Searching in the project

The search field in the status bar searches the project that is currently open. You can enter a variable (1/1/1), any text, or a condition such as Update cyclically > 0. A variable can also be dragged from the variable window into the result list.

The result list appears in the diagnostic window. Double-clicking a row jumps to the function block or control element.

What is searched

The gear button next to the search field determines which areas are searched. As soon as a setting differs from the default, the gear turns red.

Exact text only – the search text has to fill the whole field. Without this setting it is enough if it occurs anywhere in the field.
Case sensitive.
Evaluate conditions (name > value) – see below. Enabled by default.
For each area – function blocks and control elements – Element, Comment, Addresses, Parameters, Parameter names and Standard parameters can be switched on and off individually.

Parameters searches the parameter values, Parameter names their captions. The captions are disabled by default: a common word such as “time” or “value” occurs in a great many parameter names and would flood the list.

Standard parameters

Standard parameters are the settings every element has – for a function block Comment, As headline, Deactivate module, Update at startup and Update cyclically; for a control element among others Element lock, Transparency, Background, Width and Height.

They are searchable by default. If you enter the name only, however, only those elements are found whose value differs from the default. Update cyclically therefore lists the blocks that have a cycle time, not the entire project. Size, position and text alignment of a control element always carry a value; they can only be reached through a condition.

Conditions

Instead of a text you can enter a condition:

Input	Result
Update cyclically > 0	all blocks that send their outputs cyclically
Update cyclically >= 60	of those, the ones with a cycle time of at least one minute
Deactivate module = yes	all deactivated blocks
Transparency < 100	all translucent control elements
Width > 500	all particularly wide control elements

The operators >, <, >=, <=, = and != (equivalent to <>) are allowed. If both sides are numbers they are compared numerically, otherwise as text. For check boxes you may write yes and no just as well as 1 and 0.

The name in front of the operator need not be complete: cyclically > 0 finds the same. It also matches the parameters of individual blocks, for example delay > 30.

When an input counts as a condition

So that an ordinary text search is never reinterpreted by accident, three things have to come together:

There is a space in front of the operator. a>b in a Lua source text therefore stays a search text, a > b does not.
To the left of the operator there is a name, not a number.
That name actually occurs in the project as a parameter name.

If one of these does not apply, the entered text is searched for as usual. If a text is to be searched literally in any case, put it in quotation marks: "Update cyclically > 0" searches for exactly that character sequence.

If the input was read as a condition, it is shown above the column with the location. Every result row names the parameter and its value there, for example Update cyclically = 60.

While a condition is being evaluated the remaining areas rest – so no additional hits from comments, addresses or Lua source texts appear.

Also when searching several projects

Parameter names, standard parameters and conditions are available in Search projects as well. One restriction applies there: for control elements only the value of a parameter is stored with the project, not its caption. In a foreign project file, therefore, only the standard parameters of a control element can be found by their name.