- 6 minutes to read

What is a Search Field?

Find any order, invoice, or customer transaction across all your systems in seconds.

A Search Field is a named, searchable business value, such as "Order Number" or "Customer ID", that Nodinite extracts from logged messages. Users search and filter on it in Log Views, across all Log Databases, without knowing where or in which format the value was logged.

  • ✅ Search by Order Number, Customer ID, Invoice Number, or any business value
  • ✅ Track one transaction end-to-end across systems and formats
  • ✅ Click from a value straight into your CRM, ERP, or other system
  • ✅ Add new search criteria to historical data, even years later
  • ✅ Self-service: business users answer their own questions without IT

Example: Your customer service team searches for "Order #12345" and sees every message for that order across SAP, the web shop, shipping, and invoicing in one view. One click opens the order in the ERP.

Why Search Fields Matter

Empower Your Business Users

With Search Fields, business users:

  • Find customer orders, invoices, or any business entity instantly
  • Filter on familiar business terms (Order ID, Customer Number, Invoice Date)
  • Answer their own questions without technical knowledge or database access

The end-user side is described in Find an order by Order Id and Search in a Log View.

  • Follow an order from placement → fulfillment → invoicing → shipping
  • Correlate messages across systems and formats (XML, EDI, JSON, flat files)
  • Group related messages, even when they come from different systems

Real-World Example: A purchase order arrives as XML from a supplier, is processed in your ERP as EDI, and triggers warehouse notifications in JSON—all connected by one Order Number Search Field.

Search Field Links turn an extracted value into a link to the matching record in another system. You configure a URL with a {value} placeholder; Nodinite fills in the value, and users open the record with one click—no copy-pasting, no switching contexts.

Real-World Example: A customer service rep finds a failed shipment notification in Nodinite. The transport booking number "TRN-2024-12345" is a link; one click opens the logistics system with the shipment's carrier and tracking status.

  • Transport and logistics: booking numbers to the freight management system
  • E-commerce: order numbers to the order management system or CRM
  • Finance: invoice numbers to the ERP or accounting system
  • Customer service: customer IDs to the CRM
  • Warehouse: shipment IDs to the warehouse management system

Configure links on Add or manage Search Field. For a link that opens another logged message in Nodinite, see the BizTalk Message Id example.

Add Search Criteria Anytime—Even Retroactively

  • Need to search by Customer ID? Add it now and apply it to past messages
  • Business process changed? Create new search criteria without re-logging data
  • Compliance audit needs a new value? Add the Search Field and re-index

Real-World Example: Six months after go-live, finance needs to track VAT numbers. Add a VAT Number Search Field and re-index—every historical message is now searchable by VAT number.

What Makes Up a Search Field?

Part What it is
Name The business-friendly name users search with, such as "Order Number". Must be unique.
Data Type Text, Integer, Long Integer, Real number with 2 decimals, GUID, Double, Date time with offset, or Bitwise Integer. It decides which search operators users get.
Description and Web Site Optional documentation for the Search Field.
Search Field Expressions How the value is extracted. Each expression uses a plugin (XPath, JSON Path, RegEx, Formula, …) and applies to the Message Types you select on it, or to all of them (Global).
Search Field Links Optional links to external systems, described above.

See Add or manage Search Field for every setting.

How It Works

graph LR A["Message<br/>logged"] --> B["Search Field Expression<br/>for its Message Type"] B --> C["Value stored on<br/>the Search Field"] C --> D["Searchable in<br/>Log Views"] style A fill:#2678BD,color:#fff style B fill:#E47528,color:#fff style C fill:#3F827B,color:#fff style D fill:#93d16d,color:#000

Diagram: the Logging Service runs the expressions for each logged message and stores the values on the Search Field, ready to search in Log Views.

  1. A message is logged as a Log Event from any integration, in any format.
  2. The Logging Service runs the Search Field Expressions configured for the message's Message Type.
  3. The extracted values are stored on the Search Field.
  4. Users search and filter on them in Log Views.

