Running a Visual Query

When a query in the External Searches window advertises itself as a Visual Query, you can control how it searches the external data source and what types of records it finds. Visual Queries enable you to look for data structures as well as for single records.

About this task

In a Visual Query, the structure defines what record types and relationships you're interested in, while the conditions put limits on the property values of the records that the query finds. The more conditions and the more complex the structure you create, the fewer records will match your Visual Query.
Note:
Creating and running Visual Queries on an external data source is similar to using them on an Information Store, but not always the same. For example, you cannot save Visual Queries, and some sources will place restrictions on the types of records you can search for. Also, the user interface for creating query conditions is different for external sources than it is for the Information Store. For more information, see adding conditions to a Visual Query.

Procedure

  1. Follow the general procedure for searching external sources as far as Step 3: Open the External Searches window and scroll to a Visual Query. You can identify Visual Queries from other types of query by the icon.
  2. Select the query and then click Open.
  3. See Structured searching for details about the structure and creation of Visual Queries.
  4. Click OK to view the query structure and add conditions.
  5. Click Run to start the query.

Results

After the query runs, the tab in the External Searches window that has the Conditions view gains a Results view that contains the search results. From here, you can select results and copy them to the chart surface, or you can refine your search by filtering the results.

You can also switch between the Results view and the Conditions view by using the directional arrows on the information bar. In this way, you can edit the structure and rerun the query without returning to the Queries list.