Filtering Data Tables
Certain windows allow you to filter data tables using global and user-defined filters. The filters are listed in a Filters pane, which is typically docked on the left side of the table. The Filters pane has collapsible sections that list filters that you have set as Favorites, Global filters saved by your organization, Shared filters that have been created by users and shared, and Personal filters that you have created.
Creating and Editing Filters Using the Edit Filter Dialog Box
The Edit Filter dialog box allows you to create, edit, rename, and save filters.
![The Edit Filter dialog box with numbers next to fields to match the legend that follows. The Edit Filter dialog box with numbers next to fields to match the legend that follows.](../NMS/images/editFilterDialogBox.png)
The Edit Filter dialog box has five primary fields and panes:
1. The Name field.
2. The Criterion section provides the filtering rules and button actions.
• Select a Column: A drop‑down list of all of the table's columns, which allows you to select the column to filter on.
• Operator: A drop‑down list of filter operators that will define your data match rules. See
Understanding Operators for operator definitions.
• Value: Text field that allows you to enter the value that the filter will select against.
Note: The Value field changes based on the column and the operator you are using. For example, with the Est Restore Time column selected, you can get zero or more value fields displayed.
• Operator: was yesterday. Value field is not displayed.
• Operator: is between. Two Date/Time fields allowing you to set the boundary conditions.
• Operator: is before (fixed). One Date/Time field allowing you to select a date that the estimated restore time will be before.
• Operator: is before (relative). Two data fields are displayed. The first allows you to enter a value and the second is a drop‑down list with the time unit (minutes, hours, days, weeks). If you want to see all events that are estimated to be restored in the next five hours, you would enter 5 in the text field and select hours from the drop‑down list.
3. And|Or Radio Buttons allow you to set the filter to match all criteria (And) or any of the criteria (Or).
4. Criteria Selection Action Buttons
• Replace: When a filter criterion is selected in the Criteria List, the Replace button allows you to replace the selection with the filter criteria specified in the Criterion fields.
• Add to List: Adds the filter criterion to the list of filter criteria.
5. The Criteria List shows the criteria that have been added to the filter.
6. The Criteria List Action buttons allow you to Remove selected criteria or Clear all criteria in the list.
7. The Action buttons allow you to save, apply, or close the dialog box without saving. You can also open online help for the dialog box.
• Help…: Displays Online Help for the Filter dialog box.
• OK: Applies any changes and closes the dialog box.
• Apply: Applies any changes but leaves the dialog open.
• Cancel: Closes the dialog without applying any changes.
Creating a User-Defined Filter
To create a filter, complete these steps:
1. In the Filter pane, right-click the folder where you want to place the filter, then select New Filter… from the context menu.
2. Enter a Name for the filter in the Name field.
3. Define a set of filter criteria in the Criterion fields. For each filter criterion, specify:
• The column to filter.
• The operator to use.
• The values to match.
4. Click Add to List.
5. (Optional) Add more criteria, if required. You can click Apply at any time to see the matching results.
6. When you have finished adding the filter criteria, click OK.
Editing and Renaming Filters
To edit a filter, right-click the filter and select Edit Filter… from the context menu (or double-click the filter). In the Edit Filter dialog box, you can edit the filter criteria or rename the filter. You can also rename filters and folders by right-clicking and choosing Rename... or by selecting them and pressing F2.
Deleting a Filter
To delete a filter, right-click the filter and select Delete from the context menu.
Understanding Operators
The list of available operators is based on the type of column selected for filtering. The following table provides a description for each operator. The operators are the same for filtering and conditional formatting.
Note: Text‑based checks are not case sensitive; for example, 'TEST' would match TEST, Test, or test.
