Data Filter Manager

Filter a set of data through the use of interactive controls.

Usage:

OBJ = DataFilterManager(PARENT, DATA, VARNAMES)

Inputs:

PARENT <1x1 container handle>

- Handle to parent container (figure, uipanel, etc.) where control will be placed

DATA <MxN numeric or cell array>

- Matrix containing the data to be filtered, where each column is a

separate data variable

- Matrix must be numeric, where all variables contain all numeric values,

or a cell array, where each variable contains either all numeric or all

string (character vector) values

VARNAMES <1xN or Nx1 cell array of character vectors>

- Names of the N data variables contained in the columns of the data matrix

Outputs:

OBJ <1x1 DataFilterManager object handle>

- The DataFilterManager object provides user interface controls to

interactively create, update, and apply filter criteria to a set of data

- See DataFilter and DataFilterGroup for the specifics of what filter

criteria can be created

- The 'FilterResult' property is an Mx1 logical array that contains

the result of the filter criteria being applied to the data, which

is automatically updated each time a control is interacted with

Description:

To create a filter, select the name of a variable from the listbox,

then click the 'Create Filter' push button below it. Filter controls

for that variable will be created below any other existing filter controls.

To update a filter, simply interact with its user interface controls.

Numeric variables are provided with a SliderEditCombo control and

string variables are provided with an edit textbox to set the criteria

that variable will be assessed against. The filter for a variable can

be made more complex by clicking the 'Add Filter' push button, selecting

a logical operator, and specifying another criteria.

The combined filter criteria defined for all variables is automatically

applied each time a control is interacted with. There is an implicit order

of precedence from top-to-bottom, which may differ from what is expected. Use

the toString method to explicitly view the order of precedence. Note, the

DataFilterManager object triggers an 'Updated' event that indicates when the

filter criteria has been applied and the 'FilterResult' property has been updated.

A specialized BoxPanel container from the GUI Layout Toolbox is used to

provide additional interactivity.

To remove the entire filter for a variable, or just one of its criteria,

click the 'x' at the top right.

To minimize (and maximize) the entire filter for a variable, or just one of

its criteria, click the triangle at the top right. This provides the ability

to save space when many filter controls may be displayed. Note, if the HG2

version of the GUI Layout Toolbox is available, then a ScrollingPanel container

is also used, which allows the filter controls to be scrolled through if they

cannot all be displayed at the same time.

The entire filter for a variable can be enabled and disabled by right-clicking

on its "title bar", i.e. where the 'x' and triangle appear. This can be used

to quickly modify the combined filter criteria without having to completely

remove a filter and then re-create it later. The toString method can be used

to view the combined filter criteria currently in effect.

Examples:

varnames = {'Length', 'Width', 'Height', 'Area', 'Volume', 'Price'};

data = [];

data(:,1) = linspace(10, 500, 50);

data(:,2) = fliplr(linspace(55, 300, 50));

data(:,3) = linspace(11, 60, 50);

data(:,4) = data(:,1) .* data(:,2);

data(:,5) = data(:,1) .* data(:,2) .* data(:,3);

data(:,6) = round(logspace(3, 5, 50));

f = figure;

h = uiextras.HBoxFlex('Parent', f, 'Spacing', 5);

obj = DataFilterManager(h, data, varnames);

hTable = uitable(h, 'Data', data, 'ColumnName', varnames);

set_box_sizes(h, [-1 -2]);

set_box_sizes(h, [200 300], 'minimum');

addlistener(obj, 'Updated', @(src,evnt)set(hTable,'Data',data(src.FilterResult,:)));

Requires:

GUI Layout Toolbox

HG1 version (R2014a and earlier): https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/27758-gui-layout-toolbox

HG2 version (R2014b and later): https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/47982-gui-layout-toolbox