(ATS4-DEV07) How to Build a Custom Search Panel for Accelrys

ELN David Pirkle

Principal Software Engineer, R & D

david.pirkle@accelrys.com

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 Accelrys ELN

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

• Create a Visual Studio project to build a class assembly

– Set the target platform to .NET 3.5

– Set the target CPU to x86

– While debugging, set the build output directory to the ADM deployment directory

– Sign the assembly

• An implementation of the IQueryBuilderGrid interface

Demo

The IQueryBuilderGrid Interface

• Implement the methods required by the IQueryBuilderGrid interface: – UserControl returns the search panel UI (use lazy initialization)

– DisplayName returns the text to display in the Name dropdown menu

– IsInputValid validates query before it is executed

– ExecuteQueryRequest allows the UI to trigger a search

– BuildQuery() returns the Query the user has specified

– IsQueryCompatible used to find a panel to load a query

– LoadQuery() loads a saved query into the UI

– Configuration used for admin-supplied configuration (described later)

• Possible ways to create the Query

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

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 – For use with the search grid, the VaultObject_obj fields to select are (in the following order):

SourceRepositoryID, DocumentID, VaultID

Search Extension Configuration

• Modify the SearchExtensionService.SearchExtensions application permission

– Add to SearchExtensionTypes to let the SearchExtensionService know a new search type exists

– Specify the assembly-qualified name of the search extension class as the “class”

– (Optional) Add a configuration data node using as the Name the “key” supplied in SearchExtensionTypes

Search Extension Configuration

Search Extension Configuration

Publishing the Search Extension

• 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

– Also update the version number in the permission configuration

– Use a source control system to maintain old source code versions

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

• Presented the way in which the search panel in Accelrys ELN 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 – Accelrys ELN Developer’s Guide

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

Summary