Hmm, odd.

Works for me ...

Although I have only used a very simple data-object class ....

Would you mind posting all of your relevant code?

Sure, no problem... ;-)

Data-class :

class Bestelling extends DataObject {
 
   static $db = array(
   	'BestelNummerID' => 'Int',
   	'BestellingText' => 'HTMLText'
   );
   
 

   static $searchable_fields = array(
      'BestellingText' => 'PartialMatchFilter'
   );

And the modeladmin class

class AdminBestelling extends ModelAdmin
{
   protected static $managed_models = array (
      'Bestelling'
   );
      
   static $url_segment = 'beheer';
   static $menu_title = 'Bestellingen';     
}

I suddenly feel really stupid. This isn't bundled with the 2.2.3 release, is it? I can't find a ModelAdmin class anywhere in my filesystem. Is it something I can only get from the trunk?

;-)

Hhaa.. indeed , you need to download the latest trunk release (2.3)...

Good to see some interest in ModelAdmin, we found it to be a quite handy tool for quick data entry, prototyping as well as fully fledged admin interfaces. You're right, there's very little documentation on it, I'll try to extend http://doc.silverstripe.com/doku.php?id=modeladmin before the final 2.3 release (see http://open.silverstripe.com/ticket/3172)

Sorry to hijack this thread, but does the $searchable_fields array impact the front end search in any way, or is it just restricted to the admin area?

The SearchForm class currently doesn't use DataObject::$searchable_fields, thats still on the list - but there's nothing keeping you from implementing your own SearchContext in the frontend generally.