Filtering the object list

Introduction

The filtering capabilities of the Object Browser are very flexible and powerful. This topic explains how the filtering works and gives a few examples of what you can use it for. The main idea is, of course, to limit the list of objects to the ones you are interested in right now.

Filtering the tree view

At the top of the dialog box, the left pane shows a tree view structure of the configuration. By default, the tree view shows the following:

1st level The configuration name

2nd level The areas of the configuration

3rd level The object types available in IGSS

4th level The templates defined for the above object types

When you are creating a new object, this is a very relevant structure. For other operations you can change the structure of the tree view.

By restructuring the tree view, you can use the Object Browser as a checklist. Examples of this use would be:

Checking that a certain alarm text has been assigned to all relevant objects
Checking that all objects attached to a certain node number are properly defined
Checking that a certain template is applied to the relevant objects

… the list continues. The imagination is really the limit.

The example below shows a new structure: Area – Driver – Node. You can now go through the different nodes (PLCs) and check that all relevant objects are attached to this node number.

$images\Object_Browser_-_Select_Node.gif$

Filtering the object list

Once you've settled on the desired tree view structure, the right pane will show the objects that match the selected item in the tree view. But you can apply more filtering to the object list, if required.

First of all, you have three check boxes with the following functionality:

Select this check box …	To …
Show reductions	Show the data reduction methods applied to the objects. The methods will be displayed in a new Reduction column that will appear. This setting is relevant when you're defining periodical report formats.
Show only std. types	Limit the list to analogue, digital, counter, table and string objects only.
Show only referenced	Limit the list to objects that are shown on a process diagram.

Last, but not least, there's the Wildcard text criteria field which is a very quick way of filtering the object list. You can use the following wildcards:

This wildcard ….	Will ….
*	Find any number of characters. For example, if you type q* IGSS will display all object names starting with q.
?	Find any single character. For example, if you type PST??-Level, IGSS will display all object names that start with PST followed by any two characters and end with "-Level". The figure below shows the result.

$images\Object_Browser_-_List_Filter.gif$

Printing the object list

Clicking the Print List button will print the contents of the right pane.