Determining How the Target of a Selector Displays (current state)

Before you begin, you should be familiar with the various properties that define how a selector looks and what it controls, such as the target and source. See Defining a selector for descriptions.

Steps to determine how the target of a selector displays

You can define how the target of a selector displays when the document is executed. For example, the target can display all the items in the selector, or only a specific number of items. This is controlled by the Current State and Number of Elements properties, as described below:

If Apply selections as a filter is selected:
- Unset (no filter): The target is not filtered and therefore displays data for all items in the selector. None of the selector items is selected.
- Set to specific elements: The target displays the items that the user chose in the selector. This option is shown only when a user has chosen items in the selector.
If Apply selections as a filter is cleared:
- Use first: The target displays the first Number of Elements. For example, if the selector source is Region and Number of Elements is defined as two, the first two regions (Central and Mid-Atlantic) are displayed.
- Use last: The target displays the last Number of Elements. For example, if the selector source is Region and Number of Elements is defined as one, the last region is displayed.
- All: The target displays data for all the items in the selector.
- Set to specific elements: The target displays the items that the user chose in the selector. This option is shown only when a user has chosen items in the selector.

Once a user updates the target using the selector and saves the document, the selector is set to specific items that are displayed in the target when the document is re-executed. If a user updates the target using the selector but does not save the document, the selector remains unset and the target is not changed.

Note: You can define the current state only for selectors that target attribute elements on Grid/Graphs.

The selector's state is saved in the Current State property when you save the document, so your selector choices are displayed when the document is re-executed. The Current State of the selector in the example is Set to specific elements.

You can reset the selector, so that it once again displays the first two regions.

Prerequisites

The following procedure assumes that the document contains:

A selector that targets attribute elements on a Grid/Graph. For instructions to create a selector, see Creating a selector for elements on a Grid/Graph.
A Grid/Graph that is used as the target of the selector.

To determine how the target of a selector displays

Open the document in Design or Editable Mode.
Right-click the selector to modify and select Properties and Formatting. The Properties and Formatting dialog box opens.
From the left, click Selector.
Select one of the following options from the Current State drop-down list:
- If Apply selections as a filter is selected:
- - Unset (no filter): The target is not filtered and therefore displays data for all items in the selector. None of the selector items is selected.
  - Set to specific elements: The target displays the items that the user chose in the selector. This option is shown only when a user has chosen items in the selector.
- If Apply selections as a filter is cleared:
- - Use first: The target displays the first Number of Elements. For example, if the selector source is Region and Number of Elements is defined as two, the first two regions (Central and Mid-Atlantic) are displayed.
  - Use last: The target displays the last Number of Elements. For example, if the selector source is Region and Number of Elements is defined as one, the last region is displayed.
  - All: The target displays data for all the items in the selector.
  - Set to specific elements: The target displays the items that the user chose in the selector. This option is shown only when a user has chosen items in the selector.
If Current State is set to either Use first or Use last, type the number of elements to display in the Number of Elements field. For example, if the selector source is Region, Use last is selected, and Number of Elements is defined as one, the last region is displayed.
Click OK to return to the document.