Filtering Elements and Properties

To simplify the evaluation of the comparison results by omitting irrelevant information, exclude certain elements and properties from the display of the comparison results using filters.

Restricting Elements and Properties in the Comparison Results

You normally do not want to see all differences, only certain ones. You can set a filter for elements and properties to establish these differences more easily.

You can use the context menu so that elements or properties are not taken into consideration for the comparison result view. You can set that e.g. elements with certain element types or properties of a certain type should be filtered out, which means they will no longer be considered when finding the differences between two elements or properties.

Elements and properties that have been filtered out are no longer included in the display of differences. This means that a node that is shown as being different can then be shown as being the same once a property has been filtered out.

You can save your current settings for the display of the comparison results as a filter configuration.

You can select Align Models>Filter>Settings to check which one of these special filters is set in a dialog and remove individual or all filters if you need to. You can also set the filter for element types in the dialog.

You can open the dialog using  Settings in the ribbon. This icon also tells you whether filters are active. If this is the case, the icon has a colored background.

The Merge filter settings dialog is not really used for activating filters, it is primarily used for deactivating filters. You can deactivate the filters you have activated via the context menu using this dialog. The dialog also has a Reset Filter button for deactivating all filters in one fell swoop.

Note

The dialog can be used for deactivating filters but also contains lots of additional information. The number of elements of the respective element type are shown in the Shown Element Types tab (Matches column).

Filtering Elements

Prerequisites

The Align Models editor is opened and is being shown.

You have carried out a comparison and comparison results exist.

Context

You want to exclude elements from the display of the comparison results using a filter in order to simplify the evaluation of the comparison results by omitting irrelevant information.

The tree's context menu in the hierarchy area contains all filters that only affect properties. These are:

  • Filter Element Type

    Hide all elements with the same element type as the selected elements and ignore them when displaying differences.

    You can easily set this filter in the Shown Element Types tab in the Merge filter settings dialog in order to restrict the evaluation to certain element types.

  • Filter Element

    Hide selected elements and ignore them when displaying differences.

  • Filter Stereotype

    Hide all elements with the same stereotype as the selected elements and ignore them when displaying differences.

How to proceed

  1. If you want to exclude certain element types, then select Align Models>Filter>Settings, deactivate the check box for all element types that you want to hide and confirm with OK. You can also select these in the Filter Element Type context menu.

    Deactivated element types are not shown in the Align Models editor.

  2. If you want to exclude certain elements and their subelements, then select one of the selected elements in the Filter Element Type context menu.

    The element and its subelements are not shown in the Align Models editor.

  3. If you want to exclude all elements with a certain stereotype, then select one of the selected stereotypes in the Filter Stereotype context menu.

    Elements with the filtered out stereotype are not shown in the Align Models editor.

Filtering Properties

Prerequisites

The Align Models editor is opened and is being shown.

You have carried out a comparison and comparison results exist.

Context

You want to exclude element properties from the display of the comparison results using a filter in order to simplify the evaluation of the comparison results by omitting irrelevant information.

The properties area in the context menu contains all filters that only affect element properties. These are:

  • Filter Property Type

    Hide the selected property type for all elements in the detail view and ignore it when displaying differences.

    All element properties with the same name and property type (property of the element type, stereotype or label) are filtered out.

  • Filter Property Type (Element Type Specific)

    Hide the selected property type for elements of this type in the detail view and ignore it when displaying differences.

    All element properties with the same name, property type (property of the element type, stereotype or label) and the same element type (selected on the left-hand side) are filtered out.

  • Filter Text Type

    Hide the selected text type for all elements in the detail view and ignore it when displaying differences.

    All specification texts with the same name and specification type (text definition) are filtered out.

  • Filter Text Type (Element Type Specific)

    Hide the selected text type for elements of this type in the detail view and ignore it when displaying differences.

    All specification texts with the same name, specification type (text definition) and the same element type (selected on the left-hand side) are filtered out.

  • Filter All Descriptions

    Hide all descriptions and ignore them when displaying differences.

    This corresponds to the filtering out of the Description Text element type.

  • Filter Description

    Hide selected description and ignore it when displaying differences.

    This corresponds to the filtering out of the Description Text element type's element.

How to proceed

  1. If you want to exclude certain element properties in the Properties tab, then select Filter Property Type or Filter Text Type in a selected element property's context menu.

    The property type or text type is not displayed in the Align Models editor.

  2. If you want to exclude certain element properties for the element type selected in the hierarchy area in the Properties tab, then select Filter Property Type (Element Type Specific) or Filter Text Type (Element Type Specific) in a selected element property's context menu.

    The property or text type is not shown for the element type in the Align Models editor.

  3. If you want to exclude all descriptions (all text types) in the Properties tab, then select Filter All Descriptions in a selected description's context menu.

    Descriptions are not shown in the Align Models editor.

  4. If you want to exclude certain descriptions in the Properties tab, then select or Filter Description in a selected description's context menu.

    The description is not shown in the Align Models editor.