LOV Filtering Recommendations

This is one of the recommendations for attribute and attribute groups. The full list is defined in the Attribute and Attribute Group Recommendations topic here.

Filtering a List of Values (LOV) can eliminate duplicate LOV values, while restricting the values available for selection based on the location of an object in the hierarchy, or based on the attribute using the LOV. However, this functionality can result in poor performance and be difficult to manage.

Avoid using LOV filters to enforce data population as the functionality is intended to support filtered end user selection rather than globally restricted data population. Specifically, when LOV filters are implemented, users are prevented from manually selecting values outside of the applicable filter.

For more information, refer to the Filtering LOVs topic in the System Setup documentation here.

The following sections discuss filters for LOVs that are set on the LOV itself or using the LOV attribute and hierarchical filtering.

Filtering on the LOV

The LOV itself can be filtered via the 'Value Filter' on the List Of Values, as defined in the Filtering LOV Values topic in the System Setup documentation (here) and shown in the table below. This enables you to define legal values based on the attribute using the LOV.

'Color' LOV Values	Legal Values for Attribute 1	Legal Values for Attribute 2
Green Red Yellow Blue White	Filter Includes Green Yellow White	Filter Includes Green Red Blue

Filtering on the LOV attribute and hierarchical filtering

The LOV attribute can be filtered via the Hierarchical Filtering parameter, as defined in the Filtering by Hierarchy on LOV Attributes topic in the System Setup documentation (here) and shown in the table below. This enables you to define legal values based on product and/or classification hierarchies.

'ColorLOV' Values	Legal Values for the 'Color' attribute on the Plastic Products Node	Legal Values for the 'Color' attribute on the Wood Products Node
Green Red Yellow Oak Mahogany	Filter Includes Green Red Yellow	Filter Includes Oak Mahogany

Note: Hierarchical LOV filtering operates as an intersection. This means that when a product is associated with multiple classifications, only the common values that are shared across all the filters within these classifications will be considered valid for the given product.

Recommendations

Export all attributes and attribute groups as STEPXML and in the output file search for HierarchicalFiltering="true" to review areas for improvement.

Avoid hierarchical filtering on product and classification hierarchy where possible since hierarchical filtering in both product and classification hierarchies can negatively affect performance.

Avoid using the 'Ignore LOV filters' option on the relevant product-to-classification link types. While it restricts which parts of the classification hierarchies are used for LOV filter inheritance, it can become difficult to manage.