This document contains an overview of the main features of the CentraSite catalog.
The content is organized under the following sections:
This section describes how to find the assets in the CentraSite catalog.
As a consumer, business or guest user, you can use the CentraSite Business UI to browse or search for assets in the CentraSite by name, description, attribute values, asset types and/or taxonomy groups. You can also use the Business UI to view and edit the attributes for an asset.
The CentraSite Business UI provides a powerful search facility. You can search for assets across organizations, classifications and types on the basis of several search criteria using a logical conjunction (ALL) or disjunction (ANY) operation. If you need to find assets based on attributes, then the sophisticated "advanced search" interface also allows you to search against the attributes defined in assets. The CentraSite Business UI also makes custom fields available as search criteria, allowing you to refine your searches even further.
You can also save your search as a filter in the CentraSite Business UI, allowing you to recall the same search and run it again or even share it with other users.
You can search for assets whose attributes contain a certain keyword (character string). Additionally, you can search for assets on the basis of several search criteria using ALL or ANY combinations.
You can search for assets whose attributes contain a certain keyword (character string).
You can search for assets on the basis of several search criteria using ALL or ANY combinations.
All CentraSite users, including guests, have permission to browse the CentraSite catalog. You do not need any explicit permission to use the CentraSite catalog in the Business user interface.
The set of assets available to you when you browse the catalog are the assets on which you have View permission. You can obtain View permission on an asset in the following ways:
By belonging to a role that includes any of the following permissions.
| This permission... | Allows you to... |
|---|---|
| View Assets | View all assets within a specified organization. |
| Modify Assets | View and edit all assets within a specified organization. |
| Manage Assets | View, edit and delete all assets within a specified organization, and set instance-level permissions on those assets. This permission also allows you to create assets. |
| Create Assets | Add new assets to a specified organization. You automatically receive Full permission (which implies Modify and View permission) on all assets that you create. |
By having View, Modify or Full instance-level permissions on a particular asset.
By default, all CentraSite users belong to the Asset Consumer role. This role includes the "View Assets" permission for the organization to which a user belongs.
Having the Asset Consumer role gives you implicit view permission on all the assets in your organization. You can view assets from other organizations only if you are given permission to do so through the assignment of additional role-based or instance-level permissions.
Note:
In rare instances, an administrator might not grant view permissions
to all of the users in an organization. If the administrator of your
organization has done this, you will need instance-level permissions on an
asset in order to view it.
For more information about permissions, see the CentraSite online documentation section About Roles and Permissions in the document Users, Groups, Roles and Permissions.
This document describes how to browse the contents of the CentraSite catalog. When you browse the catalog, CentraSite directs you to the advanced search panel.
You can select the following options:
View the complete list of assets.
View a list of assets whose name attribute contains a certain keyword (character string).
View a list of assets that belong to certain asset types.
View a list of assets that have been classified according to a specific taxonomy or a category within taxonomy.
View a list of assets that belong to a certain organization.
This section describes how to use CentraSite's Browse feature to locate assets using search scopes.
To perform a quick search
In CentraSite Business UI, locate the search panel in the top left corner of the navigation bar.
In the list of scopes shown in the search panel, select the scope that you want to include in the view. The list of scopes consists of predefined scopes and custom (i.e. customer-defined) scopes.
Note:
Use the arrow icons in the search panel to extend or retract the
scopes list as necessary.
Click the link.
CentraSite returns the assets that match the search scope in the Search Results panel.
You can further refine your search by specifying asset attributes to search for in the search panel. If you need procedures for this step, refer to the section Advanced Search.
This section describes how to use CentraSite's Search feature to locate assets using keyword searches and advanced searches.
The content is organized under the following sections:
The basic search is a simple and easy to use search facility in which you can specify arbitrary search patterns. It helps you choose relevant and popular terms related to your selected key pattern.
You can search for all assets that contain one or more specified keywords (i.e., text strings) in the asset's string attributes (asset name, description, etc.). You may use the (such as Organizations, for example) drop-down to restrict the types on which the search is conducted.
Certain characters have a special function when used in the simple search:
Wildcard characters allow you to search for keywords that match a string pattern. See Using Wildcards.
The quote character (") is used to group keywords into phrases, as described in Using Keywords.
To force the simple search to treat these metacharacters as normal characters, precede the character with a backslash (\). If you want to include the backslash character itself in the search, type two backslashes.
You can define the input for the simple search in the following ways:
A simple search consists of 1-n search keywords. Multiple keywords are space separated. If multiple keywords are given, a logical disjunction (OR) is implied.
