Finding records

If you know the record number of a particular record in a table, it is quite easy to locate the record by using the Go To command in the Edit menu. However, sometimes you may not know the record number and therefore have to search for the record by finding a particular piece of data, which you know is held in a field of the record. If you are working on a small table it should be fairly easy to find the cell you require (for formatting, deleting, editing, or whatever) by eye. However, if you have a very large table, it can be quicker to ask Ability to find the cell you want. Whether in Table Grid View or Form View follow these steps:

  1. Click on the Find image\find.gif button on the toolbar or select the Find command from the Edit menu. The "Find" dialog is displayed.

  2. In the Find what box, type the text you wish to search for.

  3. In the Direction box choose whether you want to search Up, Down or in All directions from the current position. Ability searches down columns: for example, down one column from the present position, then down the next column, and so on.

  4. In the Scope box choose whether you want to search in the Whole document or only in a Selection.

  5. In the Options box you can choose to Match case and/or to Match whole word only.

  6. Click on the Find Next button to begin the search. Ability will find the next occurrence of the search text and the cursor will move to that cell. Click on Find Next again to go to the next occurrence, and so on till there are no more to be found.