We have a need to do a select query. The "WHERE" of the SQL statement

Try using queryentity() or queryrecord() instead. These functions provide much more powerful query options and allow for dynamic where conditions. See the examples here for a starter:
forum.appian.com/.../Query_Recipes.html

I've accomplished this in the Query DB smart node by including all columns in the WHERE clause with 'LIKE', such as:

..WHERE Column1 LIKE ac!col1Filter AND Column2 LIKE ac!col2Filter AND Column3 LIKE ac!col3Filter AND Column4 LIKE ac!col4Filter AND Column5 LIKE ac!col5Filter

You can populate any search variables (one to all) with text, leaving ones not entered blank.

We are on release 7.2. Can someone give me an example of building a Select Query where using queryrecord or queryentity. We have 5 fields that may be searchable. The user can search on 1 to 5 of these fields. How is this done? So the WHERE clause will be dynamic... 1-5 fields. Thanks!

csteward... You said you did this. This is not working as you say. If you leave blank we are getting NO results? We would like to use the way you mention but no luck. In fact if blank I put the value "%" in the search field. This does not give us the correct results ethier. When using % there it only returns records if a value is in field.?

Sorry, you will need "%%" in your inputs. Using my SQL above, you can set your Query DB node inputs to ="%" & pv!Col1Filter & "%" - etc, and that should work for you.

Yes, that is what we thought. But when we put in a % as a value, you only get returned records that have something in that field. Try it yourself? So if I have 10 records and 3 of the records Last_Name is null and WHERE FIRST_NAME LIKE ac!acFirstName and acFirstName has a value of % I only get 7 records returned. I should get all 10?

Ah yes, in my use case we do not have null situations. LIKE will not return records with null values. To work around that, instead of "Column4 LIKE ac!col4Filter" you should be able to use:

Oracle: COALESCE(Column4, ' ') LIKE ac!col1Filter
SQL: IsNull(Column4, ' ') LIKE ac!col1Filter

.. with your ac! input for col1Filter set to: ="%" & pv!Col1Filter & "%"

Thanks, I think this is working. We are using Oracle. Confirming: So in the Oracle sql above you are saying to make the col1Filter variable = to % ? Also, is that a space between the two quotes as in ' '? I'm trying to understand the COALESCE how it works? And what if some of the fields we are searching on are numeric or dates types? Thanks!

Great! On your form or search selection, you can set whatever is entered to variables (normal text, no '%'). Then on the ac! Data Inputs for the Query DB node, set as:

="%" & pv!col1Filter & "%"

Where pv!col1Filter is the exact text you would like to filter on, surrounded by 2 "%" signs.

COALESCE() takes 2 arguments and returns the first that is not null - so if the row is null, it will return whatever you enter as the second argument (basically replacing null values during the search) - or it will return the actual data. I do use a space in ' ' for text data. I have tried no space and get better results with a space. Also, for other data types you can use convert to string, such as "COALESCE(to_char(Column3),' ').