Hiding items (visual database)

This function allows you to hide items depending on their links (arrows) to other items. This is one of the most advanced functions in i2Brain, and makes your visualized information into a kind of database.

"Filters" have essentially the same effect as "hiding" in that they cause items to disappear, but the two functions are nevertheless fundamentally different. Filters use aspects, whereas hiding uses the arrows.

"Parts" is a very simple version of the hiding which is described here.

Use

A right-click on an element causes its context menu to open. "Show/hide connected items" opens this dialog:

Alternatively, while one or more items are selected, you can press F7 or the leftmost of the 3 toolbar buttons which deal with "Hiding": .

Since this function is more powerful than most, its usage is more complicated.

The dialog is divided into three sections:

In the example "Movies" I want to see who was involved in making "Notting Hill". I'm using this column view:

I right-click "Notting Hill" and choose "Show/hide connected items" (F7) and fill out the dialog like this:. 

Here's the result:

These three people were involved in making "Notting Hill". Please note that the result has nothing to do with aspects, but purely with links.

Hiding is revoked in the view's menu: "View | Revoke hiding" or by pressing Ctrl-F7. I.e. all hidden elements reappear.

Another example: I want to see which films Julia Roberts and Richard Curtis have worked on together.

I select "Julia Roberts" and "Richard Curtis", then right-click on one of them (it doesn't matter which), then fill out the dialog thus:

The result:

NB Neither "Pretty Woman" nor "Bridget Jones" are shown because we wanted to know when Ms. Roberts AND Mr. Curtis worked on a film. Try out what happens when you activate the "or"-option.

In this example it doesn't matter whether there is a tick next to "Part-Of links" and "Precedes links" because there aren't any links of that type on the screen.

The bottom two lines in the dialog are only active when two or more items are selected. A rule of thumb: the "or" combination always selects the same number or MORE items than when the "And" button is activated.

In all cases the selected items remain visible.

Using this dialog twice or more has an accumulative effect so long as you don't activate "Show all others" or "Hide all others".

The results of the Hiding are NOT stored to disk. That means that after storing and reading, no items are hidden.

A recap of the toolbar buttons and function keys

F7 or the leftmost of the 3 toolbar buttons opens the dialog. 

Shift-F7 repeats the hiding, which only makes sense if you have selected different items in the meantime. Or you can use the middle of the 3 toolbar buttons: .

Ctrl-F7 revokes the hiding, so it has the same effect as "View | Revoke hiding" in the main menu. Alternatively the rightmost button:

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