Learning Objectives

After completing this lesson, you’ll be able to:

• Explain the basic function of the AttributeFilter transformer.
• Explain the basic function of the AttributeRangeFilter transformer.
• Explain the basic function of the GeometryFilter transformer.

AttributeFilter

The AttributeFilter transformer directs features by values in a chosen attribute. It is not a binary test (Yes/No) but a way to separate many values for a single attribute, for example:

• Is that road an Arterial, Collector, NonCity, Other, Private, Residential, or Secondary?

You would have to use seven Tester transformers to separate this data, so using a single AttributeFilter saves space on the workspace canvas.

Use the Import... button to add attributes from existing datasets quickly.

In almost every scenario using multiple Tester transformers, it's possible to use a different filtering transformer to achieve the same result but using much less space on the canvas.

The AttributeFilter also works with numeric values; however, its only "operator" is to find equivalency (=), so you will rarely use it for arithmetical tests. In that scenario, the better solution is the AttributeRangeFilter.

AttributeRangeFilter

The AttributeRangeFilter carries out the same operation as the AttributeFilter, except it can handle a range of numeric values instead of just a simple one-to-one match.

For example, we might want to separate data based on a range of snowfall values, like so:

Notice that the AttributeRangeFilter parameters dialog has a Generate... button to generate ranges automatically from a set of user-defined extents.

GeometryFilter

The GeometryFilter directs features based on geometry type, for example, point or area:

It can even filter data based on null geometry (tabular records):

The GeometryFilter is helpful for:

• Filtering out unwanted geometry types; for example, removing non-linear features before using an AreaBuilder transformer
• Validating geometry against a list of permitted types, for example, where the dataset is constrained to either point or area features (above)
• Dividing up geometry types to write to separate destination feature types; for example, when writing to a geometry-restricted format such as Esri Shapefile

Which Transformer Should I Use?