Finds a document based on its column values within a view. You create an array of keys, where each key corresponds to a value in a sorted column in the view. The method returns the first document whose column values match each key in the array.

Defined in

NotesView

Syntax

Set notesDocument = notesView.GetDocumentByKey( keyArray [, exactMatch% ] )

Parameters

keyArray

String (variable-length only), integer, long or double value, or array of string, number, DateTime, or DateRange objects. Each element in the array is compared to a sorted column in the view. The first element in the array is compared to the first sorted column in the view; the second element is compared to the second sorted column; and so on.

Boolean. Optional. Specify True if you want to find an exact match. The first document that matches the key exactly is returned. If you specify False (the default) or omit this parameter, a partial match succeeds. A partial match returns the first document that matches the initial characters of the key.

notesDocument

A NotesDocument. The first document in the view whose column values match each of the values in the keyArray. If there is no matching document, the return value is Nothing.

For the GetAllDocumentsByKey method to work, you must have at least one sorted column for each key.

If any columns are formatted with both categories and subcategories in the same column (using the "\\" special character), the method will return the first document whose column values match the keyArray values, after the last matching document which uses both a category and a subcategory in one column.

If this method is used under COM, with a keyArray parameter of an array, it must be defined as an array of type Variant.

This method returns only the first document whose column values match the keys you indicate. To locate all matching documents, use GetAllDocumentsByKey, or use this method followed by a GetNextDocument loop. If you use a GetNextDocument loop, you must explicitly check to make sure the next document is a match.

Matches are not case-sensitive. For example, "Turban" matches "turban." In an exact match, "cat" matches "cat" but does not match "category," while "20" matches "20" but does not match "201." In a partial match, "T" matches "Tim" or "turkey," but does not match "attic," while "cat" matches "catalog" or "category," but does not match "coat" or "bobcat."

To get view entry information about the document, use the GetEntryByKey method. See Locating an entry in a view for information about working with view entries.

Language cross-reference

getDocumentByKey method in Java View class

FileOpenDatabase @command in formula language

Example
See Also

Locating documents within a view or folder in LotusScript classes

Glossary