Skip to main content

GetFieldSelections - chart function

GetFieldSelections() returns a string with the current selections in a field.

If all but two, or all but one of the values are selected, the format 'NOT x,y' or 'NOT y' will be used respectively. If you select all values and the count of all values is greater than max_values, the text ALL will be returned.

Syntax:  

GetFieldSelections ( field_name [, value_sep [, max_values [, state_name]]])

Return data type: string

Return string formats
Format Description
'a, b, c'

If the number of selected values is max_values or less, the string returned is a list of the selected values.

The values are separated with value_sep as delimiter.

'NOT a, b, c'

If the number of non-selected values is max_values or less, the string returned is a list of the non-selected values with NOT as a prefix.

The values are separated with value_sep as delimiter.

'x of y'

x = the number of selected values

y = the total number of values

This is returned when max_values < x < ( y - max_values).

'ALL' Returned if all values are selected.
'-' Returned if no value is selected.
<search string> If you have selected using search, the search string is returned.

Arguments:  

Arguments
Arguments Description
field_name The field containing the range of data to be measured.
value_sep The separator to be put between field values. The default is ', '.
max_values

The maximum number of field values to be individually listed. When a larger number of values is selected, the format 'x of y values' will be used instead. The default is 6.

state_name

The name of an alternate state that has been chosen for the specific visualization. If the state_name argument is used, only the selections associated with the specified state name are taken into account.

For more information, see Using alternate states for comparative analysis.

Examples and results:  

The following example uses the First name fieldloaded to a filter pane.

Examples and results
Examples Results

Given that John is selected in First name.

GetFieldSelections ([First name])

'John'

Given that John and Peter are selected.

GetFieldSelections ([First name])

'John,Peter'

Given that John and Peter are selected.

GetFieldSelections ([First name],'; ')

'John; Peter'

Given that John, Sue, Mark are selected in First name.

GetFieldSelections ([First name],';',2)

'NOT Jane;Peter', because the value 2 is stated as the value of the max_values argument. Otherwise, the result would have been John; Sue; Mark.

Data used in example:

Names:
LOAD * inline [
First name|Last name|Initials|Has cellphone
John|Anderson|JA|Yes
Sue|Brown|SB|Yes
Mark|Carr|MC|No
Peter|Devonshire|PD|No
Jane|Elliot|JE|Yes
Peter|Franc|PF|Yes ] (delimiter is '|');

Did this page help you?

If you find any issues with this page or its content – a typo, a missing step, or a technical error – let us know how we can improve!