Searching Your Database

The search bar is always available in the main window and provides instant access to the powerful search facilities built into Readerware.

To use the search bar simply select the type of search, Author, Title etc., fill in the search criteria and hit the Enter key or click on the Search button. The search criteria is case insensitive and by default will return books that contain the search criteria anywhere in the field. For example, doing a title search for murder might return:

Murder with Mirrors
A Holiday for Murder
The A.B.C. Murders
Murderers Abroad

You can also use an asterisk as a wildcard in your searches.

Murder* - This will search for any titles beginning with Murder.
*Murder - This will search for any titles that end with Murder.
*Murder* - This will search for any titles that contain Murder. This is the default search if you do not explicitly specify wildcard characters.

For example if you want to search for books that begin with Murder, you could enter Murder*. Using the above list only the following would be returned:

Murder with Mirrors
Murderers Abroad

If you don't enter a value in the search field, Readerware will return all records with no data in the selected field. For example, select a My Rating search and press the Search button without selecting a value. Readerware will return all books without a rating.

The search results will be displayed in the main window using the currently selected view. You can then edit, print, browse, view records etc.

That is really all there is to it. A more detailed explanation of the various search types and options follow. At this point you might prefer to simply go and play.

The Default Search

Readerware allows you to define a default search. Readerware runs this search when you start the program or open a new database. Initially the default search is set to search for all titles and display them sorted by author and title. To define your own default search simply perform the search as normal and select the Search->Save as Default Search menu item. For example you could set the default search to display all unread titles or books in a specific category.

The Search Bar

You can search on virtually any field. As you select the different search types you will notice that the search criteria field will change. Sometimes you will type the search criteria in an entry field, for example a title search. Sometimes you will select from a list, for example an author search.

You can configure the search bar, put the searches you use all the time at the top of the list, hide searches you never use etc. If you are looking for one of the searches listed below but don't see it in the search list, you just need to enable it in preferences.

Search	Description
Readerware Searches
Author	Select an author from the list using the mouse or keyboard. You can also use part of a name within asterisks, the wildcard character, i.e. smith
Book ID	Enter a book ID
Book Info	Enter search text
Borrower	Select a borrower from the list to display a list of books currently on loan to this borrower
Borrower ID	Enter or scan a Borrower ID to display a list of books currently on loan to this borrower
Buyer waiting	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Call Number	Enter a Call Number, wildcards allowed
Category	Select a category from the list using the mouse or keyboard. Readerware will search all category fields.
Chapter title	Enter part of a title, Readerware will return any book with a chapter title containing these characters
Comments	Enter search text
Condition	Select a condition from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Contributor	Select a contributor from the list using the mouse or keyboard. You can also use part of a name within asterisks, the wildcard character, i.e. smith. Readerware will search all contributor fields, Author, Editor etc.
Copies	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard. Readerware will search based on the number of copies of a book you have
Cover condition	Select a condition from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Date entered	Click on the down arrow and select the date using the calendar. Readerware returns items entered on or after the specified date
Date last updated	Click on the down arrow and select the date using the calendar
Dewey	Enter a Dewey Decimal Number, wildcards allowed
Duplicates	The duplicates search will return possible duplicate books. You can determine which fields are matched when checking for duplicates in preferences.
Edition	Select a value from the list to search by edition, First etc.
Editor	Select a contributor from the list using the mouse or keyboard. You can also use part of a name within asterisks, the wildcard character, i.e. smith
Favorites	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Format	Select a value from the list to search by book format, Hardcover, Paperback, eBook etc.
Full text search	Enter search text. Readerware will search all text fields for the entered value, title, author, book info etc.
Illustrator	Select a contributor from the list using the mouse or keyboard. You can also use part of a name within asterisks, the wildcard character, i.e. smith
Image	Select a value from the list, Readerware will display books with and without images
Inventory count	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard. The inventory count search is used to make sure all items are present after performing an inventory of your collection.
ISBN/Barcode	Enter an ISBN or scan the barcode. Leave the search field blank to search for books without an ISBN
Keys search	Enter search text. Readerware will search all key fields for the entered value, ISBN, User Number, Book ID, Call Number etc. Note: Wildcards are not supported on a keys search.
Keywords - OR	Enter comma separated keywords. Readerware will search for items containing any of the keywords specified. Keyword order is not important
Keywords - AND	Enter comma separated keywords. Readerware will search for items containing all of the keywords specified. Keyword order is not important
Language	Select a value from the list to search by language
Last read date	Click on the down arrow and select the date using the calendar
LCCN	Enter a Library of Congress Card Catalog number
Location	Select a location from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Loans	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard. Readerware can search for books on loan, overdue etc. If loan columns are displayed, the loan information will be included. This search returns all active loans, if you have 5 copies of a book out on loan, the book is listed 5 times with the information for each loan
My Rating	Select a rating from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Out of print	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard. Readerware will search for books in or out of print
Owner	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard to search by owner
Place	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Publisher	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Purchase date	Click on the down arrow and select the date using the calendar
Purchase place	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Read	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Reading Level	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Series	Select a value from the list. Readerware will search for books that are part of the specified series
Signed	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Source	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard to search by the source used to catalog the book
Status	Select a value from the list using the mouse or keyboard
Title	Enter part of a title, Readerware will return any item where the title contains these characters
Translator	Select a contributor from the list using the mouse or keyboard. You can also use part of a name within asterisks, the wildcard character, i.e. smith
Updated by last wizard	This search will display those items updated by the last wizard run, i.e. the last auto-catalog run. This can be useful when you want to review the changes made by a wizard
User number	Enter the user number of a book
User 1 - User 10	These searches will appear in the search list under the name you assigned for any user defined fields you activated. Enter search text
ASIN	Enter an ASIN, wildcards allowed

Searching for Duplicates

A question that comes up quite a bit is how can you detect duplicate entries in a Readerware database.

The duplicate search is available in all products to let you quickly find possible duplicates. Select Duplicates from the search by drop down list and click on the Search button. Readerware will display a list of possible duplicate entries. If you do not see the Duplicates entry in the search list, remember that you can customize the search list. You can hide the searches you never use and move the searches you use all the time to the top of the list. If you don't see the Duplicates search, you just need to enable it in preferences.

Before you use the Duplicates search, there is one more question you need to consider, what is a duplicate? You have to tell Readerware how to detect a duplicate entry, you do this by selecting the columns Readerware should match on.

You might consider a duplicate to be a book with the same ISBN. You would select the ISBN column and then Readerware will display a list of books with duplicate ISBNs. The results list will include all books where two or more books have the same ISBN. However you could have the same title with different ISBNs, if you want to check for all copies of a particular title you could select the Author and Title columns. What about format? Would you consider a hardcover and paperback edition of the same title to be duplicates? If you have both CD and vinyl versions of a favorite album, would you consider them duplicates? If you do, then select the Artist and Title columns in preferences. If you do not consider them duplicates, include the format column too. Now Readerware will only display titles with the same format as duplicates.

You determine what constitutes a duplicate. If you are storing your books in different locations, you might only consider books in the same location to be duplicates, the same title in another location is not considered a duplicate. So you include the Location column in the duplicate check. This is a very flexible approach and you can always change the selection as the term duplicate may mean different things to you in different situations.

When Readerware displays the duplicates it lists only items that have two or more matches and it lists all duplicate items. If you only have one book with a specific ISBN, it will not appear in the search results. If you have two books with the same ISBN, both books are listed. Four books with the same ISBN, all four books are listed. You can then examine each book and decide what to do. If you want to delete duplicates, you can decide what entry to keep and what entries to delete etc.

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