OBO-Edit: The Filtering System

The OBO-Edit filtering system allows for the specification of filters that can pick out ontology terms, ontology links, or parts of a term or link. This system is used all over OBO-Edit to specify searches, filter the ontology for saving, configure autocompletion boxes, and many other tasks.

Note that the OBO-Edit filtering system is distinct from the OBO-Edit querying system. The filtering system provides a framework for picking out ontology items, but it says nothing about how this system should be used. The querying system provides a framework for actually using the filtering system, including tools for doing fast cached queries over the ontology, wrapping search results to include extra useful information, etc. The querying system is largely independent of the filtering system, although there are bridge classes that allow the querying system to use parts of the filtering system when constructing queries.

The Filtering System

Java Particulars

The filtering system is defined in the org.geneontology.oboedit.gui.filters package.

The Basics

All filters ultimately inherit from the