A quick tour of filtering parameter values

Parameter filters are used to limit or restrict the input values or data that can be specified for a model tool parameter. For example, a Value List filter can be used so that only values from a list can be specified for the parameter.

There are six types of parameter filters. The type of filter that can be used depends on the data type of the parameter.

1. Value List—A list of predefined keywords.
2. Range—A range of valid numeric values. The range is inclusive, meaning the minimum and maximum values are valid choices.
3. Feature Class—A list of allowable feature class types: point, multipoint, polyline, polygon, multipatch, sphere, annotation, and dimension.
4. File—A list of valid file extensions, such as .txt (simple text file) or .csv (comma-separated value).
5. Field—A list of allowable field types: short, long, single, double, text, date, OID, geometry, BLOB, raster, GUID, global ID, and XML.
6. Workspace—Types of workspaces that are allowed for the model parameter.

For most parameters, there is only one filter type that can be used. For parameters with a numeric data type (long or double), Value List or Range filters can be used.