Why does Find not see a visible file at Volume level?

Question

I recently searched (Find) my iMac's internal hard drive for a file that I knew I had created ("MAC addresses.doc"), but it found no such file, either by File Name or Contents. I had to try to remember where I filed it, and then I found it in [Macintosh HD] > Library > Documentation > User Guides and Information. Searching (Find) again at the level of any folder within the volume, even Library, finds the file immediately, both by File Name and Content. The file has no unusual properties, and its Permissions allow everyone to at least Read it. This occurs even after repairing permissions of the volume. Why should the OS be unable to Find this file for me when searched on the volume name? Should I change some setting/preference in order to allow that (all files to be found at Volume level)?

Answer 1

Thanks Frank,
SYSTEM_PARAMETER is a table owned by X.  If I qualify the select statement by adding the owner it works, but of course I do not want to do that.  Here is the DDL for creating SYSTEM_PARAMETER:
create table SYSTEM_PARAMETER
  name         VARCHAR2(256) not null,
  date_value   DATE,
  number_value NUMBER,
  string_value VARCHAR2(512),
  comments     VARCHAR2(512)
alter table SYSTEM_PARAMETER add constraint PK_SYSTEM_PARAMETER primary key (NAME);
Again, if I rewrite the procedure to the following (only difference is the red X.), it works:
create or replace  procedure ztm_get_debug_level is
  vc_pkg_name  system_parameter.name%TYPE := 'DEBUG_LEVEL_PKG_BASE_KEYS';
  vn_error     services.debug_log_level.debug_level_id%TYPE := 30;
  v_debugLevel   system_parameter.number_value%TYPE;
  function get_owner return varchar2 is
    cursor c1 is
    select owner from all_tables where table_name = 'SYSTEM_PARAMETER';
    v_Ret_Val VARCHAR2(30);
  BEGIN
    OPEN C1;
    FETCH C1 INTO v_Ret_Val;
    CLOSE C1;
    RETURN v_Ret_Val;
  END;
begin
  DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('AAAA - ' || get_owner);
  select s.number_value
  into   v_debugLevel
  from   X.system_parameter  s
  where  s.name = vc_pkg_name;
  DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('BBBB');
exception
  when no_data_found then
    NULL;
  when others then
   DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('p_get_debug_level.WHEN OTHERS');
   raise;
end;
This procedure exists in 4 other environments where there are no issues.  It can't be a privileges issue as the table is owned by user X and as you can see by the lookup (which was added for debug) against ALL_TABLES the owner is clearly X.  So, why can X not select from it's own table unless we include the owner?
Thanks,
Thomas