The invention relates to a method of displaying the progress of a database search so as to accomplish a logical operation that satisfies certain conditions; for example avoiding a null value. The invention also relates to an apparatus for practicing the method. The method displays all possible and relevant data capable of fulfilling the operation (like Boolean, SQL etc.) in addition to all possible and relevant operations (like Boolean, SQL etc.) to be applied on the given data. A key feature of the invention is that the displays occur during the operation. This is done by displaying all remaining possible and relevant data and/or operations directly after choosing a datum and/or the desired operation.