Find and replace processing instructions in projects

If you are an administrator or have permissions, you can search for and replace text in one or more project components without opening them. You can choose Replace All to change a term only when it's inside a tag that provides information to the processing application. Changes are then saved to the Inspire database. For more details on how a search for processing instructions works, read Finding processing instructions in project content.

A content owner or administrator can set permissions to deny access to components or folders. If your permissions to content has been blocked and you are not an administrator, you cannot use the Find and Replace option in the Selected Components pane.

Use supported components

  • If you choose a component that's locked ( by you, by another user, by the system) Inspire skips it and adds a warning to your notification.
  • If you choose a binary component, Inspire skips it and adds a warning to your notification.

If you want to use other find and replace options, follow the steps in:

To update processing instructions in components using find and replace:

  1. Click Projects_TopMenuOpt Projects.
  2. On the Project Management tab, all projects in your organization are listed. To find a specific project, you can:
    • Filter the list of available projects by words in the project name. In the Search text box, enter a keyword, and then click the magnifying glass search_button.
    • Filter the list of available projects to include only those you own or are participating in. In Type, select an option to filter the list by that criteria.
    • To include completed projects in the list, select Include Completed and then click the magnifying glass search_button.
  3. To open a project, select the project and double-click it.
    You can also open a project by:
    • Right-clicking the project and then selecting Open.
    • Clicking Action_Menu the Options menu and then selecting Open.
  4. In the Content pane, navigate to the folder where you've saved the project components you want to search in.
  5. To select components, do one of the following:
    • Select the checkbox before the name of the components you want to search in.
    • Select all components in a folder by selecting the checkbox at the folder level.

  6. On the Selected Components panel, click More menu options, and then click Find/Replace components.
  7. On the Find/Replace components screen, in Find, enter part or all of the processing instruction that you want to find.
    An XML processing instruction is a name-value element.
    • For example: 
      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    • The name indicates which application the processing instruction targets. In the example, the names are version and encoding. The name, also called a target, follows the same construction rules as element and attribute names.
    • The value, also called the content or character data, is surrounded with double quotes. In the example the values are "1.0". and "UTF-8"
    You can also select text used in a previous search.
  8. In Replace, enter a new name or value for the processing instruction.
    You can also select text used in a previous search.
  9. In Scope, select Processing Instructions.
  10. Select whether you want to search the name property, value property, or both properties in an instruction.
    • To find the value of the element, you would select Search Processing Instruction Content. For example, UTF-8. This option is chosen by default.
    • To find the name of the element, you would select Search Processing Instruction Name. For example, encoding.
    • To search for your keyword in both the name and value of the processing instruction element, select both of these options:

      Search Processing Instruction Content

      Search Processing Instruction Name

    You must select at least one option.
  11. Optionally, you can select the option to make your search Case Sensitive.
  12. Click Replace All.
    Result: You are asked to confirm that you want to replace text in the number of components you selected.

  13. Click Yes.
    Results:
    • You see a notification that a Replace All process has started.
    • After the process is complete, you see another notification.

    • The report tells you a number of times your search string appears in each components you selected.

    Tips and tricks

    After using Find and Replace to update content, Inspire updates the following information in the Components Browser and in the Component Details History tab:

    • Updated By
    • Updated Date
    • Last Updated By