Tracker 4 Filters
From SymbiantWiki
The filters in Tracker are incredibly powerful and can find everything from individual issues to those that contain a certain letter in their summary for example.
The filters matrix is split into 3 key sections, the column, the filter and a return sort order. The column identifies which part of tracker to search, the filter specifies what to search for and the sort allows what is found to be returned in a specific order.
Below is a table identifying each of the columns that can be selected:
|
Column |
Description |
|
|
Audit Report |
Name |
The audit report name. |
|
Category |
The audit report category. |
|
|
Reference |
The audit report reference. |
|
|
Edited On |
The date the audit report was last edited (generally this will be the date it was created). |
|
|
Edited By |
The user that last edited the audit report (generally this will be the user that created it). |
|
|
Issue |
Reference |
The issue reference. |
|
Division |
The issue division (this does not include user divisions that the issue may inherit because of cross division assignments). |
|
|
Status |
The status of the issue (Outstanding, Implemented etc.) |
|
|
Rating |
The issue rating. |
|
|
Summary |
The brief summary given to identify an issue in the issue grid. |
|
|
Details |
The issue details. |
|
|
Findings |
This issues findings (new to Tracker 4). |
|
|
Finding Type |
The issues finding type. |
|
|
Edited On |
The date the issue was last updated. |
|
|
Edited By |
The user that last updated the issue. |
|
|
Recommendation |
Recommendation |
The issues recommendation. With multiple recommendations it will return only the matching recommendation and parent issue. |
|
Edited On |
The date the recommendation was last updated. |
|
|
Edited By |
The user that last updated the recommendation. |
|
|
Action |
Action |
The issues recommendation action. With multiple actions it will only return the matching action and associated recommendation and parent issue. |
|
Key Action |
If the action has been marked as key. |
|
|
Action Relates To |
The action relates to grouping. |
|
|
Implemented |
If the action has been marked as implemented. |
|
|
Assigned To |
The user the action has been assigned to (one of). |
|
|
Action By |
The date the action must be implemented by. |
|
|
Edited On |
The date the action was last updated. |
|
|
Edited By |
The user that last updated the action. |
|
|
Action Status |
Action Status |
The status comment or management response for an action. |
|
Owner |
The owner (or assigned to) an action was delegated to as recorded when a user (auditee) logged the status. |
|
|
Actioned On |
The date the comment was left. |
|
|
Actioned By |
The user that left the comment. |
|
|
Audit Trail |
Edited On |
The date the item was audited, any issue change in Tracker is audit trailed. |
|
Edited By |
The user that audited the change. |
|
|
Comment |
The comment (if any) left when the change was made. |
|
|
Action By Date Change |
Allows the user to identify items that have had their action by date changed x number of times. |
|
Following the column selection the filter type and value must be selected there are several different filtering methods and
a few alternative entry methods. Below is a table that identifies the different filter type methods and the type of entry they
are associated with:
|
Filter Method |
Value Entry Type |
Description |
|
IS |
Drop-down list selection |
Returns only items that match the item selected. |
|
NOT |
Returns all items that do not match the item selected. |
|
|
IS |
Manual text entry |
Returns only items that exactly match the text entered. |
|
NOT |
Returns all items where the text is not matched. |
|
|
IS LIKE |
Returns all items where the text is matched allowing for wild card searches by including an asterisk (*). |
|
|
IS NOT LIKE |
Returns only items that do not match the text including wild card searches. |
|
|
= |
Date selection |
Returns only items that fall on the date selected. |
|
> |
Returns all items where the date is after the one selected. |
|
|
< |
Returns all items where the date is before the one selected. |
|
|
<> |
Returns all items that do not fall on the date selected. |
|
|
= |
Numerical value entry |
Returns only items with the exact number of entries entered. |
|
> |
Returns all items with more entries than that entered. |
|
|
< |
Returns all items with fewer entries than that entered. |
|
|
<> |
Returns all items with more or less entries than that entered. |
|
|
Check box |
If checked returns items that match otherwise returns items that do not. |
|
For the IS LIKE and IS NOT LIKE filters the wild card searches allow for the entry of part of the information to find and
then the asterisk (*) for the unknown or unimportant remaining characters. For example, if searching for a users name
entering “pa*” would return Paul, Pam, Patrice, Patrick etc. It is possible to include the asterisk anywhere in the text and
include as many of them as is required, for example, “*pa*” would result in Caspar, Cleopatra, Jaspar, Orpah etc.
However, even with these hugely definable and configurable filter types if only one filter could be applied the filtering would be limited. To this end, Tracker includes an incredibly powerful yet simple means of building very complex filters. As soon as the first column is defined a new row appears where a second (third, fourth, fifth etc.) column and filter can be defined. The next row of the filter includes an additional drop-down not seen on the first, this allows the user to specify whether the new filter is to be compared as well as (AND) or instead of (OR) the previous.
To make these filters even more powerful, Tracker will group sequential filters on the same column together. This means we can create filters within filters. For example, lets say we wanted to return all issues from the UK or USA, that are outstanding or partly implemented.
In Tracker the filter would be defined as:
|
|
Column |
Filter |
||
|
|
Issue |
Division |
IS |
UK |
|
OR |
Issue |
Division |
IS |
USA |
|
AND |
Issue |
Status |
IS |
Outstanding |
|
OR |
Issue |
Status |
IS |
Partly Implemented |
What this would look like if written as a filter is:
Get all issues where [Issue Division is “UK” or “USA”] and [Issue Status is “Outstanding” or “Partly Implemented”]
Meaning the results that are returned will only include issues that are in the UK or USA and that are either outstanding or partly implemented, rather than everything that is in the UK, USA, outstanding or partly implemented.
The final area of the filter matrix deals with the order the data is returned in. Not all columns can be sorted because of the type of data they contain, those that can't be sorted do not show the sort drop-downs. Those that can, take the order the sort should be applied in, i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. (depending on how many columns have been defined) and the direction they should be sorted, Ascending (A-Z; 1, 2, 3 etc.) or Descending (Z-A; 10, 9, 8 etc.). For example, if two columns are selected, Issue reference and Issue rating, with issue rating set as the first sort and reference as the second, both sorted in Ascending order, a possible sort will look like:
|
Ref |
Summary |
Rating |
|
3 |
This is the third issue but the first to have a high rating. |
High |
|
5 |
This is the fifth issue but the second to have a high rating as the fourth has a medium rating. |
High |
|
6 |
This is the sixth and final issue but the third to have a high rating. |
High |
|
4 |
This is the fourth issue and is the only one with a medium rating. |
Medium |
|
1 |
This is the first issue and the first to have a low rating. |
Low |
|
2 |
This is the second issue which also has a low rating. |
Low |
