Molecular models often accumulate notes: reminders, labels, explanations, and other annotations that are useful at one moment and easy to overlook later. When the workspace gets busy, the practical problem is not just adding a note—it is finding the right note, or distinguishing notes by their name, visibility, or selection state.
SAMSON’s Node Specification Language (NSL) provides a compact way to describe note nodes using the note attribute space, abbreviated nt. The key point is that this space matches only note nodes. That lets you express a note-focused criterion rather than describe nodes in general.
Start with the question you want to answer
If you are looking for notes that are hidden, use nt.h. To express the opposite condition, use not nt.h. These examples are useful when a note seems to have disappeared: checking the hidden state gives you a specific property to investigate instead of relying only on what is currently visible in the workspace.
For a note with a particular name, NSL uses quoted strings. The documentation gives nt.n "A" and nt.n "L*" as examples. Quoting the name makes the intended text explicit. If you are unsure how a particular name expression is interpreted, consult the NSL reference rather than assuming that every search pattern behaves the same way.
Keep similar attributes distinct
The note attributes include both selected and selectionFlag, as well as both visible and visibilityFlag. They are listed as separate attributes, so it is useful to choose the one that matches the property you mean to query. For example, the documented expressions include nt.selected and nt.sf, where sf is the short name for selectionFlag. The selected attribute has no short name in the note attribute space.
The same naming pattern applies to visibility: nt.v is the short form of visible, while nt.vf refers to visibilityFlag. You can also state the opposite of the visible condition with not nt.v. Keeping these names straight makes a query easier to read and helps prevent confusing a state with a separately listed flag.
A small reference for everyday checks
- Hidden notes:
nt.h; the opposite condition isnot nt.h. - Named notes:
nt.n "A"or the documented examplent.n "L*". - Selected notes:
nt.selected. - Selection flag:
nt.sf, or explicitlynt.sf false. - Visible notes:
nt.v; the opposite condition isnot nt.v. - Visibility flag:
nt.vf, or explicitlynt.vf false.
These expressions are most useful when you begin with a concrete question: “Is this note hidden?”, “What is its name?”, or “Am I checking visibility or the visibility flag?” Writing down that question first helps you select the appropriate attribute and makes the resulting expression easier to understand later.
Note attributes inherit from the broader node attribute space. That is why attributes such as hidden, name, and visible appear here too. The nt prefix keeps the query targeted to notes while giving you access to those inherited properties.
For the complete attribute list and reference details, see the SAMSON note attributes documentation.
Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON.