How to use multiple criteria with the FindAgent

• 7 minutes to read

Unlike the ArchiveAgent, the FindAgent supports saved restrictions and also handles some behind-the-scenes translation related to reporter criteria that the archive agent does not need to worry about.

The example below shows the use of the SaveRestrictions method exposed through the FindAgent.

using SuperOffice;
using SuperOffice.CRM.Services;
using SuperOffice.CRM.ArchiveLists;
using SuperOffice.CRM.Globalization;
using SuperOffice.Util;

using (SoSession mySession = SoSession.Authenticate("sam", "sam"))
{
  //Initializing the FindAgent
  using(FindAgent newFindAgt = new FindAgent())
  {
    //Declaration of the Local variable
    string storageType = "Criteria";
    string providerName = "findcontact";
    string storageKey = "associate=1236";
    string[] staticColumns = new string[] { "name", "firstName", "lastName" };

    //Making use of a method exposed in the FindAgent
    //GetAvailableRestrictionColumns - which Gets a list of
    //the column names corresponding to available restrictions for
    //a certain archive provider and restriction storage provider.
    string[] handledColumns = newFindAgt.GetAvailableRestrictionColumns(storageType, providerName);

    //GetSpecifiedCriteriaInformationWithDefaults - Get criteria information from a
    //set of saved criteria, for a specific set of columns.
    CriteriaInformation criteria = newFindAgt.GetSpecifiedCriteriaInformationWithDefaults(storageType, providerName, storageKey, handledColumns, staticColumns);

    //Represents a list of keys and values i.e columns and the conditions.
    Dictionary<string, ArchiveRestrictionInfo> restrictions = ArchiveRestrictionInfo.ToNameDictionary( criteria.Restrictions );

    //Setting the restriction for specific columns
    //Udef fields may not run depending on the database.
    //string values
    restrictions["lastName"].SetValue("Tester 5");
    restrictions["lastName"].IsActive = true;
    restrictions["firstName"].SetValue("Tester 5");
    restrictions["firstName"].Operator = "contains";
    restrictions["firstName"].IsActive = true;

    //int values
    restrictions["personId"].SetValue( "215" );
    restrictions["contactId"].SetValue( "100", "143" );
    restrictions["contactId"].Operator = "between";

    //list
    restrictions["position"].SetValue( "1" );
    restrictions["category"].SetValue( "1", "2", "3", "4" );

    //bool
    restrictions["nomailings"].SetValue(true.ToString()); 
    restrictions["contactUdef/SuperOffice:6"].SetValue("1");

    //decimal
    restrictions["contactUdef/SuperOffice:8"].SetValue(CultureDataFormatter.EncodeDouble(1.4));
    restrictions["personUdef/SuperOffice:8"].SetValue(CultureDataFormatter.EncodeDouble(1.8), CultureDataFormatter.EncodeDouble(2.6));
    restrictions["personUdef/SuperOffice:8"].Operator = "between";
    restrictions["personUdef/SuperOffice:8"].IsActive = true;

    //datetime
    restrictions["contactUdef/SuperOffice:4"].SetValue(CultureDataFormatter.EncodeDate(DateTime.Now));

    //Save the restrictions so that it may be used later as search criteria
    newFindAgt.SaveRestrictions(storageType, providerName, storageKey, CollectionOps.DictionaryValuesToArray(restrictions));
  }
}

The intention is to store and restore a set of restrictions that could be used later as search criteria. The first thing we do is to get the FindAgent instance, which contains the method that we use. Once the initialization is done, we declare the variable that we would need to pass to the different methods we use.

storageType

The storage type specification of the restriction, which could be "Criteria" or "Reporter" or any possible extension.

providerName

This is the name of the archive provider which is intended to use the restriction.

storageKey

This is to be interpreted by the restriction storage provider when it fetches the criteria for the search.

staticColumns

This is an array of restrictions that are to be excluded from the CriteriaArchiveRows part of the result.

In the Find dialog that corresponds to the "static fields", this variable is used to avoid duplication in the Match also criteria list. In place, this variable is used it could be stated as null, which indicates that all restrictions should be included in the criteria list.

For example, if you have a criteria such as person/firstname="John" then all matches on this field will contain the same value "John" and the column can be excluded from the result making more room for the useful information.

handledColumns

string[] handledColumns = newFindAgt.GetAvailableRestrictionColumns(storageType, providerName);

This is an array of restrictions that are to be excluded from the CriteriaArchiveRows part of the result. In the Find dialog, that corresponds to the "static fields" this variable is used to avoid duplication in the "Match also" criteria list. In places, this variable is used it could be stated as null which indicates that all restrictions should be included in the criteria list.

When retrieving the list of columns for the variable we have made use of the GetAvailableRestrictionColumns method, which requires the storageType and providerName as the input parameters. It returns a list of column names corresponding to the available restrictions for the passed in providerName and storageType.

CriteriaInformation criteria = newFindAgt.GetSpecifiedCriteriaInformationWithDefaults(storageType, providerName, storageKey, handledColumns, staticColumns);

With the execution of the above code, we have retrieved criteria information from a set of saved criteria, for specific set columns. The results are contained in two forms. Namely, fully populated ArchiveRestrictionInfo objects, used to display details and for saving changes; and as a list suitable for an Archive control. All columns specified in the call will be present in the results. The method requires 5 parameters to produce the output. The parameters have been explained above.

The next step is to create a variable that could be used to store the restrictions.

Dictionary<string, ArchiveRestrictionInfo> restrictions = ArchiveRestrictionInfo.ToNameDictionary( criteria.Restrictions );

Here we have made use of the Dictionary class located in the System.Collection.Generic namespace, which will store the restrictions as a key-value pair. The key is of string type and the values are of ArchiveRestrictionInfo type, which is a class that carries information such as contact_id = 2 which could be used in a query of an ArchiveProvider.

Once this is done, we may create and assign different restrictions. The example shows how to assign restrictions to multiple types of data as well as user-defined fields.

Note

When executing the code for a user, an error might occur based on the state of their database since they may not have some or all of the user-defined fields shown in the example. In such a case, the code will be executable once the user-defined fields have been commented out or removed.

Once all the required restrictions have been added, the created restriction may be saved with the execution of the following statement.

newFindAgt.SaveRestrictions(storageType, providerName, storageKey, CollectionOps.DictionaryValuesToArray(restrictions));

With the use of the SaveRestriction method exposed in the IFindAgent interface, the restriction will be saved so that it could later be used as a search criterion including dynamic search and find statements. The method requires the parameters:

storageType
providerName
storageKey
an array of ArchiveRestrictionInfo

Here we have made use of the CollectionsOps class exposed in the SuperOffice.Util class to convert between various collections of data. In this case, from Dictionary type to an array of ArchiveRestrictionInfo type.