Filtering Data

In Atoll, you can filter data objects according to one or several criteria. You can filter data to work with a subset of data, or to reduce the amount of records displayed in large documents.

When a filter is applied, only the filtered data objects are available in Atoll:

• The map window displays only the filtered data objects.

• Data tables display only filtered data. A filter icon ( ) is displayed in the top-left corner of the table and in columns that are used as filtering criteria.

• The Network explorer displays only filtered data. A filter overlay ( ) is displayed over any data objects that are affected by the filter.

• Any action performed on the entire document is only applied to the filtered data objects.

You can save the filtering parameters as a folder configuration. For information, see "Folder Configurations" on page 88.

This section covers the following topics:

• "Filtering Data Objects by Selection" on page 81

• "Filtering Data Objects by Polygon" on page 81

• "Filtering Data Objects in the Data Table" on page 82

• "Advanced Data Filtering" on page 83

• "Removing Filters" on page 85.

1.7.3.1 Filtering Data Objects by Selection

You can filter sites by selecting multiple items from the Network explorer or the map window.

To filter a selection of sites :

1. In the Network explorer, expand the Sites folder.

2. Select one or several data objects that you want to group together. Press CTRL to select multiple data objects.

3. Right-click the selected sites or transmitters and select Filter By Selection. The folder now displays only the filtered objects.

1.7.3.2 Filtering Data Objects by Polygon

You can filter data objects by an existing computation or focus zone or by drawing a filtering zone. For information on filtering zones, see "Filtering Zone" on page 48.

To filter data objects by geographical zone:

1. Create a computation zone or a focus zone as described in "Creating Zones" on page 50.

2. In the Network explorer, right-click the folder or view containing the type of data object that you want to group by a single property, and select either of the following options:

• To filter data objects that are inside an existing computation or focus zone, select Filter Inside a Polygon > Com-putation Zone or Filter By Polygon > Focus Zone.

• To filter data objects by drawing a polygon on the map, select Filter Inside a Polygon > Draw. The mouse pointer changes to polygon mode ( ). Draw the filtering zone as explained in "Creating Polygons, Lines, and Points" on page 54.

When the filter is applied, only the data objects located inside the selected zone are available.

You can also select one or several sites directly in the map window.

1.7.3.3 Filtering Data Objects in the Data Table

You can filter a data table by selecting one or more values. Once you have selected one or more values, you can choose to view only records that have the same value or only records that do not have that value.

To filter a data table on one or more fields:

1. Open the data table as explained in "Opening a Data Table" on page 58.

2. Select the value to filter on. You can select multiple values by pressing Ctrl as you click the other values.

3. Right-click the selected value or values and select one of the following from the table’s context menu:

• Filter by Selection: All records with the selected value or values are displayed. You can modify the filtered records or make calculations on them as you would normally do with the entire data table (see Figure 1.40 on page 82).

• Filter Excluding Selection: All records without the selected value or values are displayed. You can modify the fil-tered records or make calculations on them as you would normally do with the entire data table (see Figure 1.41 on page 83).

When the data in a table are filtered, a filter icon ( ) appears at the top of the leftmost column and in the corresponding column header(s), as shown in Figure 1.40 and Figure 1.41. The icon in the leftmost column can prove useful when the column containing the filtered data is not displayed due to a large table width.

Figure 1.40: Filtering by selection

1.7.3.4 Advanced Data Filtering

You can specify complex filters by combining filtering conditions on multiple fields using AND and OR operators. Advanced data filtering uses a table to express the filtering conditions where columns are used to specify the criteria for each field and the choice of the row is used to express the logical operators. The following principles allow you to express complex condi-tions:

• To express a filter on one or several fields combined with an AND operator (for example: a=1 AND b>5 AND b<10) specify all the criteria on a single Criteria row, as in Figure 1.42. In the following example, the filtered table displays antennas for which the manufacturer name starts with K and for which the gain is between 15 and 20 dBi:

• To express a filter on a single field combined with an OR operator (for example: a<1 OR a>2) specify the first criteria on the Criteria row and other criteria on the Or row, as in Figure 1.43. In the following example, the filtered table dis-plays antennas for which the gain is either 17, or 18, or above 20 dBi:

Figure 1.41: Filtering excluding selection

You can also filter data in a table by selecting the values as described and then clicking either the Filter by Selection ( ) or Filter Excluding Selection ( ) buttons in the Table toolbar.

Figure 1.42: The Advanced Filter tab - Conditions on multiple fields combined with an AND operator

• To express a filter on multiple fields combined with an OR operator (for example: a=1 OR b=2) specify the first criteria in the first column of the Criteria row and the other criteria on the OR row of the next column, as in Figure 1.44. You can combine the OR expressions with AND expressions. In the following example, the filtered table displays antennas for which either the manufacturer name starts with K, or the gain is between 15 and 20 dBi:

In the filtering table, the priority of AND and OR conditions is defined by combining them first horizontally, then vertically.

To create an advanced filter:

1. Open the data table as explained in "Opening a Data Table" on page 58.

2. Click the Advanced Filter button ( ) in the Table toolbar. The Filter dialog box appears.

3. Click the Filter tab:

a. Select a Field from the list.

b. Under Values to Include, you will find all the values represented in the selected field. Select the check boxes next to the values you want to include in the filter. Click Clear All to clear all check boxes.

Figure 1.43: The Advanced Filter tab - Conditions on a single field combined with an OR operator

Figure 1.44: The Advanced Filter tab - Conditions on multiple fields combined with AND and OR operators

You can also access the Filter dialog box by clicking the Filter button on the General tab of the Transmitter Properties dialog box.

Making selections on the Filter tab of the Filter dialog box is equivalent to filtering by selec-tion as explained in "Filtering Data Objects in the Data Table" on page 82.

4. Click the Advanced tab:

a. In the Column row, select the name of the field to be filtered from the list. Select as many fields as you want (see Figure 1.42).Underneath each field name, specify the condition on which the field will be filtered as explained in the following table:

To combine conditions with an AND operator, enter the conditions in separate columns on the same row.

To combine conditions with an OR operator, enter the conditions on separate rows.

5. Click OK to filter the data according to the criteria you have defined.

1.7.3.5 Removing Filters

After you have applied filter criteria to records, you may want to cancel the filter criteria and display all the records again.

To restore all records:

1. Open the data table as explained in "Opening a Data Table" on page 58.

2. Click the Remove Filter button ( ) in the Table toolbar.