A keyword is treated as partial text which can occur at the beginning of a word within the searched strings. The "starts with" semantics are implied.
Example: If the keyword is "customer", then the following matches are returned: "A sample svc for customers" as well as "customerservice".
As you enter the partial text, CentraSite returns the top n assets
that meet your search text. You can choose to define the number of search
results by configuring the property numOfResultsToShow in the
centrasite.xml file. By
default, the maximum number of results to display is set to
"5".
The search starts with the specified number of offset characters
counted from the beginning of the string. You can choose to define the required
offset for search by configuring the property
minOffsetToStartSearch in the
centrasite.xml file. By
default, the minimum offset character is set to
"3".
Note:
The minimum offset character cannot be less than
"3".
As multiple keywords are OR combined, the keywords can match a single phrase (e.g. in the description) or individual keywords can occur in different attributes.
Example: If a search is conducted for "customer service", then "customer" could be matched in the description and "service" in an object specific attribute.
If there are quotes (" ") around a phrase, then a search is performed on the exact phrase within the quotes. A space within a quoted phrase is considered as a space character and not as a logical separator.
You can mix and match any number of words and quoted phrases within the text field.
The search is neither case nor accent sensitive, even within a quoted phrase. Example: A search for "abc" will return the same results as a search for "ABC" or "Abc".
If you enter a string that contains an odd number of double-quote characters, then the last double-quote character is ignored when the search is performed.
If the search input field is empty, then the search execution will not happen.
If an asset name exceeds n characters, the name is automatically
truncated. You can choose the maximum number of characters to display in the
asset name using the property maxCharactersToShow in the
centrasite.xml file. By
default, the maximum character limit is set to "60".
The simple search can include wildcard characters. See Using Wildcards for details.
The available wildcard characters are as follows:
| Character | Usage |
|---|---|
| * or % |
If you use the percent symbol ("%") or the asterisk ("*"), CentraSite replaces the wildcard symbol with as many characters as necessary to find a match. For example, an entry of "A%n" returns both "Amazon" and "American". If you enter "*al", then "CalcService", "Calendar" and "AustralianPostCode" all fit the search criteria. |
| ? or _ |
If you use the question mark ("?") or the underscore ("_"), CentraSite replaces the wildcard symbol with a single character in order to find a match. Example: "CustomerSVC?Request" matches any character for "?". |
You can use a wildcard character at any point in the keyword text, and multiple times throughout the keyword text. If you enter a wildcard character in the middle of a string, for example "cat*dog", then at least one of the searched attributes must contain the string in order for the asset to be included in the result set.
If a wildcard character between two words is surrounded by spaces, such as "word1 * word2", the wildcard will match one word.
Notes:
This section describes how to use CentraSite's Search feature to locate assets using keyword searches and scopes.
You can search for all assets that contain one or more specified keywords (i.e., text strings) in the asset's attribute. You may use the drop-down to restrict the types (e.g., Everything, Assets, Users, Organizations) on which the search is conducted.
The number of search results is displayed directly beneath the title line of the results area, for example "About 43 results". If no results are found, this is displayed as "Your search did not match any data".
To search by keyword
In CentraSite Business UI, locate the Type a Search text box at the top of the screen.
In the text box, type the keyword(s) to search for. You can use one or more wildcards to specify the keywords.
If you leave the text box blank, or enter just a wildcard, the first 5 related assets are returned.
CentraSite applies the filter to the Name of the asset.
| If you type... | CentraSite displays... |
|---|---|
| b | Names that contain "b" |
| bar | Names that contain "bar" |
| % | All names |
In the list of scopes shown in the search panel, select the scope (example, ) that you want to include in the view. The list of scopes consists of predefined scopes and custom (i.e. customer-defined) scopes.
Note:
Use the arrow icons in the search panel to extend or retract the
scopes list as necessary.
Click the (
) icon.
CentraSite returns the assets that match both the search keyword and scope in the Search Results panel.
For assets, the search looks for the keyword(s) in the asset's name, description and attributes.
By default, the result set is ordered by relevance. Relevance is decided as follows:
If the search criteria contain more than one keyword, the assets that match the most keywords are ranked higher.
Assets where one or more search criteria match the Name or Description are rated higher than those where other attributes match.
Press the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to scroll through one asset at a time.
Locate the asset whose details you want to view.
Double click or press Enter.
If you would like to see more assets for the specified key pattern, click the link.
The Search Results panel appears. The panel list one or more assets that fit in the specified search pattern.
If you would like to narrow your search results down further, locate the content splitter on the left hand side. Click on the small arrow of the content splitter to expand the search options.
