Flash CS3 Documentation

ActionScript 2.0 Components Language Reference > DataSet component > DataSet.find()

DataSet.find()

Availability

Flash Player 7.

Edition

Flash MX Professional 2004.

Usage

dataSetInstance.find(searchValues)

Parameters

searchValues An array that contains one or more field values to be found within the current sort.

Returns

Returns true if the values are found; otherwise, returns false.

Description

Method; searches the current view of the collection for an item with the field values specified by searchValues. Which items are in the current view depends on any current filter and range settings. If an item is found, it becomes the current item in the DataSet object.

The values specified by searchValues must be in the same order as the field list specified by the current sort (see the example below).

If the current sort is not unique, the record (transfer object) found is nondeterministic. If you want to find the first or last occurrence of a transfer object in a nonunique sort, use DataSet.findFirst() or DataSet.findLast().

Conversion of the data specified is based on the underlying field's type. For example, if you specify ["05-02-02"] as a search value, the underlying date field is used to convert the value using the date's DataType.setAsString() method. If you specify [new Date().getTime()], the date's DataType.setAsNumber() method is used.

Example

The following example searches for an item in the current collection whose name and id fields contain the values "Bobby" and 105, respectively. If found, DataSet.getItemId() is used to get the unique identifier for the item in the collection, and DataSet.locateById() is used to position the current iterator on that item.

var studentID:String = null;
student_ds.addSort("id", ["name","id"]);
// Locate the transfer object identified by "Bobby" and 105.
// Note that the order of the search fields matches those
// specified in addSort().
if (student_ds.find(["Bobby", 105])) {
    studentID = student_ds.getItemId();
}
// Now use locateByID() to position the current iterator
// on the item in the collection whose ID matches studentID.
if (studentID != null) {
    student_ds.locateById(studentID);
}