As your templates get more complex, it can be difficult
to locate a specific item in an element. You can search a template
for specific data references, variables, master pages, styles, and
element names.
Before you begin
This task outlines searching by using the Search window. You
can also right-click an element in the template content editor and
select
Search. For more information, see the
Searching within a template section of the
Tips and tricks topic.
About this task
The use of the File Search and JavaScript Search tabs in the Search window
is not supported.
Tip: You can click Customize and
deselect the RPE Reference Search or JavaScript
Search tabs to remove them from the Search window.
Procedure
- In Document Studio, click . The
Search window opens.
- Select the RPE Reference Search tab.
- Enter a search term.
- Select one or more search types:
- All: To search on data references,
variables, master pages, styles, and all element properties. All is
the default selection.
- Data reference: To search for elements
that have queries and attributes applied. When you enter a query or
attribute, you must enter the full name of the query or attribute.
Example: Module/Object/Link/Linked Object
- Variable: To search for elements that
have variable assignments.
- Master page: To search for elements
that have master pages applied, which might contain a header and a
footer.
- Style: To search for elements that
a particular style applied to them.
- Element name: To search for an element
with a specific name that was entered in the Properties view.
- Select one of the search options if your search term includes
wildcard characters. The following tables include examples
that are based on these element names:

- Basic wildcard: These wildcard characters
are commonly used in non-Eclipse based software applications and can
also be used in Rational® Publishing Engine basic
wildcard searches. Basic wildcard is the default
wildcard search option.
Table 1. Basic wildcard characters and
descriptionsCharacter |
Description |
Search term example |
Example matches |
Examples that would not match |
* |
Matches any number of characters within the
context of the other characters in the search term |
textElement* |
textElement1
textElement2
textElementThree
|
SometextElement1Some textElement1
|
? |
Matches any single character within the context
of the other characters in the search term |
textElement? |
textElement1
textElement2
|
textElement10StextElement1
|
- Regular expression: Also known as regexp,
these wildcard characters apply to most Eclipse-based applications,
including Rational Publishing Engine,
and many programming languages.
Table 2. Commonly-used regular
expression characters and descriptionsCharacter |
Description |
Search term example |
Example matches |
Examples that would not match |
* |
Matches the preceding character zero or more
times |
textElementThre* |
textElementThree
|
text ElementThree
|
? |
Matches the preceding character zero or one
time |
textElementThre? |
textElementThree
|
textElementThreee
|
+ |
Matches the preceding character one or more
times |
textElementThre+ |
textElementThree
|
textElementThre
|
. |
Matches any single character |
textElement[.] |
textElement1
textElement2
|
textElement11
|
[] |
Matches any one of the characters inside the
brackets within the context of the search term |
textElement[12] |
textElement1
textElement2
|
textElement3
|
[^ ] |
Matches any of the characters except the ones
inside the brackets within the context of the search term |
textElement[^12] |
textElementThree
|
textElement1
|
| |
Matches multiple search terms in a list |
textElement1|textElement2 |
textElement1
textElement2
|
textElement11
|
\w |
Matches any alphanumeric characters |
\wElement |
textElement1
textElement2
textElementThree
paragraphElement1
|
text1
|
- Click Search.
Results
The search results display in the Search view.
The results include the following columns:
- Result value: The name as entered in the
Properties view for the entity.
- Search type: The search type match as selected
in step 4. Data source includes both queries and attributes.
- Element: The element type as selected from
the Palette view.
- Used in: The location of the entity, which
might be in the element content, condition, variable assignment, or
properties.
- Element name: The name as entered in the General tab
of the Properties view for the element.
After you perform a search, you
can click a column heading to sort the results.
You might
see duplicates in your results. This duplication often happens because
the same text could be found in a script and in the variable reference
for that script.