Please refer to the section Advanced Search to get more detailed information on defining the search filters.
CentraSite's advanced search capabilities allow you to build sophisticated search clauses to search for assets on the basis of asset types, taxonomies and attribute values. The search criteria can be combined by a conjunction (ALL) or disjunction (ANY) operation.
There are two alternatives for handling access to the advanced search panel.
Use the link. If you need procedures for this step, see Performing a Quick Find by Browse.
Use the Type a Search text box. If you need procedures for this step, see Performing a Simple Search.
This section contains descriptions for further refining your search results using the following procedures:
The keyword-based search is an easy to use search facility.
You can search for all assets that contain one or more specified keywords (i.e., text strings) in the asset's string attributes (asset name, description, etc.). However, if you wish to search for assets in specific by the generic attributes (asset name, description, owner etc.), follow the steps as described in the section Search by Attribute Values.
You can define the input for the keyword search in the following ways:
A keyword is treated as partial text which can occur at the beginning of the searched strings. The "contains" semantics are implied.
Example: If the keyword is "customer", then the following matches are returned:" A sample svc for customers" as well as "customerservice".
As you enter the partial text, CentraSite returns the top n assets
that meet your search text. You can choose to define the number of search
results by configuring the property numOfResultsToShow in the
centrasite.xml file. By
default, the maximum number of results to display is set to
5.
As multiple keywords are OR combined, the keywords can match a single phrase (e.g. in the description) or individual keywords can occur in different attributes.
Example: If a search is conducted for "customer service", then "customer" could be matched in the description and "service" in an object specific attribute.
The search is neither case nor accent sensitive. Example: A search for "abc" will return the same results as a search for "ABC" or "Abc".
If the search input field is empty, the search execution does not happen.
The keyword search can include wildcard characters. See Using Wildcards for details.
To search for an asset by keyword
Go to the advanced search panel.
Locate the section under Narrow your Results.
Expand the node .
In the text box, type the keyword to search for.
You can use one or more wildcards to specify the keyword. If you enter just a wildcard in the text box, the entire list of assets is returned. However, if you leave the text box blank, then no search action is performed.
Note that a type-ahead feature is provided in this text box.
Add the keyword to the recipe by either clicking the plus button next to the text box or by pressing Enter. If required, add additional keywords to the recipe by repeating steps 4 and 5.
You can delete your entries from the recipe by clicking the delete symbol next to the keyword.
CentraSite returns the assets that match the specified search criteria.
For assets, the search looks for the keyword(s) in the asset's generic and type-specific attributes.
By default the result set is ordered by relevance. Relevance is decided as follows:
If the search criteria contain more than one keyword, the assets that match the most keywords are ranked higher.
Assets where one or more search criteria match the Name or Description are rated higher than those where other attributes match.
The taxonomy search capability allows you to search assets that have been classified according to a specific taxonomy or a category within taxonomy.
To search for an asset by taxonomy
Go to the advanced search panel.
Locate the section under Narrow your Results.
Expand the node .
Choose from the drop-down list.
In the text box, type in the taxonomy or category to search for.
You can use one or more wildcards to specify the taxonomy or category.
If you enter just a wildcard in the text box, the entire list of taxonomies or categories is returned. However, if you leave the text box blank, then no search action is performed.
Note that a type-ahead feature is provided in this text box.
Add the taxonomy or category to the recipe by either clicking the plus button next to the text box or by pressing Enter. If required, add additional taxonomies or categories to the recipe by repeating step 5 and 6. You can delete entries from the recipe by clicking the delete symbol next to them.
You can optionally use the Browse option to narrow the search as you need. Do the following:
Click .
When you click the button, a Browse Taxonomies dialog appears which allows you to select the required taxonomies and categories.
Click the expand node next to any taxonomy to view the categorization tree.
You can expand or collapse the list of taxonomies, that is, to show or hide the list of categories in a hierarchy view. For example, you can show only the header for a specific taxonomy, say "Countries", and display the complete list of categories in the hierarchy by clicking on the header.
You can configure the number of taxonomies to display in the hierarchy view using the CentraSite's expandable property. For procedures on how to configure, refer to the section Configuring the CentraSite's Expandable Property.
Mark the checkbox beside the name of the taxonomies or categories that you wish to add to the search recipe.
Click .
CentraSite automatically adds the selected taxonomies or categories to the existing recipe entries, and returns the assets that match the specified search scope.
Note:
If at any time you want to abandon your unsaved search, just
click the button.
