The Model Manager Window
Use the Model Manager window to find versions of Models and Files by writing search expressions in the search field and clicking the Search button () or pressing Enter. You can write plain search words and any number of filter expressions using The Model Manager Search Syntax. Plain search words will match on the titles, descriptions, assigned tags, and filenames of versions.
You can also apply separate Item and Content Filters via The Filter Dialog Box. Select a filter from the Add Filter menu button () in the toolbar to open the dialog box. Applied filters are shown below the search field — see Applied Filter Pills.
The searched location is initially set to the Default Branch in the Default Repository, which means searching for the latest versions of models and files with respect to this branch. Click the top-right link button above the Search button () to select another location to search via the The Select Location Dialog Box.
To search among all versions ever saved in the database, click the expand button next to the Latest Versions for Location menu button () and select All Versions in Database (). You can also toggle between these two search modes by clicking the menu button itself — see Searching Versions for more details. To redo a previous search, select one of the entries in the Search History menu list () — see also Search History.
You can switch the presentation of the search result between either a Table View or a Tree View when Latest Versions for Location () is selected — the former primarily used when you want to quickly find a particular item and the latter when you want to browse a larger collection of items. Only the Table View is available when All Versions in Database () is selected.
You can change the sort field and sort order of the search result from the toolbar. Click the expand button next to the sort field button to select another sort field than the default Title () sort field — see also Sorting Search Results. The selected sort field and sort order for the Model Manager window is remembered between program sessions.
Searching and Filtering
If Model Manager detects that a commit has been saved on a searched branch, an information message () is displayed at the bottom of the Model Manager window. This includes both commits made by you from within the COMSOL Desktop, as well as commits made by your coworkers if connected to a server database. Either click the information message text itself or the Refresh button () to see any updated results.
The Model Manager Window Toolbar
The toolbar in the Model Manager window contains the following toolbar buttons:
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Click the Refresh button () to refresh the search result while keeping the search expression and applied filters unchanged.
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Click the Show More button () to include more matching models and files in the search result. The button is disabled when the Tree View is shown for a branch.
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Click the Search History menu button () to select a previous search that you want to redo.
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Click the Reset button () to clear the current search expression and applied filters.
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Click the Add Filter button () to apply a filter.
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Click the sort field button to toggle the sort order of the search result between ascending and descending order. Click the expand button to select another sort field.
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Click the Table button () to view the search result in a table. The button is disabled when All Versions in Database () is selected.
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Click the Tree button () to view the search result in a tree. The button is disabled when All Versions in Database () is selected.
Table View
The table view of the search result shows matching model and file versions in a table. For the Latest Versions for Location () search mode, the columns are:
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The type column — the type of the model or file represented by an icon. See Item Version Types and Item Save Types.
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The Title column — the title set for the model or file in that version.
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The Tags column — the tags set for the model or file with respect to the searched location.
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The Saved column — the time when the version was saved.
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The Saved By column — the name of the user that saved the version.
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The Owner column — the name of the user that owns the model or file.
For the All Versions in Database () search mode, the columns are:
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The type column — the type of the model or file represented by an icon. See Item Version Types and Item Save Types.
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The Title column — the title set for the model or file in that version.
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The Saved column — the time when the version was saved.
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The Saved By column — the name of the user that saved the version.
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The Owner column — the name of the user that owns the model or file.
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The Repository column — the repository the version was saved in.
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The Branch column — the branch the version was saved in.
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The Comments column — the optional comment provided when the version was saved.
A maximum of 100 versions that matched the search are initially included in the table. Click the Show More button () in the toolbar to append the next 100 matches to the list. You can set another value for this default page size in the Result Page Size field on the Model Manager page in the Preferences dialog box.
Using the Table View is recommended when you expect to find a small number of models and data files for your search expression and applied filters.
Tree View
The tree view of the search result shows matching model and file versions under their assigned tags in The Tag Tree. Given that an item may be assigned multiple tags, you can encounter the same model or file in multiple positions in the tree. Each model or file tree node shows the title set for the version, the time when the version was saved, and the name of the user that saved the version. The appearance and behavior of the tree differ somewhat depending on if you are searching item versions with respect to Branches or with respect to Snapshots or Commits, with the former typically offering a richer experience — see also Searching Latest Versions for Locations.
Using the Tree View is recommended when you expect to browse through a large search result of potentially thousands of items.
Searching in Branches
When searching in a branch, the tree view shows a count of the number of matching models and files found under each tag node within parentheses next to the tag’s title. If you have created a large number of tags in your database, the count may be shown first when you expand a tag node (with ellipses shown within parentheses until then).
If you have not written a search expression in the search field or added any filters, tags that are not assigned to any items are also included in the tree. This enables you to browse through all items in The Tag Tree — tags included. If there is a search expression or applied filter, tags are excluded from the tree if the count is known to be zero.
A maximum of 100 versions that matched the search are initially included under a tag tree node. When more results are available under a tag node, a Show More tree node () can be expanded to reveal the next 100 versions. You can set another value for this default page size in the Result Page Size field on the Model Manager page in the Preferences dialog box.
Searching in Snapshots and Commits
When searching versions in a snapshot or commit, the tree view shows the first 100 matching versions (sorted on title), irrespective of their assigned tags. You can append more search results to the tag tree until all matching versions have been fetched by repeatedly clicking the Show More button () in the toolbar.
There is a subtle difference between the tag tree shown in the tree view of the Model Manager window when searching in Snapshots and the corresponding tag tree shown in The Databases Tree. For the former tree, you only see the tags assigned to models and files that are included in the search result. This means that more and more tags may show up when you repeatedly click the Show More button () in the toolbar. Tags that are not assigned to any models or files will never show up. For the latter tree, you always see all tags at a fixed level when you expand a tree node.