Operator | Type | Description |
---|
is empty (or zero) | Text, numbers | Filters or formats if the cell is empty or contains zero (0). Note that some cells have a value of zero, but the 0 character is not displayed to reduce visual clutter (for example, #Out in the Work Agenda). |
is not empty (or zero) | Text, numbers | Filters or formats if the cell value would not match the is empty (or zero) operator above. |
equals | Text, numbers | Filters or formats only if the cell exactly matches the filter value. Not case sensitive. |
does not equal | Text, numbers | Filters or formats only if the cell value would not match the equals operator. |
is in | Text, numbers | Filters or formats based on a set of values you specify in the filter value. If the column contains a fixed set of values, you can also choose the values from a drop‑down list. Not case-sensitive. |
is not in | Text, numbers | Filters or formats if the cell value would not match the is in operator. |
contains | Text, numbers | Filters or formats where any matching text is specified in the Value(s) field. Not case-sensitive. Note: This will match parts of words; for example, 'sing' would match 'browsing'. |
contains one of | Text, numbers | Similar to the contains operator, but will filter or format if any of a list of filter values is found in the cell value. |
like | Text | Filters or formats if the cell value matches the regular expression specified in the filter value. (Not case-sensitive) Examples • To find values that exactly match either X or Y, select like and enter ^(X|Y)$ in the filter value field (this will also match x or y, since it is not case sensitive). • To find values that start with A, select like and enter ^A in the Match Value field. (this will also match values starting with a, since it is not case sensitive. Note: There are many regular expression references, including books, web sites, and tutorials. You can also find regular expression testing sites that might help when creating and testing regular expressions; remember to enable the case insensitive option of the regular expression to match the behavior of NMS filtering/formatting. |
not like | Text | Filters or formats if the cell value would not match the like operator above. |
is between | Numbers, Dates | Filters or formats if the cell value is between the specified range (including the start and end values). |
is not between | Numbers, Dates | Filters or formats if the cell value would not match the is between operator. |
is between (numeric) | Text | Filters or formats if the cell value is between the specified range (including the start and end values). |
is not between (numeric) | Text | Filters or formats if the cell value would not match the is between (numeric) operator above. |
is between (text) | Text | Filters or formats if the cell value is alphabetically between the specified range (including the start and end values, not case-sensitive). For example, is between 'a' and 'b' would match abc, or b, but not bca because bca is alphabetically after b. |
is not between (text) | Text | Filters or formats if the cell value would not match the is between (text) operator above. |
>= | Numbers | Filters or formats only if the cell value is greater than or equal to the filter value. |
<= | Numbers | Filters or formats only if the cell value is less than or equal to the filter value. |
>= (numeric) | Text | For NMS columns containing a mixture of numbers and text, this filters or formats only if the cell value is a numeric value greater than or equal to the filter value. |
<= (numeric) | Text | For NMS columns containing a mixture of numbers and text, this filters or formats only if the cell value is a numeric value less than or equal to the filter value. |
>= (text) | Text | Filters or formats only if the cell value is alphabetically equal to or after the filter value. Not case-sensitive. For example, bat is after ban and abc is after a. |
<= (text) | Text | Filters or formats only if the cell value is alphabetically equal to or before the filter value. Not case-sensitive. For example, ban is before bat and a is before abc. |
bitwise and | Numbers | This operator is used for cases where there is a single whole number value representing state in individual bits. For example, for the following binary codes: • 00000001 = suspect quality (decimal value 1) • 00000010 = stale value (decimal value 2) • 00000100 = uninitialized (decimal value 4) You could check for the stale value flag with a bit and for 00000010, which in decimals is the number 2. If you want to check for the presence of any one of a number of values, you can add them together. For example, if you want to check for suspect quality OR stale value, you could use the number 3 (1 + 2). Note that there is currently no way to check for the presence of ALL flags like this, just any one of them. That is, you cannot check for both suspect quality AND stale value being set. |
bitwise not and | Numbers | Filters or formats if the cell value would not match the bitwise and operator above. |
is empty | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the cell value is empty. |
is not empty | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the cell value would not match is empty. |
is in the last | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is within the last number of minutes, hours, days, and so forth from now. Note: Days are always checked from a midnight boundary; for example, is in the last 1 day will check from 00:00 yesterday until the current time. Week offsets are similar, but are checked from 00:00 of the first day of the week, so is in the last 1 week will match dates from the start of the previous week up until now. |
is in the next | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is within the next number of minutes, hours, days, and so forth from now. Note: see the is in the last operator description for information about how day and week offsets are calculated. |
is before (relative) | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is before the specified offset from now. Note: see the is in the last operator description for information about how day and week offsets are calculated. |
is after (relative) | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is after the specified period from now. Note: see the is in the last operator description for information about how day and week offsets are calculated. |
was yesterday | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time was anytime yesterday. |
is today | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is anytime today. |
is tomorrow | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is anytime tomorrow. |
was last week | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time was anytime last week. |
is this week | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is anytime this week. |
is next week | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is anytime next week. |
was last month | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time was anytime last month. |
is this month | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is anytime this month. |
is next month | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is anytime next month. |
is before (fixed) | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is before the specified fixed date/time. |
is after (fixed) | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is after the specified fixed date/time. |
is between | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is between the specified dates. |
is not between | Date/Time | Filters or formats if the date/time is outside the specified dates. |
Dynamic Filtering
Some tables provide a row of blank filter boxes above the column headers. Enter all or part of the text you want to filter by in the appropriate filter box. The table data is dynamically filtered to display items that contain matching values as you enter the filter criteria. You can combine filter criteria by typing values in more than one column.
