Sometimes you will find it necessary to enter complex search parameters. However, if the Boolean operators are not properly used, you might end up with inaccurate search results.
Versatile Web Enterprise supports the standard arithmetic rules of operation when evaluating a search expression. These rules state that AND operations are always evaluated before OR operations. To a non-mathematician, this can be confusing. Therefore, you can use parentheses to help define your search.
Consider the following examples:
Johnson OR Johnsen
AND Ron
You might think the system searches for all occurrences of the words “Ron”
plus either “Johnson” or “Johnsen.” In reality, it searches for all occurrences
of either the word “Johnson” or the combination of the words “Johnsen”
and “Ron.”
Ron AND Johnson OR Johnsen
You might think changing the order of the search makes the search work
differently. However, it does not have any effect because Web Enterprise
evaluates the expression exactly the same. The AND operation is always
evaluated before the OR operation.
To get around this problem, you can use parentheses as follows:
Ron AND (Johnson
OR Johnsen)
Alternatively:
(Johnson OR Johnsen) AND Ron
An example of an even more complex operation would be:
((Johnson OR Johnsen) AND Ron) AND NOT Corporation
Note: The syntax for using the NOT operator depends on the type of database you use.