Selecting Tagged Elements

One of the most useful aspects of attaching tags is that you can easily select groups of elements whose tag values are equal to or fall within (or on either side) of a specified range.

General Procedure — To use tag values as selection criteria

1. From the Edit menu, choose Select By Attributes.
   The Select By Attributes dialog box opens. The second option menu in the Mode section should be set to Selection.


2. (Optional) Use the controls in the Select By Attributes dialog box to specify selection criteria based on graphical element attributes such as color and type.


3. Click the Tags button.
   The Select By Tags dialog box opens.


4. Use the controls in the Select By Tags dialog box to specify selection criteria based on tag values.


5. In the Select By Attributes dialog box, make sure the second and third Mode options are set to Selection and On, respectively (the defaults), and then click Execute.
   The elements meeting the specified selection criteria are selected and bracketed with handles.



The second Mode option determines the effect of the Execute button. Choose Location to locate (highlight) elements; choose Display to filter their display based on their tag values.

The display of tagged elements in attached references can be filtered based on their tag values, but these elements cannot be selected or located based on their tag values.

To specify selection criteria based on tag values

1. In the Select By Tags dialog box, select a tag name in the Tag list box.


2. In the Operator list box, select an operator, such as equal to or greater than.


3. In the Expression field, key in a value that is valid for the tag selected in the Tag list box.


4. Click Insert.
   The first criterion displays and is automatically selected in the Criteria list box.


5. (Optional) If you want to specify additional criteria and the next criterion is not mutually exclusive to the first, click the Or button.


6. (Optional) Repeat steps 1-4 for each additional criterion you want to specify. For each newly specified criterion that is not mutually exclusive to the next, select the new criterion in the Criteria list box, and click the Or button.

If selection criteria based on tag values are specified, elements that do not have attached tags with the specified tag name(s) are not selected.