Note:
The list of taxonomies displayed contains only the taxonomies
that are currently browsable. See the CentraSite online documentation section
Visibility of Taxonomies in CentraSite Control in the
document Taxonomies for information on how to make a
taxonomy visible to users.
You can search for assets on the basis of lifecycle models and states.
Note:
This functionality is available when the lifecycle model itself is
in the "productive" or
"retired" state.
To search for an asset by lifecycle model and state
Go to the advanced search panel.
Locate the section under Narrow your Results.
Expand the node .
Choose from the drop-down list.
In the text box, type in the lifecycle model or state to search for.
You can use one or more wildcards to specify the lifecycle model or state. If you enter just a wildcard in the text box, the entire list of lifecycle models or states is returned. However, if you leave the text box blank, then no search action is performed.
Note that a type-ahead feature is provided in this text box.
Add the lifecycle model or state to the recipe by either clicking the plus button next to the text box or by pressing Enter. If required, add additional lifecycle models or states to the recipe by repeating step 5 and 6.
You can delete entries from the recipe by clicking the delete symbol next to them.
You can optionally use the Browse option to narrow the search as you need. Do the following:
Click .
When you click the button, a Browse Lifecycle Models dialog appears which allows you to select the required lifecycle models or states.
Click the expand node next to any lifecycle model to view the categorization tree.
You can expand or collapse the list of lifecycle models, that is, to show or hide the list of states in a hierarchy view. For example, you can show only the header for a specific lifecycle model, and display the complete list of states in the hierarchy by clicking on the header.
You can configure the number of lifecycle models to display in the hierarchy view using the CentraSite's expandable property. For procedures on how to configure, refer to the section Configuring the CentraSite's Expandable Property.
Mark the checkbox beside the name of the lifecycle models or states that you wish to add to the search recipe.
Click .
CentraSite automatically adds the selected lifecycle models or states to the existing recipe entries, and returns the assets that match the specified search scope.
The type search capability allows you to search for assets on the basis of asset types.
To search for an asset using the asset type
Go to the advanced search panel.
Locate the section under Narrow your Results.
Expand the node .
Choose from the drop-down list.
In the text box, type in the asset type to search for.
You can use one or more wildcards to specify the asset type. If you enter just a wildcard in the text box, the entire list of asset types is returned. However, if you leave this text box blank, then no search action is performed.
Note that a type-ahead feature is provided in this text box.
Add the asset type to the recipe by either clicking the plus button next to the text box or by pressing Enter. If required, add additional asset types to the recipe by repeating step 3 and 4.
You can delete entries from the recipe by clicking the delete symbol next to them.
You can optionally use the Browse option to narrow the search as you need. Do the following:
Click .
When you click the button, a Browse Asset Types dialog appears which allows you to select the either one of the following options:
| If you choose… | CentraSite displays… |
|---|---|
|
Displays the list of asset types, organizations and users that are registered in the CentraSite registry/repository. |
|
|
Displays the list of asset types (predefined & custom) that is available in the CentraSite registry/repository. |
|
|
Displays the list of organizations (default and custom) that is available in CentraSite registry. |
|
|
Displays the list of users who are registered in the CentraSite registry/repository. |
Click the expand node next to any type to view the list.
You can expand or collapse the list of types to show or hide the list in a hierarchy view. For example, you can show only the header for a specific type, say Assets, and display the complete list of asset types in the hierarchy by clicking on the header.
You can configure the number of types to display in the hierarchy view using the CentraSite's expandable property. For procedures on how to configure, refer to the section Configuring the CentraSite's Expandable Property.
Mark the checkbox beside the name of the types that you wish to add to the search recipe.
Click .
Note:
If at any time you want to abandon your unsaved search, just
click the button.
CentraSite automatically adds the selected assets to the existing recipe entries, and returns the assets that match the specified search scope.
You can further refine your search by specifying asset attributes to search for.
If you specify a single asset type for the search, the set of attributes that you can use for the search is the set of attributes for that asset type. If you have specified several asset types for the search, the set of attributes available for the search is a combination of the respective type-specific attributes.
To search for an asset by attribute values
Go to the advanced search panel.
Locate the section under Narrow your Results.
Expand the node .
Choose from the drop-down list.
In the text box, type in the attribute to search for.
You can use one or more wildcards to specify the attribute. If you enter just a wildcard in the text box, the entire list of attributes is returned. However, if you leave this text box blank, then no search action is performed.
Note that a type-ahead feature is provided in this text box.
Add the attribute to the recipe by either clicking the plus button next to the text box or by pressing Enter. If required, add additional attributes to the recipe by repeating step 3 and 4. You can delete entries from the recipe by clicking the delete symbol next to them.
