#NEWLINE# def collate( self , merge_type = None , drop = [ ] , drop_constant = False ) : #NEWLINE# #INDENT# '\n        Collation allows collapsing nested HoloMaps by merging\n        their dimensions. In the simple case a HoloMap containing\n        other HoloMaps can easily be joined in this way. However\n        collation is particularly useful when the objects being\n        joined are deeply nested, e.g. you want to join multiple\n        Layouts recorded at different times, collation will return\n        one Layout containing HoloMaps indexed by Time. Changing\n        the merge_type will allow merging the outer Dimension\n        into any other UniformNdMapping type.\n\n        Specific dimensions may be dropped if they are redundant\n        by supplying them in a list. Enabling drop_constant allows\n        ignoring any non-varying dimensions during collation.\n        ' #NEWLINE# from . element import Collator #NEWLINE# merge_type = ( self if merge_type else self . __class__ ) #NEWLINE# return Collator ( self , merge_type = merge_type , drop = drop , drop_constant = drop_constant ) ( )