Viewing and working with iBridge chart items

Selecting an iBridge option combination

An iBridge option combination contains information, such as how the labels on links on the chart should be created from information in the database and connection multiplicity.

Select an option combination from the Association & Timeline Options drop-down list.

The available option combinations are:

Association - displays items added to the chart in an association chart. These show relationships between entities to illustrate how they are interconnected, rather than describing a chronology of events. For example: associations between individuals; transactions between accounts; calls between telephone numbers.
Timeline - displays items add to the chart in a timeline chart. These show a chronology of events over a period of time. For example, a series of meetings occurring over several days, a set of transactions occurring over a period of time.
Predefined - displays items added to the chart using settings in that have been predefined in iBridge Designer.

To specify the link labeling style and connection multiplicity to use, click Edit to the right of the drop-down list, and see Setting up Association and Timeline options.

Setting types to Include/Exclude

You can turn off the entity types and/or link types that you do not want to use on the chart.

Note: If a link type is turned off, then its end entities cannot be examined.

At the top of the Charting panel, click either (to filter entity types) or (to filter link types). The lists display the entity/link types in the iBridge database.

Note: Click the Reset Filters button to reset any filters that you have used to exclude entity and link types.
Turn on or off the check boxes for the entity/link types that you do want to use on the chart; turn on only the check boxes for the entity/link types for those records you want to examine. These display the entity or link types in the iBridge database.
For some operations, such as finding a path, you may prefer to turn on all the entity and link types.
Note: Filtering entity types has no effect when working with merged chart items because options such as Expand, Find Path, and Find Common Neighbors always act on all the entity types.
Click OK.

Working with records on a chart

Use the commands in the Charting panel, for example, to expand, explore and populate cards and to use queries, to filter the iBridge records that are displayed on a chart.


Command	Description
Expand	You can expand one or more iBridge entities on an Analyst's Notebook chart in order to chart their links and link end entities. The number of links and linked entities that are shown (the expansion levels), and the types that are shown, is determined by the current charting settings. By default, only the links from the selected entity and their link end entities are shown. Click Expand. This adds the entities and links to the current chart. The entities and links that are added are determined by the current charting settings. Click to the right of Expand and specify expansion settings. For mor information, seeSpecifying expand settings. For details about changing the charting settings, see above Filtering entity and link types. Alternative method Right-click on the iBridge entity and from the shortcut menu, select database > Expand or Expand to New Chart, where database is the name of your iBridge database.
Expand to New Chart	Click on this to expand the entities and links to a new chart.
Find Path	Finds the chain of intermediate links and entities that connect two entities on the chart, taking the link direction into account, and/or selecting the shortest path (depending how the charting settings are set). A path may not be found if the number of intermediate entities exceeds a preset maximum number. Click to the right of Find Path to specify the Find Path settings in the Find Path Options dialog. Note: If Follow direction is turned on in the Find Path Options dialog, then select the entities in the correct order—the first entity you select is the 'from' entity, the second entity you select is the 'to' entity. Alternative method Select the two entities that you want to find a path between, and: Right-click on one of the selected items and from the shortcut menu, select database > Find Path . If a path is found between the two entities, additional information regarding them is added to the chart. All the items are selected so you can tidy up the chart by dragging them to a new area of the chart. Note: If Follow direction is turned on in the Find Path Options dialog, then select the entities in the correct order—the first entity you select is the 'from' entity, the second entity you select is the 'to' entity.
Explore	Displays the selected items in the Explore window, allowing you to interactively browse through your database, expanding from one entity to the next. While you are exploring, you can choose to concentrate on specific entity and link types and ignore others. This can help to simplify the information you are trying to understand at any given time. See Exploring your database.
Find Connecting Links	Finds all the links that connect two or more entities on the chart. You can use this as a quick way of selecting multiple links between entities. The number to the right of the Find Connecting Links displays the number of items on the chart that are already connected. Alternative method Right-click on one of the selected entities and select database > Find Connecting Links , where database is the name of the iBridge database.
Find Common Neighbors	Finds any entities that have connecting links to two or more entities, or to all entities, on the chart (depending how the charting settings are set). Alternative method Right-click on one of the selected entities and select database > Find Common Neighbours, where database is the name of the iBridge database.
Populate Cards	Click on this to populate cards for item(s) selected on the chart. For more information, see Populating cards. Alternative method Right-click on a selected chart item, and from the shortcut menu, select database > Populate Cards, where database is the name of the iBridge database.
Filter by Query	You can filter the currently selected chart entities or links using either an existing iBridge query or a new one that you define specifically for this task. After filtering, only those items within the current selection that match the query conditions will remain selected on the chart. Click Filter by Query to display the Filter by Query dialog the currently selected chart entities or links using either an existing iBridge query or a new one. Either double-click on an existing query to run it, or click New Query and start a new query. Alternative method Select more than one chart item, and from the shortcut menu, select database > Filter by Query, where database is the name of the iBridge database. The Filter by Query dialog is displayed. Either, double-click on an existing query to run it or click New Query and start a new query (see Creating a query for details). When you click OK or Finish, only the entities that are in both the chart selection and in the results for the query remain selected on the chart. If there is no match, nothing is selected on the chart.

Working with records in the database

To add records to a set.


Command	Description
Add to Set	Displays the Add to Set dialog to add the selected item(s) to either a new or existing set. Either, click New to define a new set, or select the set that you want to chart and then do one of the following: If you want to review the contents of the set, click Open. Then, when you close the Set dialog, you are prompted to add the records to the current chart. If you do not want to review the set, click Chart. The records are added to the current chart. The entities remain selected so that you can, for example, reposition them on the chart. Alternative method Right-click on a chart item, and from the shortcut menu, select database > Add to Set, where database is the name of the iBridge database.

Viewing records

Use the commands in the View panel, for example, to select items from the current database, Show records, and edit item properties.


Command	Description
Select Items from Current Database	Selects all items on the chart that are in the currently-connected database.
Show	Click to display the Show dialog for a selected item, or the Show List dialog for more than one selected items. These are iBridge dialogs.
Edit Item Properties or Combined Properties	Click Edit Item Properties to display the Item Properties dialog for the selected item, or Combined Properties to display the Combined Properties dialog for more than one selected item. These are Analyst's Notebook dialogs.