these fields appear in the Query Assistant? I thought for sure this could be done, but I can't figure out how to do it. Question 2: What if I don't want to separately search primary name and alternate name? Is there a way to combine these two searches easily? I can do it in Advanced Query, but I'm thinking of our average users who are scared of Advanced Queries. Any suggestions? Thanks, Amber the warhol: Amber E. Morgan Associate Registrar 117 Sandusky Street Pittsburgh, PA 15212 T 412.237.8306 F 412.237.8340 E [log in to unmask] W www.warhol.org The Andy Warhol Museum One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh Email newsletter http://members.carnegiemuseums.org/email Membership http://members.carnegiemuseums.org/SupportCMP