Grids

Select your view and perform common grid actions.

Views

The following views are available in the different modules.

View Description
Smart List View Each item is displayed as a formatted bar with its essential information. Some entities can be expanded to display more information, such as a test's steps. You can't select or move columns in the Smart List view.

Grid View

A standard grid of rows and columns listing your filtered items. This view allows you to choose and move columns.

 

Slim Grid View

A condensed grid with less vertical space between items.
Board View You can view items, such as epics, features, and backlog items, as cards on a board. For details, see The board view.

Timeline

A timeline Gantt chart for work items and their phases in the selected releases, also available for release processes and the process flows.

You can display the Timeline in the following view modes:

  • Grid view
  • Slim Grid View

For details, see Timeline view.

Tip: You can save your display settings as favorite views. For details, see Favorites.

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Filter options

You can apply several types of filters to grids:

Filter type Description
Workspace context

If you have access to more than one workspace, in the top banner, select the workspace context.

Program context

Enterprise Edition: 

In the Backlog module: If programs are defined, you can select the program context in the top banner. You can access multiple programs.

Note: After filtering features for a specific program, features that are not related to that program might be displayed. These features are indirectly related to a program, via their children. Filter for program with the Field filters if you want to display only items that are directly related.

Release context

In the Backlog and Team Backlog modules, select the release context from the top banner.

The Release drop down in the Backlog module is filtered according to the selected programs.

You can also filter by:

  • All releases. Items are displayed for all releases, including items with no release.

  • Any releases. Items are displayed for all releases, excluding items with no release.

  • No release. Only items with no release are displayed.

Note: After filtering for a specific release, additional items that are not related to that release might be displayed. These items probably are indirectly related to a release, via their children. Filter for release with the Field filters if you want to display only items that are directly related.

Sprint context

In the Dashboard, Backlog, and Team Backlog modules, select the sprint context from the top banner.

The sprints are listed in the following order: current, next sprints in ascending order, and past sprints.

Tip: Select [Current Sprint] to always filter the entities by the current sprint, even when the sprint number changes.

Field filters

You can filter the grid based on selected field values. For details, see Field filters.

Filter pane

The right pane's Filter tab lets you drill down using additional filters.

In the Filter pane, click the Choose Fields + button to select the fields by which you want to filter. Then, under each field, click + to select the values by which you want to filter.

With each specific field, you can:

  • Select or clear values individually.
  • Use the Select All or Select None options from the menu next to the field.

Show descendants

In the Backlog and Quality modules:

  • Show only direct descendants. Displays only children of the selected node in the Backlog or Application Modules tree.
  • Show all descendants. Displays all descendants of the selected node.

Show/hide indirect features

On the Backlog > Features page, below the grid.

Toggle whether the view should include only features assigned directly to the selections in the context filter, or also features associated with the filter via their backlog items.

  • Show only direct features. The grid lists only features that themselves match the context filter conditions (release/ sprint/ milestone/ program).
  • Show also indirect features. The grid lists features that themselves match the context filter conditions (release/ sprint/ milestone/ program), and also features with backlog items that match the context filter conditions.

    Features that are indirectly associated with the context filter through their backlog items are marked with .

By item in grid

Right-click an item in the grid, and then select the Filter by option.

Any previous filter for the field you are filtering by is replaced.

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Field filters

Field filters are available both in the filter bar and the filter sidebar. Both areas are synchronized.

  • To open the filter bar, click on the right of the toolbar.

  • To open the filter side pane, click the filter sidebar button .

Select a field, and define a filter condition.

Multiple value selection

ALM Octane evaluates field filters differently, according to the field type:

  • In single-value fields, such as Priority, if you select multiple values, the OR logic is applied: The filter is true if any of the values are found in an item.

  • In multi-value fields, such as Application Modules, environments or tags, if you select multiple values, the AND logic is applied: The filter is true only if all values are found in an item.

Cross-filters

When you select a field to filter by, the value usually applies to the field's name attribute. For example, if you filter defects by their related features, the basic way of identifying the features is by selecting them by their names.

With a cross filter, you can filter on a variety of the field’s other attributes. For example, you can list all the defects that belong to features that you are following, by selecting the feature's Followed by me field in the cross filter.

Look out for the cross-filter arrow button alongside the fields that support cross filtering.

Filter sidebar shortcuts

Use the following mouse and keyboard shortcuts to select field values in the filter sidebar:

Shortcut Action
Left click Toggles field value on/off.
Ctrl+left click When clicking on a deselected field value, selects the value and simultaneously clears all the other values.
Right click

Sets the field value with the Not equal to operator.

Notes:

  • You can filter by multiple IDs, by separating IDs with commas:

  • Filtering is not possible on memo or long string fields.
  • Add more fields to the filter condition, using the AND or OR operator.

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Choose columns

You can select the columns displayed in grid views and their order. Use the Choose columns button to select the columns you want to display in the grid. Drag the columns to change their position.

You can also display cross fields. Cross fields are properties of one of the item's fields.

Example: Feature is a field in backlog items. In the Backlog Items grid, you can select to display the feature's Phase or Priority fields.

To select cross fields, click on the cross-field icon alongside supported fields, and select a field from the sub-menu:

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Sort

In Grid View or Slim Grid View, you can sort the displayed items in several ways:

To sort by displayed columns:

  1. In Grid View or Slim Grid View, click a column header to sort the items by that field's values.
  2. Click again to reverse the sort order.
  3. Shift-click another field to sub-sort by that field.

To sort by any field:

  • In Grid View, Slim Grid View and Smart List View, click the Sort toolbar button and select a field to sort by.
  • Select up to three fields to sort and sub-sort by.
  • Click the direction icon in each selected field to reverse the sort order.

Note:  

  • Sorting is not possible on memo fields, long string fields, or multi-select fields.
  • Sorting by Rank allows you to reorder entities in Grid View or Slim Grid View, by drag and drop. If this column is hidden, show it to enable reordering by rank.

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Assign colors

To help break up the visual number of entities on the board or grid, create color codes based on filters. You can save the color preferences as a Favorite.

Color preferences can be applied to:

  • Epics, features, and backlog items
  • Release processes and their items

To assign colors based on filters:

  1. Click the Assign color button. The Assign color dialog box opens.
  2. Click the + Add Filter button and define a filter that you want to apply a color to.
  3. From the Select color drop-down menu, select a color, and click Apply.

    The filter colors are displayed as left vertical colored bars on the relevant items.

  4. To save the color settings as an attribute of a favorite, use the Favorites menu. For details, see Grids.

Note: If a work item matches multiple color conditions, the first color condition assigned will be the one applied to the item.

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Group

Group using one of the following options:

  • Click the Group By button, and select a field to group by. Select up to three fields to group and sub-group by.
  • Click the down arrow in the column header, and select the Group by option.

    Grouping this way overrides any previous grouping you have made.

If you sorted your view, items within each group are sorted accordingly.

Fields to group by

  • You can group system fields of type String, List , Release, Team, and User.
  • You can group user-defined fields of type List , Release, Team, and User.
  • Grouping is possible on multi-select fields.

Cross-field grouping

Depending on your context, some fields enable cross-field grouping by related entities, in addition to standard grouping. This is indicated by a link dropdown icon next to the field name.

For example, within the Backlog grid you can group backlog items by the owner of their related feature:

Cross-field grouping is available in grids, boards, and summary graphs. Each context enables specific cross-grouping, based on performance considerations.

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See also: