Table of Contents
Last updated: 10/9/2024

Information filter


This section describes the concepts and usages of the ShareAspace Information Filter.

Information filter concept


An important concept to know about with regards to ShareAspace is the Information Filter. The information filter makes it possible for a user and/or application to know what access has been given and information on space context for which the filter is defined. The other part of the filter gives users / applications the possibility to define filtering rules for how data should be read, created, and updated when using the ShareAspace APIs. From the user space profile settings in the standard UI the user can setup the information filter. In other applications the information filter might be predefined for a certain role, thus not allowing the end-user to edit the filter (i.e. the information filter is hidden from the end-user).

A default filter can be requested from the ShareAspace API and when using ShareAspace APIs the information filter is passed as header information in order to apply the filtering on those API requests.

Information filter components


Basic information

The Information Filter has a set of information about the user and the user context for which the filter was defined.

This includes:

  • The user's email address
  • The current space name
  • Calculated Access, shows what kind of access the user has in participants (calculated)

You cannot edit the basic information of the information filter.

Filter object

The filter object is the configurable part of the information filter.

Effectivity filter

Most relationship objects in ShareAspace have something called an effectivity. The effectivity states when in time the relationship is valid for a certain effectivity role (usually Actual or Planned). Read more about the effectivity concept.

When setting the Effectivity Filter you are stating a point in time and a role (usually Actual or Planned) that should be used when filtering data and data navigations within ShareAspace. For example if you are navigating over a relationship with the effectivity role set you will only get data back if the effectivity role of your filter is matching the role of the effectivity of the relation. If you set the effectivity date in your filter, data will only be returned if the filter date falls within the span of the defined start date and end date of the effectivity of the relationship.

The information filter has a Mode that determines how the date inside the effectivity filter shall be handled. There are two modes:

  • Explicit, The Date i.e. the point in time, is explicitly set by the user.
  • Live, The Date is ignored and the current point in time i.e. the constant Now is used for every request.

The live mode is the default mode in ShareAspace. The information filter is enabled by default but can be disabled. When the information filter is disabled no data is filtered out and it is possible to navigate all relationships.

Id context filter

All identifiers within ShareAspace exist in the context of an Organization. Identifiable objects may have more than one identifier and those identifiers might have different organizational contexts. When setting the Id Context Filter (using the database id of an Organization) data fetched from ShareAspace will prioritize identifiers with that context.

Application context filter

Subtypes of Item have versions and the versions have definitions. The definitions exist in context of something called Application Context. In the Filter Object you can filter on one or more application context by setting the database ids of the application contexts that you want to filter on. When the application context filter is set, ShareAspace will only return definitional data of any sub type of Item or any relational/reference to a definition that matches the application context database ids in your filter object.

Owner filter

All product data within ShareAspace has a defined owner called a Participant. When the database id of a Participant is set on your Filter Object, ShareAspace will only return data owned by that Participant.

Applicability context filter

The ShareAspace PLM model has the capability to define applicability on a set of objects. The Applicability states the validity of the object in a given applicability context.

For instance, a Part-B is child of a Part-A only in the context of the Aircraft XYZ.

In the Information Filter, it is possible to filter data based on one or more Applicability Context found in the store and, when set, ShareAspace will only return data that has an applicability to the chosen applicability contexts.

This filter does not act on objects other than relationships.

Latest version filter

With ShareAspace, it is possible to configure "Latest Version" criteria for navigating "Version-To-Master" relationships and displaying the latest version according to those criteria.

In the Information Filter, it is possible to filter versions of a master object based on one "Latest version" predefined criteria and, when set, ShareAspace will only return the latest version if it matches the criteria.

By default, ShareAspace returns the latest version in the version sequence.