Using search expressions

To retrieve a well-defined set of records, files or other objects from within Aprimo DAM you can use search expressions. Below are examples of the different syntaxes you can use when searching for objects in Aprimo DAM.

The most simple search expression is property=value, which looks for all objects that match the specified property value, e.g. this query will retrieve and load all users whose name is “Administrator”:

Name = Administrator

In case the value of the field or property contains spaces, enclose the value in single or double quotes.

This second query combines 2 search criteria into one search expression: it loads all users whose name starts with an “a” (using the * wildcard) and who were created by a user named “John Doe” (via the CreatedBy property, which in turn contains a user object). Note that the name John Doe is enclosed in single quotes because of the included space:

Name = a* AND CreatedBy.Name = 'John Doe'"

To simplify dynamically building search expressions in code, the advanced search REST API endpoint also supports searching used named or unnamed parameters.

An unnamed parameter is a parameter that is identified using a question mark (?). These parameters are processed in the same order as they are specified in the search expression. So if you want to use the same value multiple times in an expression, you’ll also have to specify this parameter multiple times.

A named parameter is a parameter that starts with an @, e.g. @Name. Named parameters have the disadvantage that they are slightly more work to specify, but they make it easier to reuse the same parameter value and you can even ask Aprimo DAM to create a list of all the parameters specified in a search expression.

The first example loads all users whose name is “John Doe”, using 1 unnamed parameter:

{
	"searchExpression":
	{
		"expression": "Name = ?",
		"parameters": ["John Doe"],
	}
}

This example loads all users whose name begins with “a” or “b”, using 2 unnamed parameters:

{
	"searchExpression":
	{
		"expression": "Name=? OR Name=?",
		"parameters": ["a*", "b*"]
	}
}

This search expression looks for all users whose name or e-mail address is “John Doe”, using a named parameter “Word”:

{
	"searchExpression":
	{
		"expression": "Name = @Word OR Email = @Word",
		"namedParameters": {"Word" = "John Doe"}
	}
}

Supported search operators

To define the relationship between the searchable property and the corresponding value, you can use these relational operators:

 CreatedBy.Name = "Pete Newcase"

 FileCount > 0

 FileCount >= 1

 CreatedOn < 05/05/2015

 CreatedOn <= 05/05/2015

 File.CheckedOutOn <> 05/05/2015

 FileCount in '"1","3","5"'

 CreatedBy.Name in '"Pete","Laura","James"'

 CreatedOn in today

 File.Version.Comment contains "draft"

{
	"searchExpression":
	{
		"expression": "Name = ? Name = ?",
		"parameters": ["a*", "b*"],
		"defaultLogicalOperator": "OR"
	}
}

{
	"searchExpression":
	{
		"expression": "Id IN ?",
		"parameters": [	"117c5ef4-5505-435e-818f-0495ea434a8c,
				2fa2ba22-8ae0-481b-a4fe-1d4c0edab6e3,
				503dfa3a-debc-4add-96cf-da4d62feb13a"]
	}
}

Name = a*

{
	"searchExpression":
	{
		"expression": "Name = a*",
		"supportWildcards": "false"
	}
}