Auto Filtering
Some tables support auto filtering (also referred to as cell filtering), which allows you to filter the list by the value of any cell. To use auto filtering, right-click a cell containing the value you want to filter, and select the Toggle Auto Filter option. (When enabled, the menu option is checked.) The table is refreshed to display only rows where the value matches the selected cell. For example, if you click a cell in the Feeder column with a value of "2413" and enable auto filter, the table will refresh to display only events for Feeder 2413. Click the option again to turn off cell filtering.
Organizing Filters and Folders
Filters are organized into main structures – Global, Personal, and Shared:
• Global filters are seen by all Users, but the ability to edit within this structure is based on role.
• Personal filters are seen only by the User that created them.
• Shared filters are seen by all Users. Filters placed here can be copied by Users to other structures, depending on their role.
In addition, commonly accessed filters can be added to a Favorites structure, as a shortcut.
Each top-level structure also supports collapsible folders into which filters can be placed, to help organize work and other information.
Showing, Hiding, and Revealing the Filters Pane
• Change the width of the Filters pane by dragging the vertical divider to the desired width.
• Minimize the Filters pane to a narrow sidebar by clicking the Minimize icon
• Restore it by clicking the icon again.
• When the Filter pane is minimized, mouse over the sidebar to reveal the Filters pane and choose a new filter.
Your preferred layout for each Filters pane will be stored when you save your preferences.
Creating Folders and Sub Folders
Depending on your role, you can create folders within the Global, Shared, or Personal structures. Folders can be used to organize filters into hierarchic structures.
1. To create a folder, right-click a filter structure and choose New Folder….
2. Enter a name. The folder is created.
You can also create folders inside other folders.
Folders and top-level structures can be collapsed or expanded by clicking on the icon. Once the folder has been created you can add, move, or copy filters to it.
Moving and Copying Filters and Folders
Filters are organized in folders. They can be copied or moved using drag and drop, or via items on the right-click menu.
Moving and Copying Filters
• To move a filter to a different folder, select the filter, right-click, select Cut, and then Paste in the desired location.
• To create a copy of a filter and place it in a different folder, right-click, select Copy and then Paste in the desired location.
• To create a duplicate of a filter, right click and select Duplicate. Enter a new name, optionally change the filter criteria, and then click OK.
• To delete a filter, right-click and select Delete.
Moving, Copying, & Deleting Folders
• To move a folder (and its contents) to a different folder, right-click, select Cut from the context menu, and then Paste in the desired location.
• To copy a folder (and its contents) to a different folder, right-click, select Copy, and then Paste in the desired location.
• To delete a folder (and its contents), right-click and select Delete.
Favorite Filters
If you have filters you access frequently, you can add them to the Favorites structure.
• Right-click a filter and select Add to Favorites or drag the filter to the Favorites structure. The filter is added as a shortcut to the Favorites structure.
• To remove a favorite shortcut, right-click and select Remove from Favorites.
Note: The source filter is not affected by Remove from Favorites.
• To find a Favorite’s source filter, right click the shortcut and choose Find Target Filter. The source filter is displayed and highlighted.
Note: If the source filter name is edited, the shortcut in the Favorites pane updates with the new name.