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NOTE The list of the items on the Sets tab is exactly the same as the list on the Sets window.
The right pane enables you to add the search statements (or conditions). And the buttons enable you to find
the qualifying items in your scene.
Defining Search Statements
A search statement contains a property (a combination of category name and property name), a condition
operator, and a value to be tested against the selected property. For example, you can search for Material that
Contains Chrome.
By default, all items that match your statement criteria are found (for example, all objects that use chrome
material). You can also negate a statement, in which case, all items that do not match your statement criteria
are found instead (for example, all objects that do not use chrome material).
Each category and property name has two parts - a user string which is shown in the Autodesk Navisworks
interface, and an internal string which is not shown, and is mainly used by the API. By default, the items are
matched on both parts, but you can instruct Autodesk Navisworks to match only on one part, if necessary. For
example, you can ignore user names in searches, and match items on their internal names only. This can be
useful when you plan on sharing your saved searches with other users who may be running localized versions
of Autodesk Navisworks.
The statements that do not use default settings are identified by this icon:
. It appears, for example, when you
negate a statement, or choose to ignore the upper and lower cases in property values.
Combining Search Statements
Search statements are read from left to right. By default, all statements are ANDed. For example: “A AND B”, “A
AND B AND C”.
You can arrange your statements into groups. For example, “(A AND B) OR (C AND D)”. ORed statements are
identified by a plus icon:
. All statements preceding the ORed statement are ANDed, and all statements following
the ORed statement are ANDed. So to create two groups in the previous example, you need to mark statement
C as ORed.
There are no parentheses to visually show you the way the statements are read. Simple statements such as “A
OR B” will not be misinterpreted. For complex searches, the order and groupings of the statements is more
important, especially if you choose to negate some statements. For example, “(A AND B) OR (C AND NOT D)”.
When search conditions are evaluated, NOT is applied before AND, and AND is applied before OR.
To toggle the Find Items window
■ Click Home tab ➤ Select & Search panel ➤ Find Items
.
Menu: Classic user interface: View ➤ Control Bars ➤ Find Items
Command entry: SHIFT + F3
To find objects
1 Open the Find Items window.
2 On the Find Selection Tree, click the items where you want to start searching from. For example, if you
want to search the whole model, click the Standard tab, press and hold CTRL, and click all files that comprise
the model. If you want to limit your search to a selection set, click the Sets tab, and click the required set.
3 Define a search statement:
a Click the Category column, and select the property category name from the drop-down list, for example,
‘Item’.
b In the Property column, select the property name from the drop-down list, for example, ‘Material’.
c In the Condition column, select the condition operator, for example, “Contains”.
d In the Value column, type in the property value to search for, for example, “Chrome”.
226 | Chapter 8 Review Your Model