Is it possible to either view on screen or generate a list of all the items in all grids?
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I have a grid called 'All' which shows every item in every grid in the notebase.
My first attempt had a 'Custom Source' field which tested if the item existed or not and every item which exists returned a True result.
But actually it's easier than that, if you leave the 'Custom Source' field blank then SQL assumes True so just define a new grid with a custom source field and leave the field blank then every item in the notebase will appear in that grid.
Thanks for replying so quickly, but I'm afraid I don't quite follow - I'm completely new to IQ - I can get as far as creating a new grid and I know how to add fields to it, but I don't understand how to create the custom source field.
I'm not surprised you are having problems the dialog box has a function other than just create a new grid and some of the useful functionality is hidden, once you know where it is then it becomes clear but to a new user who has not seen it before it is confusing. I had problems with this at first.
The very first entry in the 'Grid' menu is 'New Grid ...', click on this and a dialog box opens with two options. You can either open an existing grid or create a new grid. Don't ask me why the option to open an existing grid is shown in the dialog to create a new grid, it seems couter intuitive to me.
Next to the 'Grid Name:' drop down is a small un-named button with a down arrow and an ellipsis '...' this is the button you want. The button reveals two options 'Copy an existing grid' and 'Set a Custom grid source'.
If you set a custom grid source then you can select from a host of fields or enter an SQL select query in the box. To select all items in the notebase just leave it blank. Put the name of your new grid in the 'Grid Name:' box and press OK.
The dialog box would be more obvious if the two selection buttons were already visible and not hidden behind a button with no name, there is room.
Many thanks Paul - I have now found the custom grid source! I wasn't quite sure what I was leaving blank - but managed to get a list of all items by selecting Item from the list of fields.
First a warm welcome from all of us in the IQ community.
Grids are views inside your IQBase. Much like a browser showing a specific web page from the zillions out there.
To know what items to show, it uses an "address", like your web browser, the address is a field, a tag, or a combination of.
When you create a grid, it silently creates a field of the same name. All main items you create in this grid will have a value for this field, basically a checkmark, to indicate that that item is to be shown in that grid
To remove an item from a grid, there are many ways, but one is simply to remove the field checkmark for that item
That's the general concept.
Once a grid is created, you can still change the source (i.e. the items shown), to do that:
Grid > Show Source bar (or click on the folder icon at the top left of the grid)
The Grid source label (shown at the top of the grid) will switch to a set of 3 edit boxes: Source, Filter, Sort
The Source edit box has a dropdown button which list the list of fields
The first entry is [All items]. Select it and press Enter (it basically sets the source to blank, meaning all items (as Paul correctly stated)
Grids have a number of display modes, each are useful, depending on the situation. When showing all items, I recommend Flat list with context parents off
Many thanks Pierre. All the info is really helpful. IQ looks to be very powerful, but I think it will take me a while to figure out how it all works. I'll look at the links you mentioned and then take a look at the book review example - after which I will hopefully understand a bit more!
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