Filtering the Cartobibliography List

Filtering the Cartobibliography List

Normally the Cartobibliography List displays all the records in cartobibliography. However, if you wish to look at only a specific part of the data – for example, all maps published before 1750 – you can choose to filter the display so that only a subset of the full database is shown. The Cartobibliography List and all its functions behave exactly the same when a filter is active as they do when the full database is displayed; the only difference is that the only records shown are those which meet the filtering criteria.

To define a filter, choose Define a Filter from the Filter menu on the Collection List window. This will bring up the following dialog box:

Use this dialog to specify the criteria that have to be met for a record to be included in the Cartobibliography List display.

There are three kinds of criteria:

Criteria for text fields – A text field condition specifies whether the text field contains, or does not contain, the specified text. (Case does not matter; a lower-case word “chart” will match “Chart”, “CHART”, etc.)
Criteria for numeric fields – A number condition specifies whether the field contains a value that is less than, equal to, or more than a specified value.
Criteria for date fields – A date condition specifies whether the field contains a date that is before, in, or after a specifed date. (Dates can be single years, or fully specified dates, e.g., “25-Feb-2007”). The choice of “in” is intended primarily for specifying single years. For example, if you want to include in the filtered list all maps that are dated 1776, you could specify that the date be “in” 1776. This will pick up all records with a 1776 year in the specified date field, regardless of whether the date specifies a particular month or day.

Alternatively, a condition can specify whether a given field is empty or is not empty. This can be useful if you want to define a filter based on whether data is missing for a particular field.

To define a new condition:

1. Select a field name from the drop-down list at the upper left. You can also select the intially displayed choice of “Any text field” which will allow a text match against any of the text fields in your collection.

2. Select the desired relationship from the next drop-down list.

3. Enter the comparison value in the text-entry box at the right. (If you specified “is empty” or “is not empty” in the previous step, the text-entry box will be hidden, since it doesn’t apply in these cases.)

4. Click the “Add to Filter” button. The condition will be added to the list shown in the window.

If you have multiple conditions, they can be connected by “AND” or by “OR” operators. Adjacent AND conditions must all be met for a record to be selected for inclusion. An OR operator means that if the prior condition (or group of AND-connected conditions) is not satisfied, then the subsequent condition (or group of AND-connected conditions) will be tried. Following is an example of a filled-in dialog box showing a condition based on the contents of the Map-Maker field:

This specification will cause the filter to include all maps that include the name “Buache” anywhere in the Map-Maker field.

To modify a line of the filter specification, select it in the list, edit the terms of the condition at the top, and then click the “Modify Line” button.

To remove a specific condition from the filter specification, click the condition in the list and click the “Remove from Filter” button.

Click the “Clear entire Filter” button to get rid of all the lines in the filter specification.

Once you are finished specifying the criteria for your filter, click the “OK” button. This will return you to the Cartobibliography List window, with the records shown being limited to just those which satisfy the filter criteria. The label at the top of the list (just below the menu bar) will indicate that a filter is in effect, and will say how many records in the database meet the filtering criteria.

Any time a filter is in effect, you can display the criteria by selecting Display Filter Definition from the Filter menu.

To turn off filtering, choose Show Full List (no filtering) from the Filter menu. This will return the Cartobibiliography List to a display of all the records in the database. Within the same session, you can return to filtering by again selecting Define a Filter from the Filter menu. The filter dialog will be shown set to the criteria that you last used, so that to resume using the same filter as previously defined, just click the OK button. Alternatively, modify the criteria to revise the filtering definition.

Note: Operations that operate on the whole list (printing all records, searching and sorting) will only operate on the records that are included by the filter.

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