Filtering Objects

A driver is an object with many outputs, a startup program, for example. A utility is an object with many inputs, DATEFMT, for example. Filtering drivers and utilities from large diagrams reduces diagram clutter and typically provides a better picture of what your application does.

You set thresholds for filtering in the Diagrams User Preferences. If you set the driver threshold for outgoing relationships to 40, for example, then any object with 40 or more outgoing relationship will be considered a driver and displayed outside the main relationship flow. The driver and its related nodes in the relationship flow appear with a symbol in the diagram. Click the symbol to display the relationships for the driver and its related nodes again.

You generate a filtered diagram the same way you generate any diagram. The only difference is that when the filtering thresholds are met, Diagrammer displays the Large Dataset Returned dialog. Choose Enable Node Filtering in the dialog to draw the diagram with the filter applied. Choose Disable Node Filtering and Clustering in the dialog to draw the diagram without the filter applied. A symbol on the tool bar indicates that a diagram is filtered.

Tip: Use the Filter Override options on the drop-down menu to override the thresholds in the Diagrams User Preferences. If the diagram has already been generated, choosing an override option redraws the diagram with the new filter applied.