You can delete entries from the recipe by clicking the delete symbol next to them.
You can optionally use the Browse option to narrow the search as you need. Do the following:
Click .
When you click the button, a Browse Further Attributes dialog appears which allows you to select the following attributes.
Common Attributes that contain the assets generic attributes (name, description, owner etc.). See the section Generic Attributes for details.
Type-Specific Attributes that contain the asset types and their type-specific attributes. See the section Type-Specific Attributes for details.
Click the expand node next to any common or type-specific attribute to view the list of attributes and their data types.
You can expand or collapse the list of attributes, that is, to show or hide the list in a hierarchy view. For example, you can show only the header for a specific type, say Service, and display the complete list of type-specific attributes in the hierarchy by clicking on the header.
You can configure the number of attributes to display in the hierarchy view using the CentraSite's expandable property. For procedures on how to configure, refer to the section Configuring the CentraSite's Expandable Property.
Mark the checkbox beside the name of the attributes that you wish to add to the search recipe.
Click .
Note:
If at any time you want to abandon your unsaved search, just
click the button.
CentraSite automatically adds the selected attributes to the existing recipe entries, and returns the assets that match the specified search scope.
For more information on the searchable attributes, see the section below.
You can specify generic attributes (i.e. attributes common to all asset types) and type-specific attributes as search criteria.
The generic attributes that can be used as search criteria are described in the following table:
| Search Attribute | Usage |
|---|---|
| Name |
Use this attribute to search for assets whose name matches a specified text string. You can specify a substring or expression that can be combined with a "contains word" (default option), "starts with", "equals" or "not equals" expression. The search is neither case nor accent sensitive. If "starts with" is used, no wildcard is necessary as a postfix. If "contains word" is used, the word given is treated as a partial string with implicit wildcards. If "equals" or "not equals" is used, no wildcards are supported. If multiple substrings have been given the parameters are implicitly quoted. Explicit quotations and wildcards can be used, and behave in the same way as for keyword searches. |
| Description |
Use this attribute to search for assets whose description matches a specified text string. Usage is the same as for the |
| Type |
Use this attribute to search for assets belonging to a specific asset type. Choose the asset type via a Browse selection list. |
| Creation Date |
Use this attribute to search for assets with a specified creation date. You can select a date and apply a before/after/on/between criterion. If "between" is used, a second input field allows you to specify the end date. The date input parameters allow year, month and day input as well as hour and minute. Hour and minute default to "0". The data format is used as specified in the account preferences of a user (defaults to "yyyy-mm-dd"). No wildcards are supported. |
| Modified Date |
Use this attribute to search for assets with a specified modification date. Usage is the same as for the |
| State |
Use this attribute to search for assets that are in a specified lifecycle state. |
| Key |
Use this attribute to search for an asset that exactly matches the given UDDI V3 key. If no prefix "uddi:" is given, this is implied automatically. No wildcards are supported. |
| Owner |
Use this attribute to search for assets belonging to a specified user. Choose the user via a Browse selection list. |
| Submitting Organization |
Use this attribute to search for assets provided by a specified organization. Choose the organization via a Browse selection list. |
| Consumers |
Use this attribute to register users and applications to consume the asset. |
| Subscribers |
Use this attribute to register users to receive notifications when changes are made to the asset. |
In addition to the generic attributes listed in the table above, each asset type can have its own type-specific search criteria, based on the type-specific attributes of the asset type. For example an asset might include attributes that do the following:
Classify the asset according to one or more taxonomies
Describe an asset's relationship to other assets or registry objects
Provide links to program documentation, sample code, usage notes and so forth
The type-specific attributes are shown in the Browse Further Attributes dialog.
For example, if you select the asset type Service in the Types field, the Browse Further Attributes dialog contains search criteria like "SOAP-Version (String)", which refers to the service's type-specific attribute SOAP-Version which has the data type String.
Depending on the data type of the type-specific attribute you choose, the Browse Further Attributes dialog changes to reflect the search possibilities for that data type.
See the section below titled Attribute Data Types for general information on the type-specific attributes' data types.
Each attribute in an asset includes a specific data type. The data type determines what kind of information the attribute can hold.
