Search for text in a database diagram

dbForge Studio for SQL Server lets you search for text or objects and navigate to them directly within the Database Diagram by using the Find feature. You can also search within stamp fields (company name and project name), notes, relationship and container names.

Search for text

1. Open the Find and Replace dialog > Find in Files tab in one of these ways:

• In the top menu, select Edit > Find and Replace > Find in Files.
• Press Ctrl+Shift+F.

2. In Find what, specify the text you want to find.

3. In Look in, select the location to search for the specified object name:

• Current Document – Searches for objects in the diagram where the Find and Replace dialog opens.
• All Open Documents – Searches for objects in all documents that are open in the Studio.

4. Optional: Under Find options, select additional options:

• Match case – Finds only objects whose text matches the specified case exactly.
• Match whole word – Finds only complete word matches.
• Search up – Searches from the current cursor position toward the beginning of the document.
• Search hidden text – Includes hidden or collapsed text in the search results.
• Use – Indicates how to interpret special characters in the search:
  • Regular Expressions – Treats the search string as a regular expression.
  • Wildcards – Allows the use of wildcard characters, for example, *.

5. Optional: In Result options, select Display file names only to avoid opening the files found during the search.

6. To run the search process, click Find Next to see one search result at a time or click Find All to display all results in the Find Results pane.

The Find Results pane opens, displaying all items that match your search criteria. Double-clicking any entry in the pane takes you directly to the corresponding item on the diagram, which is highlighted in blue.

Search for objects in the diagram

1. Open the Find and Replace dialog > Find tab in one of these ways:

• In the top menu, select Edit > Find and Replace > Find.
• Press Ctrl+F.

2. In Find what, specify the object name to search for.

3. In Look in, select the location to search for the specified object name:

• Current Document – Searches for objects in the diagram where the Find and Replace dialog opens.
• All Open Documents – Searches for objects in all documents that are open in the Studio.

4. Optional: Under Find options, select additional options:

• Match case – Finds only objects whose text matches the specified case exactly.
• Match whole word – Finds only complete word matches.
• Search up – Searches from the current cursor position toward the beginning of the document.
• Search hidden text – Includes hidden or collapsed text in the search results.
• Use – Indicates how to interpret special characters in the search:
  • Regular Expressions – Treats the search string as a regular expression.
  • Wildcards – Allows the use of wildcard characters, for example, *.

5. Click Find Next.

Objects whose names match the search criteria are highlighted in blue in the diagram. Each time you click Find Next, the tool moves to the next object that meets the search criteria.

When the search completes, a notification appears: No more occurrences found in the specified documents.

If no text in the diagram matches the search criteria, the notification appears: The specified text was not found.