Grouping Data Objects

You can group objects by property values or by manually selecting them. Grouped objects are displayed as a subfolder in a data folder or in a view (see "Creating and Comparing Views" on page 90). Grouping objects in the Network explorer is similar to sorting data in the data table because it puts all records with the selected property together. You can also define the prop-erties by which you can group objects.

Once you have grouped data objects, you can access their Properties dialog box from the context menu to edit properties on all grouped objects. You can save the grouping parameters as a folder configuration. For more information, see "Folder Config-urations" on page 88.

This section covers the following topics:

• "Grouping Data Objects by Selection" on page 77

• "Grouping Data Objects by Zone" on page 77

• "Grouping Data Objects by Property" on page 77

• "Customizing the Group By Submenu" on page 78

• "Advanced Grouping of Data Objects" on page 78

1.7.1.1 Grouping Data Objects by Selection

You can create groups of sites by selecting multiple items from the Network explorer or the map window.

To add sites or transmitters to a list:

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

2. Press CTRL and select several data objects that you want to group together.

3. Right-click the selected sites or transmitters and select Group By Selection. The folder now contains two folders:

Selected and Not Selected.

4. To undo the grouping of data objects, right-click the folder or view whose grouping you want to reset, and select Group By > None.

1.7.1.2 Grouping Data Objects by Zone

You can group data objects by computation or focus zone. You create a computation or focus zone when you want to concen-trate on a given subset of transmitters, for example, when you are working on a certain area of the network. By grouping objects by computation or focus zone, the transmitters that you are working on are immediately visible under the Transmitter folder.

To group 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 Group By > Focus Zone. The Sites folder now contains two folders: Inside Focus Zone and Outside Focus Zone.

1.7.1.3 Grouping Data Objects by Property

With basic property grouping, you group data objects by a single property.

To group data objects by property:

1. 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.

2. Select Group By and choose a property by which you want to group the data objects. The data objects are now grouped by that property in the corresponding folder or view.

For example:

• To group microwave links per frequency band, right-click the Microwave Radio Links folder and select Group By >

Frequency Band. The Microwave Radio Links folder now contains a folder for each frequency band.

3. To change the single property by which the data objects are currently grouped, right-click the folder or view whose grouping you want to change, select Group By and choose another property by which you want to group the data objects.

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

To group data objects by multiple properties, see "Advanced Grouping of Data Objects" on page 78.

4. To undo the grouping of data objects, right-click the folder or view whose grouping you want to reset, and select Group By > None.

1.7.1.4 Customizing the Group By Submenu

Some data objects, such as transmitters, have a large number of properties that appear by default in the Group By submenu.

You can make it easier to group data objects by configuring the Group By submenu.

To configure a Group By submenu:

1. In the Network explorer, right-click the folder or view whose Group By submenu you want to configure and select Properties from the context menu. The corresponding Properties dialog box appears.

2. On the General tab, click the Configure Menu button next to the Group By field (which indicates how the data objects are presently grouped). The Configure Menu dialog box appears.

3. Select the fields you want to appear in the Group By submenu. You can display all the fields belonging to a table by clicking the Expand button ( ) to the left of the table name (e.g. "Site", "Antenna", etc.).

• To make a field appear in the Group By submenu, select the field in the Available fields list and click to move it to the Fields of the group list.

• To remove a field from the Fields of the group list, select the field in this list and click .

• To change the order of a field in the list, select the field and click or to move it up or down.

4. Click OK to close the Configure Menu dialog box then OK to close the Properties dialog box. The Group By submenu now contains only the fields you selected, in the same order as in the Fields of the group list, and from top to bottom.

1.7.1.5 Advanced Grouping of Data Objects

Advanced grouping enables you to group data objects by multiple properties. The data objects are displayed in multiple levels of subfolders in the Network explorer.

To group data objects by multiple properties:

1. In the Network explorer, right-click the folder or view whose data objects you want to group by multiple properties and select Properties from the context menu. The corresponding Properties dialog box appears.

2. On the General tab, click the Group By button. The Group dialog box appears.

3. Select the multiple fields by which you want to group data objects.

You can select contiguous fields by clicking a field, pressing Shift and clicking the last field.

You can also select non-contiguous fields by pressing Ctrl and clicking each field separately.

Figure 1.37: Advanced Grouping of Transmitters

You can select contiguous fields by clicking a field, pressing Shift and clicking the last field.

You can also select non-contiguous fields by pressing Ctrl and clicking each field separately.

• To select a field to be used to group the data objects, select the field in the Available Fields list and click to move it to the Fields of the group list.

• To remove a field from the Fields of the group list, select the field in this list and click .

• To change the order of a field in the list, select the field and click or to move it up or down.

4. Click OK to close the Group dialog box then OK to close the Properties dialog box. The data objects are now grouped by these properties in the corresponding folder or view, in the order of the fields in the Fields of the group list, from top to bottom (for example: "Antenna", "Height (m)", and "Site" in Figure 1.38 on page 79).