Advanced queries enables you to define search criteria for an artifact. You can use this form to enter values for some, all or none of the attributes available in an artifact type. For example, to view Defects that are related to Linux and have been closed in the last week, you would enter a date range (using MM/DD/YYYY format, for instance, 01/01/2002) and enter values for the operating system and status attributes.
To access the Advanced query page:
On the Advanced query page, you identify the artifact type or types that you want to use in the search. You can optionally specify additional search criteria, such as a date range, particular users associated with an artifact, and so on. Query criteria include:
If you run a query without defining any attributes, all artifacts associated with the logged in user ID will be returned.
The Artifact ID if known, provides a simple way to find one or more artifacts. To search by more complex criteria, you must create a custom query. All advanced queries allow you to search by people associated with the query. For example, you can search for "all artifacts assigned to me" or "all artifacts created by John Smith."
You can search using a date and time relative to when an artifact was created, or a combination of the last time it was modified and when it was created. All relative times, such as "in the last week" are calculated based on the time when the query is run. Note that if you search by modification (change) date, Project Tracker also returns artifacts that have been created but have not been changed since their creation date. This is because Project Tracker treats the creation date as a modification date.
Text strings that you enter in attribute fields are searched in a case-insensitive manner.
Query definition pages may contain additional (non-default) input fields that are based upon any attribute groups that have been defined for the artifact type.
The Personnel association search section allows you to search for artifacts based on users associated or for those with no user associations. Depending on what user attributes have been defined, you can search by the commitor and/or the assignee. You can add users to the list of selectable users by clicking the Edit list button. Once on the Select user screen you can select from the list of project members to add to your user association list. All users that are associated with artifacts in the project can be selected in this section. You can select as many users are you require. For each user you can also limit the search by association. You can choose to associate a particular user by any user association attribute defined for your project using the Association list. Once you have selected all the personell you require click the Add Assignee and click the Done button.
Using the Search for artifacts with no associations section you can define a search for artifacts for which no assignees with a particular user attribute have been associated. For instance, if you have a "QA Lead" user attribute defined for your project and want to know which issues have not been assigned a QA Lead, you can elect to search for all artifacts with no association of type "QA Lead". You can choose as many user attributes as you need for your query.
This field allows you to search for artifacts with attributes that have changed from one value to another value. For example, you can search for defects with Status attributes that have changed from New to Open. You can specify a date range for the change. For example, you can find artifacts that have changed from a low severity to a high severity within the last week. By default, the attribute and values fields are empty. To create an attribute change query, select an attribute name and click the Update Options button. The valid values for the attribute become available for selection in the From Value and To Value fields. You can also set results view preferences. When the view preference is based on Artifact state or status, the sort order is not necessarily alphabetical. It mirrors the order for the attribute which is determined by an administrator. You can alter the search order and the number of artifacts that appear per page. You can submit your query or choose to save it.
You can configure the columns that are displayed on the results page of an ad-hoc query. These settings are retained for the rest of your work session.