By default, a Log View shows only the values of the Search Fields added to its configuration; other values show as Hidden. The HideSearchFieldValuesInLogViews System Parameter controls this.

One "Order Number" Search Field can extract from XML messages with XPath and from EDI messages with RegEx: one expression per Message Type, one search for users. A single message can also give several values, such as every order number in a batch.

graph LR E1["fa:fa-file-code Order Request<br/>XML"] E2["fa:fa-file-lines Order Confirmation<br/>EDI"] E3["fa:fa-tags Order Delivery<br/>message context"] E4["fa:fa-file-code Payment Confirmation<br/>JSON"] E5["fa:fa-file-csv Delivery Report<br/>CSV or fixed width"] E6["fa:fa-file-zipper Invoice<br/>Base64-encoded XML"] subgraph LS["fa:fa-gears Logging Service"] P1["fa:fa-code XPath"] P2["fa:fa-asterisk RegEx"] P3["fa:fa-key Message Context Key"] P4["fa:fa-brackets-curly JSON Path"] P5["fa:fa-table-columns Flat File"] P6["fa:fa-function Formula<br/>base64decode + xPath"] end SF["fa:fa-magnifying-glass-plus Order Number<br/>Search Field"] LV["fa:fa-hard-drive Log Views"] U["fa:fa-users Business users"] E1 -->|"Log Event"| P1 E2 -->|"Log Event"| P2 E3 -->|"Log Event"| P3 E4 -->|"Log Event"| P4 E5 -->|"Log Event"| P5 E6 -->|"Log Event"| P6 P1 -->|"12345"| SF P2 -->|"12345"| SF P3 -->|"12345"| SF P4 -->|"12345"| SF P5 -->|"12345"| SF P6 -->|"12345"| SF SF -->|"searchable in"| LV U -->|"search Order Number 12345"| LV style E1 fill:#2678BD,color:#fff style E2 fill:#2678BD,color:#fff style E3 fill:#2678BD,color:#fff style E4 fill:#2678BD,color:#fff style E5 fill:#2678BD,color:#fff style E6 fill:#2678BD,color:#fff style P1 fill:#E47528,color:#fff style P2 fill:#E47528,color:#fff style P3 fill:#E47528,color:#fff style P4 fill:#E47528,color:#fff style P5 fill:#E47528,color:#fff style P6 fill:#E47528,color:#fff style SF fill:#3F827B,color:#fff style LV fill:#93d16d,color:#000 style U fill:#9E59BB,color:#fff

One "Order Number" Search Field, many formats: Log Events for the same order arrive in different message formats (blue). For each Message Type, the Logging Service runs the matching built-in Search Field Expression plugin (XPath, RegEx, Message Context Key, JSON Path, Flat File CSV or Flat File Fixed Width, Formula) (orange). Every expression stores the same value on the one Search Field (teal), so business users (purple) find all messages for order 12345 with one search in Log Views (green).

Testing and Re-Indexing

Test in Real Time

The Web Client tests Search Field Expressions against real logged messages before you save, using the same engine as the Logging Service. See Add or manage Search Field.

Re-Index Historical Data

Apply a new or changed Search Field to messages that are already logged—no re-logging, no re-processing. You choose which Message Types to re-index. New 7.10.11 Re-index runs in batches without blocking logging, resumes if stopped, and writes its result to the Log Audits. See 'How a Re-Index Runs'.

Support & Maintenance Benefit: Find messages by new criteria, even late in a project. You don't need to know, design, or code it in advance.

Key Takeaways

  • ✅ Business users search all integrations in business terms and click through to other systems
  • ✅ IT teams configure extraction without code, test it on real data, and add criteria retroactively
  • ✅ The organization gets end-to-end visibility, faster troubleshooting, and better audit capabilities

Next Steps