This method is used to search for existing information relating to a system entity. It differs from the Find Method in that it is used in cases where there may be more than one piece of information associated with an entity. For instance, if the entity were an author they may have more than one book associated with them. One or more fields may be searched in a single search operation with each field having different search criteria applied. For instance, this method could be used to find all books published by a particular author in a particular year (and also those books with a particular name in the title). The GetFields Method can be used to determine all the available fields to search.
Reference should contain the Reference returned by the Login Method and is used to identify the user of the Web Service.
RequestDataSet should contain a Parameters DataTable with a single row and the following columns:
and optionally a Sorting DataTable with a single row and the following columns defining how the response results should be sorted:
Note that the fields specified in the Sorting DataTable are independent of those specified in the Parameters DataTable (although the same fields may be used in both) but they should be related, eg. using the example above the fields should pertain to information about books. The sequence of the columns in the Sorting DataTable dictates the sorting sequence (ie. results are first sorted by the first specified field then, where results for the first field match, the results are further sorted by the second specified field and so on).
ResponseDataSet will contain a Status DataTable with a single row and the following columns:
and, if successful, a Data DataTable with zero or more rows and the following columns:
The following Web Service call to find all of a particular Contact's books published in 2002 that contain the word squirrel in the title:
MultipleFind("18,23", RequestDataSet)
where RequestDataSet contains the following Parameters DataTable:
Contact ID Book Title Book Publication Date 200021 %squirrel% %2002
and the following Sorting DataTable:
Book Publisher Descending
could produce a DataSet with the following Status DataTable:
Code Text 0 OK
and the following Data DataTable:
ID 21 13 23
where the books are:
ID Book Title Book Publisher 21 Squirrel in the Rye Smith and Wesson Publications 13 The Squirrel in the Willows EasyPub Limited 23 Squirrels and Amazons Accrington Smith Books