Hierarchies

Hierarchies allow the CADMATIC object browser to construct hierarchical views into any data that is stored in COS databases. Although hierarchies may look like the directories (folders) of a traditional file system, hierarchies are more flexible and, most importantly, they are not physical locations like file folders are. In a file system, there is only one directory tree and a file can only be located in exactly one directory, whereas with hierarchies you can have multiple hierarchical structures that show the same database object in different ways.

Since hierarchies are not actual folders, you can delete a hierarchy without affecting the objects that it contains. From another perspective, if an object is not displayed in a given hierarchy, it does not necessarily mean that the object does not exist.

There are two types of hierarchies: dynamic and static.

• Dynamic hierarchies are like queries in that they are based on the attribute values of the database object; the hierarchies are dynamically updated as new objects are created or the attributes of existing objects are changed.

• Static hierarchies only display the objects that you specifically assign to the hierarchy.