2.2 Cases

The objects of the knowledge domain (i.e. the decision alternatives), which are called cases in Doctus, are listed on the «Cases» pane. Each case has a name and a case feature for each attribute to categorize the case according to the aspect represented by the attribute.

Figure R-8: The competitor ‘1’ has some done works. This is vertical view.

A case feature can be:

• normally a value of the corresponding attribute,
• an empty cell representing “Unknown”,
• a star (‘*’) representing “Don’t care”,
• or a splitted cell representing a feature that is distributed by the probabilities of more values.

2.2.1 View

2.2.1.1 Description

Choose «Description» from the menu «View». The description (R-2.1.1.1) of the attribute or the value selected by the cursor position is displayed.

2.2.1.2 Customize

Choose «Customize» from the menu «View».

Figure R-9: Customize «Cases» pane

This dialog controls the appearance of the «Cases» pane. Following switches are supported:

• Vertical – Cases are presented as rows by default, built of the case features. If «Vertical» is checked, cases appear as columns.
• Wrap – Rows of case features can be very wide if numerous attributes shown. «Wrap» wraps these rows, so cases are divided into more rows, and more attributes take place in the same column. Always the cases are wrapped, so the columns, if «Vertical» is on.
• Attribute Type Flags – The small icons showing the attribute type on the right of the attribute names can be enabled or disabled by this switch.
• AutoFit Text – Cell widths are adjusted automatically to the width of the cell text if this checkbox is on.

In addition it can be controlled, which attributes are shown on this pane.

• All – All attributes.
• Selected – Attributes selected by the list box on the right. All attributes of the same type can be selected by checking the appropriate checkbox on the left of the list box. If none of list box items are selected, the mode «All» is activated.
• Current – The currently selected attribute.

Tip: If only the currently selected attribute is shown, press «Ctrl-Up» and «Ctrl-Down» to step it without leaving this pane.

2.2.2 Edit

2.2.2.1 Create Cases

Move cursor to the left head and type the name of the case. Leave cell with «Tab» or «Enter», and enter the case features (R-2.2.2.2).

2.2.2.2 Enter case features

Move cursor to, or select cells to set to the same value, then follow actions in the next to set case features to:

• an exact value – Choose a value from the context menu or press the key ‘1’ for the first value, ‘2’ for the second one, and so on.
• Unknown – Leave the cell blank, choose «Delete Value» from the «Edit» or context menu, or press «Del».
• Don’t Care – Choose «Set to Don’t Care» from the «Edit» or context menu, or press «*».
• a value distribution – Choose «Distribute» from the «Edit» or context menu and set the rate (R-2.2.2.3),

Tip: To collect values of the attributes during the case features input, set Automatic Values (R-2.1.2.8.3) of the attributes to «Flexible», and paste textual data from the clipboard. For manual input choose «Edit» from the context menu and type the value name, even if it is a new one. The undefined values will be added to the attribute.

Advanced: The case features for dependent attributes can be set only by reasoning, though they can be cleared manually by choosing «Delete Value» from the menu «Edit» or from the context menu. Purpose of this is to purge possibly invalid reasoned case features from the knowledge base.

2.2.2.3 Enter distributed case feature

Choose «Distribute» from the «Edit» or context menu.

Figure R-10: This case feature is set to ‘some’ and ‘mean’ in the rate of 1/3 to 2/3.

Following columns are displayed:

• Left head – Attribute name is shown on the top and the left lists its values of which the distribution rate can be set.
• Count – The rate numerator of the value. This value can be overwritten manually. The denominator can be set below the table.
• Rate – The rate of the value in probability form, which is within 0...1. This value can be also overwritten manually.
• Bar indicator – The graphical indicator of the rate. Select the cell, and use slider below to set it.

If «Keep Together» is checked, the rate of all values but the modified one are kept in their original proportion so, that the sum of the rates remains. In other words while the rate of a value increases, the other ones proportionally decreases and vice versa.

2.2.2.4 Rename Cases

Type the new name on the head cell and leave it. The case is renamed.

2.2.2.5 Insert Case

Choose «Insert Case» from the «Edit» or context menu. A new case is inserted before the current one with a default name. Type the new name to overwrite it and leave the cell. Input its features (R-2.2.2.1).

2.2.2.6 Delete Case

Select the rows (or columns if vertical is view is chosen) of cases to delete and choose «Delete Case» from the «Edit» or context menu, or press «Del». The selected cases are deleted.

2.2.2.7 Move Case

Select rows of cases (or columns if vertical is view is chosen) to move, grip the selection at its border, drag and drop it. The cases are reordered.

2.2.2.8 Move Attribute

Select columns of attributes (or rows if vertical is view is chosen) to move, grip the selection at its border, drag, and drop it. If all attributes are shown, the attributes are reordered, like it would be done on the «Attributes» pane. If selected (R-2.2.1.2) attributes are shown, only the showing order is changed.

For other selections the normal text mode move (R-3.6) is active.

2.2.2.9 Paste External Data

Copy cells of a spreadsheet application or of a text processor to the clipboard. Switch to Doctus. Move cursor to the upper left cell of the «Cases» pane, and choose «Paste External Data» from the menu «Edit». External data is imported from the clipboard. Values are collected for flexible (R-2.1.2.8.3) attributes, and numeric input is clustered for numeric (R-2.1.2.8.4) attributes.

Technical: The clipboard format that is internally used to copy cells is a «Tab» delimited textual form. It is supported by a number of spreadsheet applications and text editors, so they can be used to prepare external data to import.

Advanced: Clustered attributes with multiple dimensions need more than one column, actually one for each dimension.

2.2.2.10 Sort

Select column of attributes to sort by in precedence order, and choose «Sort» from the menu «Edit». Cases are sorted by the selected attributes.

2.2.3 Examine

2.2.3.1 Search Value Combination

Choose «Value Combination» from the menu «Search». This dialog is opened:

Figure R-11: Searching for the competitors of which ‘Tender’ is ‘fair’ at least.

Select table cells of values to search for in the dialog. Select more values of an attribute to search for all of those values (relation ‘or’). Select none or all values of an attribute to omit the attribute from the search criteria. Select values of more attributes to filter by more attributes (relation ‘and’). All cases with the chosen values are selected.

2.2.3.2 Search Factors

Choose «Factors» from the menu «Search». All factor attributes of the current one are selected.

2.2.3.3 Search Explanation

Move cursor to a case feature of a dependent attribute. Choose «Explanation» from the menu «Search». The «Rules» pane is activated and the rule is selected, which by the case feature is reasoned (R-2.2.4.1).

2.2.4 Manage

2.2.4.1 Deductive Reasoning

Choose «Deductive Reasoning» from the menu «Knowledge Management». All case features of all dependent attributes are overwritten by values that are reasoned by the appropriate rules. If not all attributes are shown, the decision attributes are enabled to show the resulted case features.

The reasoning can be limited by selecting certain cells. Only the selected cells are reasoned.

Advanced: It is not ensured that all case features are actual, which act as input of the used rules, since they are not reasoned if they are not selected.

Advanced: The behaviour of special case features during the reasoning are detailed in Rules – Rule List & Rule Processing (R-2.4.1.2).

2.2.4.2 Accept Advice

The plausible advice for a rule set estimates the outputfor the uncovered domain based on other rules and consistency considerations (R-2.4.1.4). Choose «Accept Advice» from the menu «Knowledge Management» to accept this estimation by deductive reasoning.

Tip: If a rule set results “Unknown” even if «Accept Advice» is on, check the input case features whether they are “Unknown”.