You can use sqlLike in OCL and OCL-PS to select objects whose string value matches a SQL LIKE-style pattern.

Match text in a string

Use sqlLike on a string expression and pass the pattern to match. The operator returns a Boolean value, so it is commonly used as the condition in select.

stringValue.sqlLike(pattern)

The percent sign (%) in a pattern means that any text can occur at that position.

Pattern	Matches	Example use
'Anna'	The exact text Anna	Match a complete value.
'Anna%'	Text that starts with Anna	Find names beginning with a search value.
'%Anna'	Text that ends with Anna	Find values ending with a search value.
'%Anna%'	Text that contains Anna	Find a search value anywhere in a string.

Search for text entered by a user

The following expression selects all Person objects whose Identity contains the value in vSeekParam. It then orders the result by identity.

Person.allinstances
  ->select(a|a.Identity.sqlLike('%'+vSeekParam+'%'))
  ->orderby(identity)

For example, when vSeekParam is 'ann', the constructed pattern is '%ann%'. This matches an Identity value where ann occurs somewhere in the value, subject to the case behavior of the database.

Case sensitivity

Do not rely on sqlLike having the same case behavior in every database. Whether it ignores case in a persistence-server search depends on the database server and its settings. For example, the Turnkey built-in SQL Server Compact database does not ignore case.

When users should be able to find text without matching its capitalization, use sqlLikeCaseInsensitive instead:

Person.allinstances
  ->select(a|a.Name.sqlLikeCaseInsensitive('%'+vSeekParam+'%'))

Use sqlLike in a selection

1. Start with the collection to search, such as Person.allinstances.
2. Add ->select(variable|condition).
3. Call sqlLike on the string attribute in the condition.
4. Build the pattern with % before, after, or on both sides of the search value according to the match you need.
5. Use sqlLikeCaseInsensitive if the search must ignore case across database configurations.

See also

• Documentation:OCLOperators sqlLikeCaseInsensitive
• Documentation:OCL General Operators
• Documentation:OCL Boolean Operators