The following table lists the data types that are available for an attribute. Most types are configured to hold a single value or multiple values (i.e., an array of values).
| Data Type | Search Operators | Description |
| String |
|
Holds a string of text. When this type of string is displayed, it is displayed in a single-line text box. If a value exceeds the width of the box, the excess characters are simply not displayed. |
| International String |
|
Holds a String attribute that holds different values for different locales. |
| Multiline String |
|
Holds a string of text. When this type of string is displayed in a CentraSite user interface, the string is displayed in a multi-line text box and lines of text are wrapped to fit the width of the box. (Compare this with the String data type described below.) |
|
|
Holds an email address. This data type only accepts values in the format: anyString@anyString Note: |
|
| URL/URI |
|
Holds a URL/URI. This type of attribute only accepts values in the form: protocol://host/ path Where:
|
| Number |
|
Holds a numeric value. Note: |
| Boolean |
|
Holds a "true" or "false" value. Note: |
| Date/Time |
|
Holds a timestamp that represents a specific date and/or time. |
| Duration |
|
Holds a value that represents a period of time as expressed in Years, Months, Days, Hours, Minutes and Seconds. |
| IP Address |
|
Holds a numeric IP address in the v4 or v6 format. |
| File |
|
Holds references to one or more documents that reside in CentraSite's supporting document library or at a specified URL. You can use this type of attribute to attach documents such as programming guides, sample code and other types of files to an asset. |
| Classification |
|
Holds references to one or more categories in a specified taxonomy. You use this type of attribute to classify assets according to a specified taxonomy. |
| Relationship |
|
Holds references to other registry objects. You use this type of attribute to express a relationship between an asset and another object in the registry. |
Depending on the data type you select, new drop-down lists or text fields appear that allow you to refine the search. Complete the type-specific options as described below:
| If you are choosing this type of data… | Do the following... |
|---|---|
| Classification |
|
| Relationship |
|
CentraSite's isExpandable property
allows you to create an expandable/collapsible list of objects (such as
taxonomies, lifecycle models, asset types and attributes), that is, to show or
hide the list of asset types in a hierarchy view.
For example, you can show only the header for a specific type, say Assets, and display the complete list of assets by clicking on the header.
You can enable the expandable property for a specific asset type by
setting the isExpandable property for that
particular type in the configuration file. The settings for the
isExpandable property are as follows:
Setting this property to "true" will show the header of asset type with an expandable triangle icon. You can click on this icon to expand the type; this reveals the node or nodes in a hierarchy view. To collapse the type, i.e. to hide the node or nodes, click on the triangle icon, and the display reverts to its original state.
Setting this property to "false" will show the header of asset type collapsed. You cannot see the node or nodes of the type.
This section describes how to use the search results list page.
The content is organized under the following topics:
The Browse, Keyword and Advanced searches return a list of assets that match the search criteria in the Search Results panel.
The number of search results is displayed below the title line of the Search Results area, for example "About 114 results". If no results are found, then the search result is displayed as query does not match any existing data in the CentraSite registry.
The Search Results view shows various attributes of the assets, such as the name of the asset, the asset type and the description.
You can perform various actions on the displayed list of assets. If you want to perform an action on just one or several of the displayed assets, you can mark the check boxes of the required assets, and then select an action from the actions menu.
Here is a sample of the available actions:
Export one or more of the displayed assets.
Delete one or more of the displayed assets.
Change the lifecycle state of one or more of the displayed assets.
Add one or more of the displayed assets to the My Favorites list.
In CentraSite Business UI the result view is rendered in the Search Results page. The Search Results page includes several components that you can configure to improve the end-user experience.
The relevant results of a query are displayed in the Search Results. By configuring the properties in this Search Results page, you can control how search results are displayed. You can for example:
Change the number of results that appear on a page
Change the number of characters in the asset name
Change the number of characters in the asset description
Change the number of character in the attribute name
Use refiners to drill down in search results
Refiners enable you to drill down into the search results based on attributes that are associated with the search items, such as creation date, owner, and organization name. The refiners include a collection of generic attributes and the type-specific attributes of the asset type chosen in the search criteria.
By using refiners, you can narrow the search results to only show search items like for example certain assets, created in a certain time period, created by a given person. Refiners are displayed in the menu that is located just above the result view area.
For information on the attributes available to refine a search result, see the section Searchable Attributes.
Add sort options to search results
You can sort the search results by choosing one of the options from the drop-down list labeled on the Search Results page. The sort options are rendered based on respect to the attributes that were earlier selected in the View menu. Default sorting is by the Name field.
You can choose to reorder the list of assets by toggling the ascending or descending arrow located next to the option.
For more information, see the below section Configuring the Search Results Page.
The results appear by default on the Search Results page. When you query the CentraSite registry with a simple search or an advanced search, if more than one page of results is returned, the Search Results displays page numbers and forward and back arrows. You can edit the properties of the Search Results to change how it looks. This includes how many page links appear and how they are displayed.
