---
title: "Retrieving More Complex Data"
url: "https://helpcentre.esayworkmobile.co.uk/en/article/retrieving-more-complex-data"
language: "en"
last_updated: "2023-11-03T11:24:34.034Z"
---

# Retrieving More Complex Data

Some objects are more complex and hold higher volumes of data than previously discussed.

These objects are:

-   Forms- these hold your form data and can hold hundreds of thousands to millions of data rows
-   Jobs - prepopulated forms that are sent to the client and filled in and returned
-   Notification History - the audit and sent history for notifications that are triggered when form data arrives

For each of these types of item, retrieving data is done by posting a filter object to a URL. Let's take retrieving form records as an example. The same principles apply to those objects where a search by filter is supplied.

Imagine for example that we have a form containing 200,000 records. It goes without saying that we wouldn't want to retrieve all of these records in one go. Instead, we can utilise the *Form Complete Record Search.*

```plaintext
/api/Forms/{FormId}/completedrecords/search
```

This method takes an object as a filter in the request body and we make an **HTTP POST**. The full packet looks as follows:

```plaintext
{
  "createdDateFrom": "2021-12-16T19:44:22.245Z",
  "createdDateTo": "2021-12-16T19:44:22.245Z",
  "uploadedDateFrom": "2021-12-16T19:44:22.245Z",
  "uploadedDateTo": "2021-12-16T19:44:22.245Z",
  "id": 0,
  "originalId": 0,
  "jobId": 0,
  "mobileUserId": 0,
  "userGroup": "string",
  "userDefinedFilter": [
    {}
  ],
  "orderBy": [
    {
      "propertyName": "string",
      "descending": true
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "page": 1,
    "rowCount": 500
  }
}
```

The only attributes that are always required are *orderBy* and *pagination.* All other elements are optional.  A description of the attributes is listed below:

| Element | Description |
| --- | --- |
| createdDateFrom/createdDateTo | Date range selector based upon the date the record was created |
| uploadedDateFrom/uploadedDateTo | Date range selector based upon the date the record was uploaded from the mobile client. |
| id | Selects a specific record id |
| originalId | Selects a specific original record id |
| jobId | A record relating to a job with the specified id |
| mobileUserId | Records relating to the user with the specified id |
| userGroup | Records for all users within the specified user group |
| userDefinedFilter | See *User Defined Filter* below |
| orderBy | Determines the sort order of the the returned records. *propertyName* is the name of the field that you wish to sort by, *descending -* set to **true** or **false** |
| pagination | Determines the number of records returned;  p*age* is the an integer value; *rowCount* is a either **500** or **1000** and specifiec the number of records to be returned in the call. |

For example, to return records by a single mobile user, you would supply something like: 

```plaintext
{
  "mobileUserId": 18635,
  "orderBy": [
    {
      "propertyName": "id",
      "descending": true
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "page": 1,
    "rowCount": 500
  }
}
```

The above query would retrieve the first 500 records that were collected by Mobile User Id 18635. To retrieve the second batch, you'd make a subsequent call, setting the *page* element to *2*. 

## User Defined Filters

As well as the predefined attributes that are applicable to any form. You can also search on of the custom fields on a form, as long as the field has been designated 'Searchable' using the checkbox in the form designer.

The *userDefinedFilter* is used by passing in an array of items containing the following elements:

```plaintext
{
	uniqueName: "<unique name of the field>">, 
	"value": "<value to be filtered by>"
}
```

For example, the following would filter on the field *MeterType* for all records containing the value **Gas**.

```plaintext
"userDefinedFilter": [
	{
    	uniqueName : "MeterType", 
    	"value" : "Gas"
	}
]  
```

You can AND multiple fields together as in the example below:

```plaintext
"userDefinedFilter": [
	{
    	uniqueName : "MeterType", 
        "value" : "Gas"
    }, 
    {
    	"uniqueName" : "Manufacturer", 
        "value" : "solenvis" 
    }
] 
```

By specifying the field name twice, you are implying a logical OR:

```plaintext
"userDefinedFilter": [
	{
		uniqueName : "MeterType", 
		"value" : "Gas"
		}, 
	{
		uniqueName : "MeterType", 
		"value" : "Water"
		}, 
	{
		"uniqueName" : "Manufacturer", 
		"value" : "solenvis" 
	}
] 
```

Internally this is interpreted as:

 ((MeterType = "Gas" OR MeterType = "Water") AND Manufacturer = "solenvis")