An alternative to the Navigator Filter in IFS Enterprise Explorer

Many know about the Navigator Filter in IFS Enterprise Explorer. It’s the little “(…)” thingy (shortcut key Ctrl+Shift+F) at the top of the IFS Applications navigator. It is a great way to quickly find and open some form.

Fewer seems to know about (or use anyway) the similar search functionality available in the Home form of IEE in IFS Applications 8 (which, to boot, is in focus when you start IFS Enterprise Explorer). To me, that feature has one big advantage over the Navigator Filter: it finds the form I want to open and lets me open it as easily as with the navigator filter but it does not filter the navigator. Instead it just opens up the right place in the navigator, keeping all other navigator nodes visible.

For me this is a big win because, most of the time, after having opened the form I wanted, I want to open other forms in the same part of the navigator, but those are often not seen because of the filter (yes, you can clear the filter but that takes more clicks and/or typing). With the search in the home form you get the best of both worlds. …If you really don’t want to filter the navigator items, that is… ;)

It also has another interesting feature in that the searches are part of the navigation history. This means that if you first used it to search for “doc rev” to find some form, and later use it to find some other form, the first search is still in the navigation history (use the navigation arrows at the top of the screen or Alt+left and Alt+right to navigate).

To use the search in the Home form properly using the keyboard, press Alt+Home first to get to the home form and focus the search field, then type what you want to search for, and lastly press the Tab key to move focus to the matching entries. There you can use the arrow keys and enter to open the form or folder you like. So, it’s the same number of keystrokes as with the navigator filter, if you are into that kind of thing ;)

Search feature in the Home form

I use this much more often than the Navigator Filter. The next time you are about to click the Navigator Filter, try clicking the Home icon instead (or us the shortcut key). Maybe you will like it too?

Happy searching!