Using Temporal Filters

The image below identifies parts of a temporal filter. You should see this entire pane when you activate a temporal filter. If you do not see the Time Span Scroll Bar at the bottom of the pane, increase the height of the filter pane until the entire pane is visible.

The View Port is the visual representation of the span of dates you select. It includes the Selection Thumb, which enables you to change the dates in the filter by clicking and dragging the handles on either end of the thumb. Note that the Selection start date and the Selection end date fields update dynamically when you let go of the handles.

The View Port also includes the Time Span Scroll Bar, which enables you to zoom in (or out) on the selected dates by clicking and dragging the handles on either end of the bar. As shown in the two examples below, when you drag the handles closer to each other, you will see years turn into months, months into weeks, and weeks into days. The reverse occurs when you drag the handles away from each other. The benefit of this tool is that as you zoom in or out with the Time Span Scroll Bar, you then have more flexibility and control over the time span the Selection Thumb covers; the thumb will update dynamically as you make changes with the scroll bar. If initially the thumb spanned a year or month, you could adjust the view with the scroll bar and then use the thumb to span a week or day.

Follow the steps below to use Temporal filters.

  1. With a model open, click the View tab.
  2. In the Tools group, click Range Filter. The Range Filter pane will open underneath the Primary Pane. The pane should look similar to the image above. If it does not, you may need to increase the size of the pane to reveal the bottom portion.
  3. Select Entities and/or Relationships, depending on which set of data you want to filter.
  4. Select the Entity property and/or the Relationship property that contains the date information. Note: Entities or relationships that do not contain valid data in the property you select here will not be filtered and thus will remain visible in the model.
  5. In the Value data type drop-down, select "Temporal" if it is not already selected by default. Then select the language in which your dates are formatted.
  6. The Selection start date field will auto-populate after you complete step 4, but you can enter a different value here if you want to increase the minimum of the range. For example, if you are looking at insurance data and filtering on dates during which claims were filed, the earliest date in your data may be 01/02/2001. However, perhaps you don't want to look at claims from the first few years of data. You could, hypothetically, change the Selection start date to 01/02/2004. This would cause all data with dates 01/01/2004 and earlier to be removed from the model.
  7. The Selection end date field will auto-populate after you complete step 4, but you can enter a different value here if you want to decrease the maximum of the range. For example, if you are looking at insurance data and filtering on dates during which claims were filed, the latest date in your data may be 12/31/2010. However, perhaps you don't want to look at claims from the last few years of data. You could, hypothetically, change the Selection end date to 12/31/2007. This would cause all data with dates 01/01/2008 and later to be removed from the model.
  8. Use the Selection Thumb and the Time Span Scroll Bar to set a more specific range for which you want to return results. The model will dynamically update, removing entities and relationships, as you move the slider and let go of the handles.