The following table lists what configurations to perform to change how the Search Results page displays:
| To do this... | Perform the following steps... |
|---|---|
| Change the number of results that appear on a page |
|
| Change the number of characters in the attribute name |
|
This section helps users focus searches on particular registry objects.
The content is organized under the following topics:
To focus a search on particular registry objects, you select filters from the drop-downs beneath the Narrow Your Results section in the Advanced Search pane. You can choose (from the drop-down) to search for all available registry objects or select a specific scope (e.g., , , etc.) to limit your searches to certain objects or to content marked with a particular property value (from the drop-down).
The CentraSite Business UI supports three kinds of search filters:
Scopes
Keywords
Conditions
Default scopes such as , , and are defined in the system configuration level.
The following table provides information about each of these predefined scopes:
| This system scope... | Displays... |
|---|---|
|
List of asset types, organizations and users that are registered in the CentraSite registry/repository. |
|
|
List of asset types (predefined & custom) that is available in the CentraSite registry/repository. |
|
|
List of organizations default and custom) that is available in CentraSite registry. |
|
|
List of users who are registered in the CentraSite registry/repository. |
In addition, the CentraSite Administrator can define custom scopes. Any scope defined at the system configuration level is shared among the organizations that are registered in CentraSite.
The search recipe can contain any combination of the search filters.
The recipe is located in the Advanced Search pane.
Adding a search filter to the recipe triggers validation for all search values. If any part of the validation fails, it prompts you with a warning message and sets the focus to the search filter of the incorrect value. The validation fails when a search filter has incorrect/invalid or duplicate values.
When performing these procedures, keep the following points in mind:
The recipe list cannot be empty when you trigger a search execution. This avoids generating empty search values.
For the search to execute, at least one scope is mandatory; else the validation fails and user interface displays an error. For usage information of the scopes, see the section Rendering of Search Scopes.
If you attempt to execute a saved search via deep linking, wherein the search recipe includes one or more filters (say for example, an asset type and/or an attribute SOAP Version) that currently do not exist in the CentraSite registry, then the user interface displays an error icon beside the non-existing search filter and a message stating "Invalid Search Condition".
Consider you have a search recipe with two or more search scopes, and sometime later you remove one of the scopes from the recipe, then the UI internally revokes the attributes that were specific to this scope and earlier listed in the and drop-downs.
If you add a keyword or condition filter that already exists in the recipe, the user interface will simply add the duplicate entry (the newest) to the recipe with an error icon. However, if ever you remove the existing entry from the recipe, then the user interface automatically revokes the error icon from the duplicate entry.
If you are attempting to specify an invalid search scope via the text box, the scope will not be added to the recipe.
Use the following procedures (listed in the table below) to add the search filters to the recipe:
| For the search filter... | Refer to the section |
|---|---|
| Scopes (Predefined and Custom) | Search by Asset Types |
| Keyword | Search by Keyword |
| Others | Search by Taxonomy (OR) Search by Lifecycle Model (OR) Search by Attribute Values |
If you want to delete a search filter temporarily, click the
Remove (
)
symbol beside its name in the search recipe.
To delete a search filter permanently, remove the appropriate property statement from the centrasite.xml file, and restart Software AG Runtime.
<SearchFilterCategories> <SearchFilterCategory id="Types" displayName="CS_MSG_INMBU_STR_ASSET_TYPES" /> <SearchFilterCategory id="Taxonomy" displayName="CS_MSG_INMBU_STR_TAXONOMIES" /> <SearchFilterCategory id="FurtherAttribute" displayName="CS_MSG_INMBU_STR_FURTHER_ATTRIBUTES" /> <SearchFilterCategory id="LCM" displayName="CS_MSG_INMBU_STR_LCM" /> </SearchFilterCategories>
<SearchScopes> <SearchScope id="Assets" isExpandable="false" class="com.softwareag.centrasite.api.csom.search.impl.AssetScope" exclude="uddi:7613515f-77eb-11dd-bc9f-f62b6cf80b00">INMCL_STR_Assets</SearchScope> <SearchScope id="Everything" isExpandable="true" class="com.softwareag.centrasite.api.csom.search.impl.EverythingScope" exclude="uddi:7613515f-77eb-11dd-bc9f-f62b6cf80b00">INMCL_STR_Everything</SearchScope> <SearchScope id="Users" isExpandable="false" class="com.softwareag.centrasite.api.csom.search.impl.CSOTypeScope" types="User" include="uddi:2ebc76b4-128b-11dd-8c31-ae80cb45c029" exclude="uddi:7613515f-77eb-11dd-bc9f-f62b6cf80b00">INMCL_STR_Users</SearchScope> <SearchScope id="Organizations" isExpandable="false" class="com.softwareag.centrasite.api.csom.search.impl.CSOTypeScope" types="Organization" exclude="uddi:7613515f-77eb-11dd-bc9f-f62b6cf80b00">INMCL_STR_Organizations</SearchScope> </SearchScopes>
You can specify in which way the search filters should be combined:
To specify how the search filters should be combined
Beneath the Current Filters label, select one of the following:
To specify that an asset must meet all scopes to be considered a match, select All.
