Viewing Category Browser

 Organizing Search Results by Category

About Category Browser

Category Browser is a graphical view of the categories available in the CES.  You can use VPM Lifecycle Navigator Web's Relationship Navigator window to view and understand the hierarchy of the categories in order to narrow your search.  By narrowing your search, you can simplify the search process and save time.  The Category Browser allows you to do the following:

  • Expand the category hierarchy to see the available categories and how they are related.
  • View the attributes present in each category in the hierarchy.
  • Enter attribute values and perform a search on a particular category and its sub-categories.

For Engineering processes, you can use Category Browser to do the following:

  • Identify a list of categories available in the source database.
  • Locate a design-specific category.
  • Navigate through the hierarchy to locate sub-categories of a category.
  • Launch a search to find a part.

For sourcing processes, you can use Category Browser to do the following:

  • Find a list of suppliers for a specific category
  • Find a list of manufacturers for a specific category
  • Locate a category to find internal organization structure.

When using Category Browser

  • When you expand a node within the hierarchy, all child nodes of that node appear.
  • To boost performance, the Category Browser does not automatically open all nodes in the category tree.  By default, only the first level categories appear.  The other nodes are opened only "on demand" when you double-click them.
  • It is possible for you to view the search results of each category in the Search Results window if the category is an intermediate or a leaf category.  However, folder categories do not have this capability.

Accessing Relationship Navigator: Category Browser

Within CES, there are many methods of accessing the Category Browser window. To complete the scenario below, select one of the following methods to access the Category Browser window:
 
If You Are Using the... Then...

Favorites Pane

  1. In the Favorites pane, expand the Enovia Sourcing node. 

  2. Select the Classification Browser node.

  3. Right-click, and select Add to Navigator from the shortcut menu.

Main Access Area
  1. From the Main Access Area (Quick Search) select CES from the Source drop-down menu.

  2. Select Category from the Type drop-down menu.

  3. In the search attribute field, type in a description for the category for which you want to search (you can enter the entire category name or only a partial entry).

  4. Click the Search button to display the Search Results window.

  5. Select the category you want to display in Category Browser, right-click, and select Add to Navigator from the shortcut menu.

Properties Window
  1. From the Properties window, click the Add to Navigator button.

How To Use Category Browser

You can access Relationship Navigator: Category Browser using any of the methods listed above.  The procedure below explains how to work with an item in Relationship Navigator: Category Browser starting from the Favorites Pane.
  1. From the Favorites Pane, expand the Enovia Sourcing node, select Classification Browser, right-click, and select Add to Navigator from the shortcut menu.  Category Browser is added to the Relationship Navigator window.

     

  2. In the Relationship Navigator: Category Browser window, you can expand the category nodes to display all the child categories that exist beneath the main category in two different ways.  By clicking the relationship node, you can select to display the category's children by clicking the OK button, or by clicking the  node, you can expand all the child objects individually - one level at a time.

     

     

  3. Each of these nodes are called Categories, and they contain item and company information that exist within your organization, and that are categorized into logical divisions based on your company's internal process.  For example, you may categorize nuts and bolts into a category called "fasteners", and then further define that category by creating sub-categories that specify size and thread specifications.  You can continue to expand each category manually until you reach your destination.  You can also search on the listed categories.

  4. To search on the listed categories, select a node in the category tree, right-click, and select Search Category from the shortcut menu.  The Advanced Access window appears.

     

  5. In the Advanced Access window, you can filter your search by defining the criteria of the displayed attributes.  The attributes displayed will change based on the leaf of the category that you select for your search.  Each category leaf inherits its attributes from its parent leaf, therefore, the further you drill down into the categories when conducting your search, the more attributes that will be available in the Advanced Access window.

  6. Notice that you also have the capability to conduct your search on either the selected category (in this example, the Audio category), or you can choose to conduct your search on all the categories listed by selecting the All Category option.  For this scenario, allow the search to remain in the Audio category.  Define your search by adding criteria in the attribute fields, and click the Search button to conduct the search.  The Search Results window appears with all items that belong to the selected category that match the defined criteria.

  7. Select the item that you want to view in Category Browser from the Search Results window, right-click, and select Add to Navigator from the shortcut menu.  The item is added to Category Browser.

  8. Now that the object is visible in the Relationship Navigator window, notice that you can obtain all the property information about the object by simply hovering over the object with your mouse.  A window will appear that will display all the properties of the object.

The Relationship Navigator: Category Browser Window

This section describes the Relationship Navigator: Category Browser window:

This table describes all the fields that appear in the Relationship Navigator: Category Browser window.

Fields Description
Find Searches for the objects in Relationship Navigator based on the criteria entered.

This table describes all the buttons that appear in the Relationship Navigator: Category Browser window.

Button Menu Name Description
Reset View Indicates the zoom level of the graph.  Resets the view of the graph back to 100% in Relationship Navigator.
Zoom In Enlarges the size of objects up to 400% in Relationship Navigator.
Zoom Out Decreases the size of objects down to 25% in Relationship Navigator.
Zoom All Fits all objects in the Relationship Navigator window.
Show Overview Provides you with an overview of the objects that you have added to Relationship Navigator in a separate window.  You can also resize the Show Overview window.

The Show Overview window is helpful particularly when you have a large number of objects in your Relationship Navigator session, or you have enlarged your objects to expand beyond the window.  In this case, the Overview window displays a small box, which can help you in navigating the objects and their relationships.

You can click inside the box to move it around in the Overview window.  when you do this, your view in the Relationship Navigator changes accordingly.

Clear the Graph Removes all of the objects that are currently displayed in the Relationship Navigator window.  This removal does not delete the objects from the database, but only removes the objects from the navigation window.
Refresh the Graph The Relationship Navigator window is updated with changes made to the object tree.
Save Current Graph Session
  • Provides you with the ability to save your graph session.
  • Creates a MySession folder in the Favorites view, if one doesn't already exist.
  • Allows you to save your sessions for later viewing.
Generate Reports Provides you with the ability to generate reports on the current graph, based on the root object.