Give one test to many properties
- Right-click a rule in the table. The menu has Copy, Duplicate, Same test for more properties… and Delete. From the keyboard, focus one of the rule's cells and press the context menu key, or Shift F10.
- Choose Same test for more properties…. A list opens under the rule, headed "Same test as" and the rule's property, with the test in words: its data type, its value and its need.
- Choose a tab: In this model, Standard sets or Paste names. Type in Find a property to narrow the list.
- Tick the properties that should get the test. The properties are listed by property set. Tick a set's box to tick every property of it that has no rule yet.
- Choose the button, which says how many rules it adds, for example "Add 20 rules", or "Add 20 rules, change 2". The new rows are marked, and a note says how many were added with the property's test.
- Choose Undo, or press Ctrl Z, to take all of it back in one step.
What the list shows
- Properties that fit the test come first. The others wait under one closed line, for example "196 more that are not Yes or No properties". A Yes or No property takes only the test "Exactly this", so a rule that asks for one of a list does not fit it.
- A property that already has this test is greyed out and says "has this test".
- A property that has another rule starts unticked and says "has a rule · tick to change it". Tick it and the new test replaces that rule.
- Paste names takes one name per line, or straight from Excel. A bare name is looked up in every set of the model and of the standard, and Set.Property names one set. A name that is not found offers the nearest one.
Each new rule is an ordinary row, one rule for each property, because an IDS file keeps one rule per property. Its Applies to follows the property's own set, for example Doors for Pset_DoorCommon. A property in the same set as the rule you started from copies that rule's Applies to and conditions.
The kinds of test
A test is one of these kinds: Has a value, Set is there, every property filled, Yes or No, One of a list, Matches a pattern, Number between, Exactly this, May be empty (Optional) and Must not be there. "Warn only, never fail" goes with any of them. A kind only fills the Data type, Value and Need cells of a rule, so you can still change them by hand afterwards.
One test for a whole set
- Group the table by Property set. Each set's line shows "Test:" and its kind, for example "Test: Has a value", and "· 2 own" when some of its rules have another kind of test.
- Choose the chip. It lists the kinds, each with how many rules have it now. For One of a list, Matches a pattern, Number between and Exactly this a value field opens in the same pop-up, with the model's values as suggestions.
- "Keep the 2 rules with their own test" is ticked at first. Untick it to give the test to those rules too. Properties the kind does not fit are named and skipped, for example "Skips IsExternal: a Yes or No property takes only Exactly this."
- Choose the button, which says how many rules it sets. Choose Undo to take it back.
- To add properties to the set with its test, choose + Add properties beside "+ New rule in" at the end of the set's rules. It opens the same list, limited to the set.