Filters

Filters are a collection of settings to limit the selection of Concepts or Terms based on specific criteria. These criteria take the form of logical operators that can be combined and saved.

Filters are useful for setting up specific projects, such as identifying all Concepts without a Definition. The Filters menu will show the number of Concepts that match a Filter criteria, and the bottom of Term list will show the number of terms in a specific language that match.

Filters can also be used for limiting which terms are visible for different user groups, and for selecting terms for export. See Group filters and Defining export setting.

Filters are connected to a single dictionary. You cannot use a filter defined in another dictionary in your currently selected dictionary.

Select a filter

You can select and apply an existing filter in several ways.

Using filter drop-down

Your available filters are visible in a drop-down picklist next to "Filters:". Select a filter in the list to apply it. Select <No filter> if you want to deactivate the current filter.

You can also create and select filters via the Advanced Search menu.

Select the filter you want to use by clicking the Filter and then the Apply button. The Advanced Search window will clsose and the filter is applied.

Guest users are only allowed to create temporary Quick filters via the "Filters:" menu drop down.

Create or edit a filter

To add a new filter, click the Add new filter link in the filter selection view. To edit a filter, click the blue highlighted name for the filter you want to edit. You will see the filter editor where you define your criteria.

Start by entering a name for the filter. The name must be unique among all filters for the dictionary.

Define criteria

A criterium defines which value or values should be allowed for a specific field. Multiple criteria are joined together by the logical operators AND and OR. In the editor a criterium is represented by the field drop-down list, the operator drop-down list and the value component.

To define a criterium, first select the field in the drop-down list. You will see all concept level fields in the list plus an item 'Term' which starts a new term criteria group. Then, select the operator. Depending on the type of the field you have selected there could be the following operators available:

Operator In field types Description

EQUALS

text, number, picklist, date, user

The field value must match exactly the value given in the criterium.

NOT EQUALS

text, number, picklist, date, user

All field values match except those with the exact value given in the criterium.

CONTAINS

text

The field value must contain the value given in the criterium.

NOT CONTAINS

text

All field values match except those which contain the value given in the criterium.

LESS THAN

number

The field value must be less than the value given in the criterium.

GREATER THAN

number

The field value must be greater than the value given in the criterium.

BEFORE

date

The field date value must be before the date given in the criterium.

AFTER

date

The field date value must be after the date given in the criterium.

Finally, enter the value. The value is not case sensitive, e.g. the criterium value 'abc' will match fields with values 'abc', 'AbC' and 'ABC'.

For user fields, i.e. 'Created by' and 'Changed by', you should enter the login name of the user. If you enter an invalid user name you will get an error message when trying to save or apply the filter.

To create more criteria select an operator in the logical operator drop-down list. A new empty criterium will appear in the editor.

Logical operators

The logical operators control which criteria need to be fulfilled for a concept passing the filter.

  • If two or more criteria are joined by AND then all of them must be fulfilled.

  • If two or more criteria are joined by OR then at least one of them must be fulfilled.

AND has higher priority than OR. That means that a filter

A AND B OR C

requires either both A and B, or C to be fullfilled. To filter out concepts where A is true and either B or C you can write

A AND B OR A AND C

Remove criteria

To remove a single criterium, select '<Select field>' in the field drop-down list. The operator drop-down and value component will disappear and the logical operator drop-down list following the criterium will be disabled.

You can also remove multiple criteria by changing the logical operator to '<No operator>'. This will disable all criteria after the operator and they will be removed from the filter when saving.

Term criteria

Criteria for term level fields are defined in term criteria groups. All criteria in a group are tested against each term in a concept, and if the group matches the term group criterium defines if the filtered concept should be included or excluded from the result.

Create a new term criteria group by selecting 'Term' in the field drop-down list. This opens a new group. You can select if the criteria in this group match a term that should exist or not exist in the concept by selecting EXISTS or NOT EXISTS in the operator drop-down list.

You can then create and remove criteria in the same way as concept level criteria.

Delete a filter

To delete a filter, open the filter list view and click on the Delete link for the filter you want to remove. You will be asked to confirm the deletion in a dialog box. Click Delete to delete the filter.

A filter that is used by a group or an export setting cannot be deleted and its Delete link will be disabled. By moving the mouse pointer over the link you will see a message about which entity is using the filter.

Create a temporary filter Quick filter

A Quick filter is a temporary filter. It can be provided a name and saved as a normal filter later if you are a named user. A Quick filter is the easiest way to filter out terms that fulfill some criteria without creating a permanent Filter.

To create a Quick filter, click the Filters picklist next to "Filters:" in the SearchView menu. In the bottom left is a "Quick filters" button that opens a Filter editor.

Define your filter and click Apply to apply it.

Click Clear to cancel the current Quick filter and leave the Quick filter menu.

Save a Quick filter

If you are logged in as a normal user (not guest) you can save your temporary Quick filter as a normal filter. You do this by clicking the Save button in the bottom of the menu. This opens a Name field. Input a unique name and click on the Save button. You will then see the Filter appear in the Filter selection menu after it finishes saving.