Refine Queries by Selecting Samples

LIMS query by example (QBE) controls are power[1]ful tools for querying LIMS samples. When a query can not be accomplished easily with the QBE controls, a structured query language (SQL) expression can often be used. Constructing an SQL expression requires knowledge of LIMS database field and table names.

Refining your query by selecting or deselecting samples after querying is another solution for queries not easily accomplished with the QBE controls. Throughout LIMS wherever the QBE controls are available to query samples, you will find a [Select] button below the [Query] button that you can use to refine your query. For example, if you need to find all samples logged last week from a specific customer excluding those collected on Wednesday you may find it easier to simply query all samples for the week then remove Wednesday’s samples.

After querying, use the [Select] button to open the Select Samples screen. The Selected and SampleID columns are fixed on the left side of the screen. Use the bottom scroll bar to display additional fields. You can temporarily rearrange columns by clicking a column header once then click and drag to reposition. Resize a column’s width by clicking and dragging the right border of the column label. You can also sort the samples by right-clicking in a column and selecting the sort order as shown in the screen above. To sort by multiple columns, first rearrange the columns so the sort columns are adjacent with the primary sort column to the left. Now select all columns to sort and right click above the selected columns to choose the sort order. Use the Selected check box on the left to select or deselect individual samples.