# SearchContactsBySystemField - Advanced Documentation

## Overview

Searches contacts by a specified system field value for the current company.

## Parameters

- **SystemFieldName** - identifies which built-in contact field to search against (truncated to 50 characters via `CleanString()`)
- **Filter** - search value; processed through `FixPeopleFilter` (reverses "Last, First" to "First Last") and truncated to 50 characters

## Matching Behavior

- Uses prefix matching by default - the stored procedure `spSearchContactsBySystemField` appends `%` to the filter
- Callers can include `%` wildcards in the Filter for flexible matching
- Empty or whitespace-only filters return an empty list immediately (no database call)

### Wildcard Examples

| Filter | SQL Becomes | Matches |
|--------|-------------|---------|
| `Smith` | `LIKE 'Smith%'` | Contacts starting with "Smith" |
| `%Smith` | `LIKE '%Smith%'` | Contacts containing "Smith" anywhere |
| `%Smith%` | `LIKE '%Smith%%'` | Same as above (redundant trailing %) |

## Return Structure

Returns `BaboContactInfoBasic` objects sorted by contact name. Used by the GeneralSearch dialog.

## Security

User must be logged in and have a company selected. Results are scoped to the current company's contacts.