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How can I filter on a text attribute being non empty in DNG?


Mark Murphy (2318) | asked Oct 24 '19, 9:40 a.m.

 I want to be able to filter down the artifacts in a module to show only those where a text attribute is not empty. Any idea on how I can do this in DNG? The options "is unassigned" and "does not exist" don't work...I'm planning to add tags as a workaround but there should be a way to do this with filters...

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Carol Watson (71016) | answered Oct 30 '19, 12:23 p.m.

 Mark, Sean,



Thanks,
Carol

Mark Murphy selected this answer as the correct answer

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Carol Watson (71016) | answered Oct 25 '19, 9:57 a.m.

 Case TS002921762 submitted.  


Thanks,
Carol


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Sean F (1.3k243149) | answered Oct 24 '19, 10:03 a.m.
edited Oct 24 '19, 10:08 a.m.

If you want to search a custom text attribute you can do that and here are your options, which include the 'exists' option which would be the one you are looking for.



If you want to search the Name (also known as Title) then you can do that and here are your options (this would be a possible workaround surrogate for searching primary text but it does not have the 'exists' option)


If you want to search all text attributes simultaneously then you can do that and here are your options.


However, if you want to search the attribute that users are most likely to want to search, i.e. the Primary Text, then you are out of luck.

It is only attribute that DOORS Next does not allow you to specifically search in any way despite being the most important attribute of all.


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Carol Watson commented Oct 24 '19, 10:53 a.m.

Hi Mark and Sean,


Mark, were the artifacts you're filtering by any chance imported from Excel or CSV?

I was trying to help answer your question, so was testing in one of my Modules.  I was surprised that my filter results, when using 'exists', as Sean mentioned, brought back empty attributes.  I checked my import worksheet to make sure there were no hidden characters, and there were not.  So I then did a test, adding a new artifact to the module and leaving its text attribute blank.  Upon reapplying the 'Exists' filter, that manually entered artifact was correctly excluded from the results.

I'm not sure why, but the imported artifacts are behaving differently than the direct entries.  DNG thinks there is something in the attribute, even though there is not.

I'll run this by my IBM Tech Rep to make sure I'm not missing anything, but I think it's a bug.

Regards,
Carol


Mark Murphy commented Oct 24 '19, 10:57 a.m.

Thanks for the quick answer Sean. Unfortunately, the attribute exists for all artifacts. 


What I'm trying to do is filter a custom text artifact, lets call it Fred, where Fred has non-empty text in it. "Exists" just returns everything because Fred attribute exists for empty and non-empty rows. I just want the non-empty ones. e.g.
 
Primary text     | Fred                 | Barney 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 any text here   | could do better |  don't care     |
any text here    |                          |                       | 
any text here    |  well done        |  absent           |

I want to filter out rows like the second one, where Fred is empty.  


Sean F commented Oct 24 '19, 12:43 p.m.
Hi Mark,

You may be running into the same bug that Carol says she has encountered.

The 'exists' filter definitely works for data that has been entered by keyboard.

For such data if you filter on 'fred' -> 'exists' then you will only see artifacts where attribute 'fred' is not blank.

Sean F commented Oct 24 '19, 12:49 p.m.
Hi Mark,

You may be running into the same bug that Carol says she has encountered.

The 'exists' filter definitely works for custom attribute data that has been entered by keyboard.

For such data if you filter on 'fred' -> 'exists' then you will only see artifacts where attribute 'fred' is not blank.

Mark Murphy commented Oct 25 '19, 3:55 a.m.

The text was entered via an import form Excel, so that probably explains this. Do you have a bug report number for this bug? Thanks.


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Mark Murphy (2318) | answered Oct 25 '19, 3:56 a.m.

 Thanks. I think this solves the mystery - my data was imported from excel. Do you have a link or reference to "Carols" report?



Comments
Carol Watson commented Oct 25 '19, 9:31 a.m.

Mark,


I hadn't submitted a defect yet but will today and reply back with the # and link.

I think between the three of us we've confirmed that there's a bug in empty attributes if imported via an excel or csv worksheet (I tried both with the same result).

Thanks,
Carol 


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Mark Murphy (2318) | answered Oct 28 '19, 5:28 a.m.

 Thanks Carol. Please do submit a defect. This is potentially quite troublesome.


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Mark Murphy (2318) | answered Oct 30 '19, 12:27 p.m.

 Thanks for clarifying that there is a defect open for this.

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