Alex,
I agree the current system is much better just mentioning a border case with
a drawback.
One way to solve it it will be:
1) Add checkbox next to each search fields: "Search in all Versions"
2) Enable this checkbox in properties-local.xml
3) Add a header in the call to the Persistence Layer.
If the header is "true" then the search should be performed in all versions.
The problem here is how to display the result.
If two different versions match the search and summary fields are different
in both versions then ???
Other solution:
* To have a ../summary?global=true
In this Global Summary instances of all versions are displayed and the
search is performed on al versions. And the fields to display is the
intersection of all versions definitions (here is responsibility of the form
designer to avoid an empty intersection between all versions).
Also the search fields is the intersection of all search fields in all
versions (designer responsibility here again).
These are general ideas, not sure how difficult it will be the
implementation.
regards,
bruno