Advanced Filter Dialog (Scene Explorer)

The Advanced Filter dialog lets you limit object display in Scene Explorer based on combinations of filter conditions (filter phrases). That is, you can use it to hide all objects that don't meet the filter criteria. For example, you can use Advanced Filter to list only hidden non-geometry objects of a specific color whose name begins with “S”.

Procedure

To use the Advanced Filter dialog in Scene Explorer:

  1. From the Property drop-down list, choose a property for your filter.

    This choice determines the available options in the Condition and Reference Value lists.

  2. Choose the Condition.

    For example, if you set Property=Name, then you could choose Condition=Contains String to be able to filter for a text string anywhere in the object names.

  3. Set the Reference Value. With some properties, such as Name, you enter the value from the keyboard. With others, such as Type and Color, you use the mouse to choose the Reference Value from a list.
  4. Click Add.

    This adds the filter phrase to the dialog list.

  5. Add enough terms to create the filter you want to perform.

    For example, if you want to show only objects other than Helper objects whose name begins with “House”, your setup would look like this:

    Tip: If you add a phrase and then later decide you don’t want to use it, highlight it in the list and then click Remove.
  6. When you’ve set up the filter you want, click OK.

    This closes the Advanced Filter dialog and activates the filter, with the result that only items that meet the criteria you specified appear in the Scene Explorer list.

  7. One way that you can tell the filter is active is that the Enable Advanced Filter button on the Display toolbar is on:

    To return to displaying the full list, turn off Enable Advanced Filter.

Interface

Use the dialog controls to specify one or more filter phrases and then initiate the search. Successful search results c an meet all or any specified criteria.

Note: You can modify an existing filter phrase in the list, as shown in the following illustration. Click a term and modify it using the applicable method (mouse or keyboard). When editing a field with the keyboard, press Tab or Enter to accept the changed entry, or Esc to cancel.
Property
Choose the desired property to filter for from the drop-down list.
Condition
Based on the Property choice, choose an available condition.
Reference Value
Enter a term or choose one from the drop-down list, depending on the Property choice.
Add
Click to add the filter phrase to the list.
Remove
Deletes the highlighted filter phrase from the list.
Match All/Match Any
To use all phrases for the filter, choose Match All. To filter for items that match any of the search phrases, choose Match Any.

In Boolean terms, Match All is an AND search and Match Any is an OR search.

[list of filter phrases]
Shows all active filter phrases. When you click Add, the current combination of filter conditions is added to this list.
OK
Closes the dialog and activates the filter, displaying only objects in the Scene Explorer list that satisfy the combination of filter conditions.
Cancel
Closes the dialog without activating the filter.