Calculating a distance can only be done once two or more ports have been specified in the Route Builder window and with port names frequently having more than one spelling it may appear that the port required is not included in the available ports list. The Ports Data Grid can help identify the port required by any combination of searching, sorting and grouping the available ports and then having located the one required, directly adding it to the Route Builder.
The Ports Data Grid lists the name, country and location of ports. The list includes ports not included within the Distance Tables but can be restricted to Distance Table ports only by setting the "Distance Table Ports Only" on the Drop Down Menu on the Options button.
In this example, St Vincent in the Cape Verde Islands was located by filtering on those ports whose name contains the letters 'vinc'.
Then, having located the required port, right-click on that row in the grid and click the 'Add Selected port to voyage' option on the context menu that is displayed.
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For those ports not currently included in the Distance Tables, indicated by the grey row background and a No in the 'In DT' column, the option to add the nearest Distance Table port to the voyage will be enabled. The option will indicate the name of the nearest port and both are displayed on the map to give an indication of the proximity of the Distance Tables port to the required port.
In some cases, using the nearest port may give an approximate distance that is close enough, but if a more accurate distance is required, then the Route Editing capabilities of the software can be used to adjust the route.
That scenario is explained in more detail and illustrated with a video in the 'Distance to a port not in the Distance Tables' help topic.
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Using a Filter
Within the data grid itself, the ports listed can be further restricted in a number of ways.
Most simply by just entering a few characters within the "Filter" text box, the ports listed are restricted to those whose names or country name includes the entered text or whose name begins with the entered text.
The behaviour is controlled by the menu item 'Displayed Ports Contain Filter Value' on the Options drop down menu.
Filtering ignores punctuation or special characters that may be used in port or country names, so 'mina al' would also match 'mina-al' and 'USA' would also locate any name including 'U.S.A.' |
Using Column Filtering
Those columns which permit the filtering of the data are indicated by the graphic at the right hand side of the column header. The position columns, Lat and Lon cannot be filtered or grouped.
Unlike the name filter mentioned above, when using Column Filtering, the text matching is exact, so filtering on the Name Contains U.K. or UK will produce different results.
The port name column filter allows up to two conditions to be entered.
The condition is selected from the drop down list and can be one of a number of conditions, e.g. Starts With, Contains etc.
If a second condition is specified, the ports listed either have to match both conditions if the 'And' option is selected or match either option if 'Or' is selected.
In the example shown here, the ports included are those whose names 'Start with' a letter 'A' and 'contain' the letters 'p o r t'.
Whether or not the filter condition is case sensitive or not is determined by the state of the 'aA' button.
Click Filter to apply the restriction and 'Clear Filter' to remove it. The filter criteria panel remains displayed until closed by clicking the button at it's top right corner. |
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For Country Names, the same textual filter as for Port Names can be used, but additionally, because there is a finite list of country names, the distinct values are listed and the check box to the left of the country name can be used to selected whether or not to include ports in that Country.
In the example shown here, the list has been restricted to ports in Denmark or Sweden, only the latter actually being visible in the list.
The list has additionally been restricted to only those ports included in the Distance Tables.
To remove the individual Country restrictions, click the Select All option at the top of the list. |
Using Column Grouping
By checking the Group Panel and Footer Panel items on the Options button drop down menu a panel is displayed above the ports grid and the Country column header can be dragged and dropped onto that area to Group the ports listed by their countries. The Footer Panel displays the number of ports displayable.
Individual country groups can be expanded and collapsed as required by clicking the buttons to the left of the Country Name. In addition to the Country name, the number of ports in that country is displayed.
In the example shown, the Footer Panel has also been enabled which displays the number of ports listed. |