Display and search document and line numbers
1. Displaying document and line numbers
a) The general format for displaying document and line numbers is:
<DocTypeCode>:<DocNumber>:<LineNumber> - <DocTypeName>
For example, let's have the following:
- The document type is ‘Sales order’, with code ‘SO’
- The document number is ‘00503’
- The line number is 120 (the line numbers are integers)
This will be represented as:
SO:00503:120 - Sales order
b) If we have to display only a document number (without line number), the format is the following:
<DocTypeCode>:<DocNumber> - <DocTypeName>
Now, let's have the following:
- The document type is ‘Sales order’, with code ‘SO’
- The document number is ‘00503’
This will be represented as:
SO:00503 - Sales order
2. Sorting lists of documents and line numbers
When a list containing document and line numbers is sorted, the order is the following:
- First, sort lexicographically by "DocTypeCode"
- Then, sort lexicographically by "DocNumber"
- Then, sort numerically by "LineNumber" (if applicable)
3. Searching through document and line numbers
When a user wants to find a document or a specific document line, they enter a search term. The following rules apply:
a) Generally, a search is processed in the same format as the display text
<DocTypeSearchTerm>:<DocNumberSearchTerm>:<LineNumberSearchTerm>
For example, searching for ‘SO:00503:120’ will find and match ‘O:00503:120’ and nothing else.
This is a non-wildcard search and is the fastest search. It is usually used when a value is pasted in a user application.
b) Some of the search terms might be missing
We can search for ‘SO:00503’ and this will match all lines from ‘SO:00503’, e.g. ‘SO:00503:10’, ‘SO:00503:20’, etc.
If the search contains only one search term and does not contain colon (':'), it will be performed over the document number!
Searching for '00503' will find 'SO:00503'. But searching for 'SO' will NOT match 'SO:00503', because 'SO' would not be found among the document numbers (unless there is a document with the number 'SO').
c) Some of the search terms might contain a wildcard symbol (%)
The "DocTypeSearchTerm" and "DocNumberSearchTerm" can contain the wildcard symbol and it will perform a wildcard search. However, the "LineNumberSearchTerm" cannot contain wildcard symbol and will not perform a wildcard search.
The system wildcard symbol is '%'. In the user applications, the generally accepted symbol is ' ' (space).
4. Examples
| System search term | User Application Visualization | Description |
|---|---|---|
| S%:%503 | 'S : 503' | • Document types, starting with 'S'. • Document Numbers, finishing with '503' |
| SO:%503 | 'SO: 503' | • Document type with code 'SO'. • Document Numbers, finishing with '503' |
| SO:%503:10 | 'SO: 503:10' | • Document type with code 'SO'. • Document Numbers, finishing with '503'. • Line Number 10 (line numbers do not support wildcard search) |
| ::10 | '::10' | • All lines in all documents, with line number = 10 |
| SO::10 | 'SO::10' | • Document type with code 'SO'. • All lines, with line number = 10 |
| :%503% | ': 503 ' | • All documents, with numbers, containing '503'. This could be specified simpler, as in the following example: |
| %503% | ' 503 ' | Because there are no colons (':'), the search term is applied to the document number. • All documents, with number, containing '503'. Note: If you want to search by document type only, append a colon at the end of the search string, as in the following example: |
| SO: | 'SO:' | • All documents (and lines) for document type with code = 'SO' |
| SO:: | 'SO::' | (same as above). • All documents (and lines) for document type with code = 'SO' |
When searching in large databases, DO NOT put a wildcard symbol in front of the document number. Search for '0047858%' instead of '%47858%'. In a user application, search for '0047858' instead of ' 47858'.
The difference in speed might be substantial. Performance tests have shown 0.2 sec for '0047858%', against 120 sec for '%47858%' in a database with 50 million documents.
This recommendation is only for the document number. The document type code can contain wildcard symbols in any position and this does not affect performance.