Imploded Software

Helium offers you several ways to easily find artists, releases and tracks.

Just below the main menu, you will have the search field which takes a text string equal or longer than three characters as an input argument. 

Whilst you type in your search query, Helium will display a drop down list with matches when grouped by type below the control. 

If you press Enter, all the results will be displayed in the Search results view.

Advanced searches

If you need to create more advanced searches with multiple arguments that should be matched, press F3 or select View > Advanced Search...

This will display the Advanced search dialog.

In the dialog you will see a list of arguments (one shown by default) that you can configure to create your search expression.

The first drop-down control will allow you to select a specific field to search for, e.g. Album.

When the search field is selected, an operator drop-down will be shown to the right of the search field drop-down.

Select the the desired operator and enter a the value you would like to search for in the control to the right of the operator drop-down.

To add another expression, click the rightmost + button. To remove a specific expression, click the - button.

Whilst building the query, it will be automatically validated. If something is not correct, a red icon will be shown rightmost to the search expression line.

Click the Search button to perform the search. The results will be displayed in the Search results view.

Field types and operators

The advanced search supports the following field-types:

• Textual - used to search for textual content. The following operators are available for this type:
  • Contains
  • Does not contain
  • is
  • Is not
  • Starts with
  • Ends with
  • Is empty
  • Is not empty
• Numeric - used to search for numeric content. The following operators are available for this type:
  • Is
  • Is not
  • Is at least
  • Is at most
  • Is in the range (requires that a start and end value is set)
  • Is empty
  • Is not empty
• Boolean - used to search for boolean content. No specific search value can be set for boolean fields except for the operator. The following operators are available for this type: 
  • True
  • False
• Rating - used to search for rating specific content. The value to search for is selected from a drop-down control. The following operators are available for this type:
  • Is
  • Is not
  • Is at least
  • Is at most
  • Is in the range (requires that a start and end value is set)
  • Is empty
  • Is not empty
• Release type - used to search for release type specific content. The following operators are available for this type:
  • Is
  • Is not
• Quality - used to search for quality specific content. The value to search for is selected from a drop-down control. The following operators are available for this type:
  • Is
  • Is not
  • Is at least
  • Is at most
  • Is in the range (requires that a start and end value is set)
  • Is empty
  • Is not empty
• Song length - used to search for song length content. The value format used is HH:MM:SS. The following operators are available for this type:
  • Is
  • Is not 
  • Is at least 
  • Is at most 
  • Is in the range
• Popularity - used to search for popularity specific content. The value to search for is selected from a drop-down control. The following operators are available for this type:
  • Is
  • Is not
  • Is at least
  • Is at most
  • Is in the range (requires that a start and end value is set)
  • Is empty
  • Is not empty
• Open parentheses - Used to group and prioritize expressions. This type has no operators.
• Close parentheses - Used to group and prioritize expressions. This type has no operators.
• File type - used to search for file type specific content. The following operators are available for this type:
  • Is
  • Is not
• Date type  - used to search for date type specific content. The following operators are available for this type:
  • Is
  • Is not
  • Is at least
  • Is at most
  • Is in the range
  • Is empty
  • Is not empty
  • In the last:
    • Days
    • Weeks
    • Months
    • Years
  • Not in the last:
    • Days
    • Weeks
    • Months
    • Years
• Volumes - used to search for volume specific content. The following operators are available for this type:
  • Is 
  • Is not

Creating advanced searches is a very powerful way to find specific contents from your library. Please note that the more narrow you constrain your searches, the faster and more precise they will be.

Loading and saving searches

Click the Load button to load a stored search.

Click the Save as... button to save the current search.