The Custom Search tool allows you to build targeted queries for attributes in a layer.
Highly targeted maps provide the best user experience for map users. If your map has a specific purpose you can enable the Custom Search tool. This tool can be configured to show a custom AND / OR search panel with a set of selected searchable data attributes.
The Custom Search tool is ideal if your dataset has a small set of specific attributes that you want to be found quickly.
For example, you have a map showing real estate sales data, and you want users to be able to quickly find all properties with a certain number of bathrooms above a set price.
Add the variables price and num_bath, set the type to greater than and at least respectively.
Users can now enter their criteria, hit search, and all features on the map that meet the criteria will be highlighted.
Configuring Custom Search
To configure Advanced Search, first active the tool in your Toolbox. Next, select the layer you wish to query, and then select the attributes you want to allow users to search by.
Set critera descriptions for each enabled attribute, and select the method of filtering. If you wish to re-order the fields, simply drag and drop them to suit your desired order.
Usage notes
- You can build a series of fields to query, or just a single query.
- The queriable fields are not mandatory, so if only one field is queried, it will still return results.
- To perform an AND search, set the “Attributes match” field to ALL, to perform an OR search, set the field to ANY.
Wildcards
The wildcard is an advanced search technique that can be used to maximise your results in custom search. Wildcards are used in search terms to represent one or more other characters. % represents any number of characters, _ represents one character.
NOTE: Only one layer in a map can utilize Custom Search.