Searchable fields

The API Reference indicates which fields of a resource are searchable. You can find the information for the fields in the response objects for the operations.

1. Click an operation that returns the type of resource that you are searching. For example, the Describe a Computer operation returns a computer resource.
2. Click 200 successful operation in the Responses section.
3. Read the description of the field. The descriptions of searchable fields contain "Searchable as datatype", where datatype can be String, Numeric, ID, Date, Boolean, and Choice.

Field names are case-sensitive.

The following fields are not searchable:

• The locale field of any object
• Most fields that have an object as a value, such as the policySettings field of a Policy object (see "Search computer sub-objects" below for exceptions).

When you search a field that is not searchable, you receive an error similar to Invalid SearchFilter: unknown fieldName: platform.

Search computer sub-objects

Although fields that have an object as a value are generally not searchable, several exceptions are present in the computer class. For example, the value of the ec2VirtualMachineSummary field is an object and several of that object's fields are searchable, such as accountID and the availabilityZone. Similarly, you can search the name field of computer interfaces. (See the response schema for the Describe a Computer operation in the API reference for more searchable sub-objects.) The following JSON shows these sub-objects in the computer object's data structure:

{
    "hostName": "gui2-336",
    "displayName": "",
    "description": "",
    ...
    "interfaces": {
      "name": "ethernet",
      ...
    },
    "ec2VirtualMachineSummary": {
      "accountID": "123456789012",
      "availabilityZone": "ap-northeast-1",
      ...
    },
    ...
    "ID": 201
}

In search criteria, the field name of a sub-object is expressed as a path, for example ec2VirtualMachineSummary/publicIPAddress and interfaces/name.

When you search on a computer sub-object, the sub-object is automatically included in the returned Computer objects, except when expand is set to none (no sub-objects are returned). For example, if you search on the EC2 account ID and expand is set to tasks, the returned Computer objects include the tasks and ec2VirtualMachineSummary properties. If expand is set to ec2VirtualMachineSummary, the returned Computer objects include the ec2VirtualMachineSummary property.

See the code examples on how to perform a search on computer sub-objects: Python, JavaScript, Java.

Field names in Python code

When using the Python client libraries, ensure that you use the correct field name in your searches. Some field names are comprised of multiple concatenated words and use camel-case lettering, such as the lastUpdated property of Intrusion Prevention rules. The corresponding Python property uses an underscore character (_) to delimit concatenated words instead of camel-case lettering, for example last_updated. When you search on a field, you must provide the field name that you are searching on (lastUpdated) and not the class property (last_updated).

When you use an incorrect field name, you receive an error with the message Invalid SearchFilter: unknown fieldName.

Use the following algorithm to translate Python class properties to field names when the name of the property includes one or more underscore characters (_):

1. Capitalize the letter that directly follows each underscore.
2. Delete each underscore.

Use wildcards in string searches

String searches support the use of two wildcards in string values:

• %: Matches zero or more characters
• _; Matches 1 character

For example, the string value %Security matches Deep Security, and it also matches Security. The string value version_ matches version1, and does not match version. If you want to search for the literal % or _ characters, you can disable wildcards. However, the use of wildcards is enabled by default. The following search filter can be used to find the policy named "Base Policy".

• Python

  # Create the search criteria
  
  search_criteria = api.SearchCriteria()
  
  search_criteria.field_name = "name"
  
  search_criteria.string_test = "equal"
  
  search_criteria.string_value = "Base%"

• JavaScript

  // Create the search criteria
  const searchCriteria = new api.SearchCriteria();
  searchCriteria.fieldName = "name";
  searchCriteria.stringValue = "Base%";
  searchCriteria.stringTest = "equal";

• Java

  // Create and configure a search criteria
  SearchCriteria searchCriteria = new SearchFilter();
  searchCriteria.setFieldName("name");
  searchCriteria.setStringValue("Base%");
  searchCriteria.setStringTest(StringTestEnum.EQUAL);
  

Perform a date-range search

You can search fields that contains date values that fall within two specified dates. The following search criteria fields define the date range:

• FirstDate: The earlier date in the range. The default value is the earliest possible date.
• FirstDateInclusive: A boolean value that indicates whether the range includes the FirstDate (true) or not (false). The default value is false.
• LastDate: The later date in the range. The default value is the latest possible date.
• LastDateInclusive:A boolean value that indicates whether the range includes the LasteDate (true) or not (false). The default value is false.

The values for FirstDate and LastDate are expressed as the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970 (GMT).

See the code examples of searches for Intrusion Prevention rules based on when they were last updated: Python, JavaScript, Java.

Also see the Search Intrusion Prevention Rules operation in the API Reference. For information about authenticating API calls, see Authenticate with Deep Security Manager.

Search for null values

Use a null-test search to find resources based on whether a field has no value (null), or any value at all. For example, the lastSendPolicySuccess field of a computer indicates the last time the computer's policy was successfully updated. To find computers that have never received a policy update, you perform a null-test search on that field.

For this type of search, the search criteria includes the name of the field to search on, and whether you want to find resources that have no value (null_test = true) or any value at all (null_test = false).

See the code examples of searches for computers that have never received a policy update: Python, JavaScript, Java.

For more information, see the Search Computers operation in the API Reference.

Sort order

The characteristics of the search criteria determine the sort order of search results:

• Boolean, Choice, Null, and String searches: Sorted by the ID of the returned object, in ascending order.
• ID searches: Sorted by ID. The operator determines whether the order is ascending or descending:
  • less-than and less-than-or-equal: descending
  • All other operators: ascending
• Numeric searches: Sorted by the field that is searched. The operator determines whether the order is ascending or descending:
  • less-than and less-than-or-equal: descending
  • All other operators: ascending When multiple search results have the same value for the searched field, those objects are secondarily sorted by ID.
• Date searches: Sorted by the field that is searched. The date range parameters that are provided for the search determine the sort order:
  • Only LastDate is provided: descending
  • Any other combination: ascending When multiple search results have the same value for the searched date field, those objects are secondarily sorted by ID.
• Multiple search criteria: Searches that use multiple search criteria are sorted by ID (ascending), regardless of the default sort order of the individual criteria.

SearchFilter objects enable you to override the default sort order and order by the ID of the returned objects.

Limit search results and paging

Use the maxItems field of a search filter to limit the number of returned objects. The maximum number of returned objects is 5000 by default, and cannot exceed 5000.

You can also use the maxItems field to implement paging of the results of ID searches:

• Search by ID using the greater-than operator
• Use maxItems to estabish the page size
• Calculate the value of the ID to search on based on the highest ID in the previous page of results.

See the code examples on how to use searches to retrieve all computers in a series of pages: Python, JavaScript, Java.

Also see the Search Computers operation in the API Reference. For information about authenticating API calls, see Authenticate with Deep Security Manager.