Function Repository Resource:

SelectByCurrentValue

Source Notebook

Efficiently select from a list of front end objects

Contributed by: Richard Hennigan (Wolfram Research)

ResourceFunction["SelectByCurrentValue"][{obj₁,obj₂,…},key]

gives a list of the obj_i where CurrentValue[obj_i,key] would yield True.

ResourceFunction["SelectByCurrentValue"][{obj₁,obj₂,…},key,func]

gives a list of the obj_i where func[CurrentValue[obj_i,key]] would yield True.

Details and Options

The obj_i can be any mix of the following:

NotebookObject[…]

a currently open notebook

CellObject[…]

a cell in an open notebook

BoxObject[…]

a particular box in a cell

$FrontEndSession

an object representing settings for the current front end session

$FrontEnd

an object representing global settings for the front end

When using the option setting Absolute→True, ResourceFunction["SelectByCurrentValue"] will use AbsoluteCurrentValue instead of CurrentValue.

Examples

Basic Examples (3)

Select all the evaluatable cells in the current notebook:

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Find cells with a large font size:

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Get only the notebooks that are currently visible:

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Scope (3)

Lists can be used to specify nested values:

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Select notebooks by values of TaggingRules:

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The given list can contain a mixture of front end object types:

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Options (2)

Absolute (2)

CurrentValue reports some values as Automatic:

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Set Absolute→True to use AbsoluteCurrentValue instead:

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Applications (2)

Find cells in the current notebook that have been modified in the past 60 seconds:

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View the contents of the cells:

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Properties and Relations (1)

SelectByCurrentValue is typically much faster than using Select with CurrentValue:

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Possible Issues (1)

Some objects inherit values from their parent object, even when not a valid option for that object type:

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Neat Examples (3)

Save the corresponding BoxObject for each Dynamic expression in a list:

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Get the boxes:

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Enlarge the green ones:

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Create a dynamic search filter for a notebook:

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$applyFilter[notebook_, ""] := CurrentValue[Cells[notebook], CellOpen] = True; applyFilter[notebook_, search_] := Module[{cells, show}, cells = Cells[notebook]; show = ResourceFunction["SelectByCurrentValue"][ cells, {TaggingRules, "FilterWord"}, Or @@ StringStartsQ[#1, search, IgnoreCase -> True] &]; CurrentValue[show, CellOpen] = True; CurrentValue[Complement[cells, show], CellOpen] = False; ];$