To specify that an asset must meet at least one of the scopes to be considered a match, select Any.
CentraSite will always return the registry objects that match the search scopes currently available in the recipe.
When rendering the search results, search scopes in the recipe are considered in a hierarchical order. This rendering behavior can be best understood with the following scenarios:
The predefined default scope overrides all other predefined and custom scopes in the search recipe. If you have, for example, an scope already defined in the recipe, when you add the scope to the recipe, CentraSite automatically removes the existing scope from the recipe and returns all the registry objects that match the scope. On the other hand, if you have, for example, the scope already defined in the recipe, CentraSite will not allow you to add any of the other predefined or custom scopes in the recipe.
Similarly, if you have, for example, a scope already defined in the recipe, then you add the scope to the recipe, CentraSite automatically removes the existing scope from the recipe and returns all the registry objects that match the scope. On the other hand, if you have the scope already defined in the recipe, CentraSite will not allow you to add any of the other predefined or custom scopes in the recipe.
However, if the search recipe for example includes scopes other than the scope , CentraSite will allow you to add any number of scopes in the recipe and return a collection of registry objects that match the scopes currently in the recipe.
If at any time you revert back to the Search Results page, the results are rendered based on the most recent search scopes added to the search recipe.
When you define a keyword search or an advanced search, you might want to save the search definition, so that you can execute the same search again at a later stage.
This section describes how to save a search and re-execute a saved search.
Note:
A saved search can only be executed by the user who created the saved
search.
The content is organized under the following topics:
To save a search definition
Define a keyword search or an advanced search, as described above.
Specify a name for the saved search.
Click the button.
The search is stored under this name in the My Favorites list.
To re-execute a saved search
Open the My Favorites list in CentraSite's Welcome page.
Choose the entry for the search in your My Favorites list. This starts the search directly.
CentraSite runs the search and displays the results.
Additionally, the CentraSite Business user interface supports deep linking for a saved search. You can simply copy the URL of a saved search from your browser and use it as a deep link to directly navigate to the appropriate search results page.
If you want to create a new search based on an existing saved search, proceed as follows:
To create a new search based on an existing saved search
Run the saved search from the My Favorites list or use the deep link to navigate to a particular search results page.
You will see the search definition page that was initially used to create the saved search. The page shows all of the search parameters of the saved search.
Adapt the search definition as required.
If you want to save the modified search also as a saved search, click and specify a name for the new saved search.
Note:
You cannot overwrite an existing saved search with a modified
saved search.
You can add an XQuery search by executing the following command in the command line interface CentraSiteCommand.cmd (Windows) or CentraSiteCommand.sh (UNIX) of Command Central. The tool is located in <CentraSiteInstallDir>/utilities.
If you start this command line tool with no parameters, you receive a help text summarizing the required input parameters.
The parameters of the command are case-sensitive, so for example the parameter "-url" must be specified as shown and not as "-URL".
To add a XQuery search to the CentraSite, execute the following command in this format:
CentraSiteCommand add Search [-url <CENTRASITE-URL>] -user <USER-ID> -password <PASSWORD> -savedSearch <SAVED-SEARCH> [-module <XQUERY-MODULE>] [-overwrite <CONFIRM-OVERWRITE>]
The following table describes the complete set of input parameters that
you can use with the add Search utility:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
-url |
The fully qualified URL (http://localhost:53307/CentraSite/CentraSite) for the CentraSite registry/repository. |
-user |
The user ID of a user who has the "CentraSite Administrator" role. |
-password |
The password of the user identified by the parameter "-user". |
-savedSearch |
Name of the saved search in CentraSite. |
-module |
The fully qualified name of the XQuery module. |
-overwrite |
Overwrite any existing XQuery module if provided the confirmation value as "true". |
For example:
CentraSiteCommand add Search [-url "http://localhost:53307/CentraSite/CentraSite"] -user "Administrator" -password "manage" -savedSearch "MySearch" [-module "MyQuery.xq"] [-overwrite "true"]
