Within Grid View, the contents type indicates the eXpress design element type (objects, output functions, tests, etc.) that will be used to fill out the rows within the grid (as opposed to the selected design elements from which the row data will be taken when the grid is populated). Suppose, for example, that the grid is to be populated based on three selected objects. If "Ports" were selected as the contents type, then the grid will be filled with one row for each port on those three objects.

 

The contents type is specified using the Contents Type dropbox on the Grid Control panel. The options listed in this dropbox are dependent upon the type of design element selected (for instance, ports can be displayed when objects are selected, but not when tests are selected). When no design elements are selected, the Contents Type dropbox will allow the Analyst to select from any of the design element types supported within Grid View. The following example shows the Grid View contents types that are available when one or more objects are selected:

 

 

Because objects have been selected for display within Grid View, the Contents Type dropbox only allows the Analyst to select from element types that are associated with objects. If the Analyst were to select "Failure Modes" from this list, the grid would be populated with all failure modes that have been defined on just the selected objects.

The following types of design entities can be used to populate the rows within Grid View: