Patent ID: 7739259

Claim:
A method for providing a search and find functionality in a software module, the method comprising: displaying, by a computing device, a user interface containing a navigation pane, a search and find user interface element, and a list pane, the navigation pane containing a list of one or more selectable data folder controls associated with data storage folders in a set of data storage folders, each data storage folder in the set of data storage folders associated with one or more data items belonging to a data item type; displaying, by the computing device, a first textbox disposed in the search and find user interface element for receiving free form alphanumeric entry of search queries; displaying, by the computing device, a second textbox within the search and find user interface element, the second textbox associated with a landmark property of data items of the data item type; receiving, by the computing device, a selection of a target data folder control in the list of one or more selectable data folder controls, the target data folder control associated with an target data storage folder in the set of data storage folders, the selection of the target data folder control operatively associating the search and find user interface element with the target data storage folder; after operatively associating the search and find user interface with the target data storage folder, receiving, at the computing device, a search string into the second textbox; in response to receiving the search string, automatically populating, by the computing device, a structured search query into the first textbox, the structured search query for finding data items having values of the landmark property that correspond to the search string; receiving, at the computing device, an indication of an initiation of the structured search query against the target data storage folder; and in response to receiving the indication of the initiation of the structured search query, displaying, by the computing device, a results list in the list pane, the results list containing any data items associated with the given data storage folder responsive to the structured search query.