(ATS3-DEV03) How to Build a Custom Search Panel for Symyx Notebook

(ATS3-DEV03) How to Build a Custom Search Panel for Symyx Notebook

Mark BenzelPrincipal Software Engineer, R&D

[email protected]

The information on the roadmap and future software development efforts are intended to outline general product direction and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision.

• Searching capabilities within Symyx Notebook

Demo

Overview of Notebook Searching

• Available searches– Standard– Advanced– Full Text– Properties– Chemistry

• These return Vault object types that can be displayed in the accompanying grid:– Document– DocumentTemplate– Form– Folder

• Queries can be saved for future use• Custom searches with accompanying user interfaces can be added

Developing a Search Extension

• Create the search extension assembly by implementing the IQueryBuilderGrid interface

• Add information to the SearchExtensionService.SearchExtensions Application Permission to let the system know about the new search type

• When finished with development, publish the assembly for the new search type to Vault

The Development Environment

• Setup an environment to create a custom assembly• These steps are similar to those discussed in (ATS3-DEV02)

Scripting with .NET Assemblies in Symyx Notebook– Create a Visual Studio or #develop project to build a class assembly

• Select a language• Set the target platform to .NET 3.5• Set the target CPU to x86• While debugging, set the build output directory to the bin directory of the

Symyx Notebook installation

• Visual Studio environment for creating a search extension

Demo

The IQueryBuilderGrid Interface

• Implement the methods required by the IQueryBuilderGrid interface

• For use with the search grid, the database fields to select are (in the following order):– VaultObject_obj.SourceRepositoryID– VaultObject_obj.DocumentID– VaultObject_obj.VaultID

• An implementation of the IQueryBuilderGrid interface

Demo

Building the Query

• Query– Container of information necessary to generate a SQL query to send to Vault– Includes QueryConditions, QueryClauses and a SQLGenerator– “select” fields either defined programmatically or generated by the SQLGenerator

• QueryCondition (derived from QueryClause)– Generates the “from” and “where” portions of a SQL statement using QueryViews, QueryFields and

QueryComparisonOperators

• QueryView and QueryField– Generates the “from” portion of a SQL statement– Can be generated and passed into the QueryCondition or the QueryCondition can generate them using the names of

the view and fields

• QueryComparisonOperators– Used in QueryConditions to generate the “where” portion of the SQL statement

• QueryConditionExtensions– Simplify the use of QueryConditions

• Possible ways to create the Query

Demo

SQL Generators

• Derive from the abstract base class QuerySQLGenerator• VaultContentQuerySQLGenerator - the default

– Retrieves information about a Vault object or the parent of an object– Retrieved information limited to VaultObject_obj View– Used by the advanced query builder

• ChemistryQuerySQLGenerator– Used specifically with the chemistry query builder

• VaultObjectPropertiesQuerySQLGenerator– Can be used to search any of the Views

• PropertiesQuerySQLGenerator– Similar to VaultObjectPropertiesQuerySQLGenerator but knows how to separate Quantities into

QueryConditions for both value and unit

Search Extension Configuration

• Modify the SearchExtensionService.SearchExtensions application permission– Add to SearchExtensionTypes to let the SearchExtensionService

know a new search type exists– (Optional) Add a configuration data node using the named as

the “key” supplied in SearchExtensionTypes

• Adding a search extension to the SearchExtensionService.SearchExtensions application permission

Demo

Search Extension Configuration Revisited

• Configuration of the search extension is possible by adding a configuration data node with the name of the node being the same as the “key” supplied in SearchExtensionTypes

• Configuring the search extension

Demo

Publishing the Search Extension

• The possible ways of doing this were presented in (ATS3-DEV02) Scripting with .NET assemblies in Symyx Notebook. Things to keep in mind are:– Assemblies are stored in Vault by “fully-qualified assembly name”

• Meaning it includes version information• Need to change the assembly version numbers before publishing the new assembly

– Can’t un-publish an assembly• To “undo” a publish, you need to advance the version number and publish again• Use a source control system to maintain old source code versions

• See the Symyx Notebook Developer’s Guide section on “Publishing a Custom .NET Assembly”

• Presented the way in which the search panel in Symyx Notebook can be extended– Create an assembly containing a class that implements the

IQueryBuilderGrid interface– Configure a new search extension in the

SearchExtensionService.SearchExtensions application permission– Publish the assembly to Vault

• Resource– Symyx Notebook Developer’s Guide

• Section entitled “Creating a New Search Type”• Section entitled “Publishing a Custom .NET Assembly”

Summary

The information on the roadmap and future software development efforts are intended to outline general product direction and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision.

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