A fabric selection tool provides an automated procedure for recommending and/or selecting a fabric for a window treatment to be installed in a building. The recommendation may be made to optimize the performance of the window treatment in which the fabric may be installed. The recommended fabric may be selected based on performance metrics associated with each fabric in an environment. The fabrics may be ranked based upon the performance metrics of one or more of the fabrics. One or more of the fabrics, and/or their corresponding ranks, may be displayed to a user for selection. The recommended fabrics may be determined based on combinations of fabrics that provide performance metrics for various façades of the building. Using the ranking system provided by the fabric selection tool, the user may obtain a fabric sample and/or order one or more of the recommended fabrics.
Please help me write a proper abstract based on the patent claims. CLAIM: 1. A method of selecting a recommended fabric for a window treatment to be installed in a building, the method comprising: computing, for each fabric option of a plurality of fabric options, an associated score based on values of at least one predicted performance metric, wherein the values of the at least one predicted performance metrics depend on characteristics of daylight entering the interior space when at least one of the fabric options for the window treatment is used as the window treatment for at least one window; determining the recommended fabric for the window treatment to be installed in the building based on the established at least one predicted performance metric for the plurality of fabrics that correspond to the environmental characteristics of the environment that is associated with the building or the location in the building in which the recommended fabric is to be installed as the window treatment; and displaying a visual representation of the recommended fabric on a visual display. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the visual representation comprises displaying multiple visual representations of multiple fabrics. 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving an indication from a user to scroll the multiple visual representations of multiple fabrics in a direction, and scrolling the multiple visual representations of multiple fabrics in the indicated direction. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the visual representation includes displaying at least one of a family characteristic associate with the recommended fabric or a color of the recommended fabric. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining at least one score for each fabric of the plurality of fabrics based on the at least one predicted performance metric corresponding to the fabric, wherein the at least one score comprises at least one of a glare score that indicates a predicted amount of glare resulting in a building from use of the at least one fabric in the window treatment, a view score that indicates an occupant's predicted amount of view out of the at least one window when the window treatment is installed, or a daylight score that indicates a predicted amount of daylight resulting in the interior space from use of the fabric in the window treatment. 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, based on the at least one score for each fabric of the plurality of fabrics, a ranking of the plurality of fabrics, wherein the ranking of the plurality of fabrics indicates an ascending or descending order of performance of the fabrics in the window treatment when installed in an automated window treatment control system in the environment that is associated with the building or the location in the building; and displaying the ranking of the plurality of fabrics. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one predicted performance metric is computed based on input data defining the environmental characteristics of the plurality of environments, at least one fabric characteristic for each fabric of a plurality of fabrics, and a predicted spatial daylight autonomy value of the building or the location in the building in which the recommended fabric is to be installed as the window treatment. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one predicted performance metric at least one of a daylight glare probability, a spatial daylight autonomy, or a view preservation, and wherein the daylight glare probability indicates a maximum daylight glare intensity over a period of time, the spatial daylight autonomy indicates an amount of floor space in the building where daylight alone may provide light over a period of time, and view preservation indicates an amount of at least one window that may be unobstructed by the window treatment. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one predicted performance metric at least one of a daylight glare probability, a spatial daylight autonomy, or a view preservation, and wherein the daylight glare probability indicates a maximum daylight glare intensity over a period of time, the spatial daylight autonomy indicates an amount of floor space in the building where daylight alone may provide light over a period of time, and view preservation indicates an amount of at least one window that may be unobstructed by the window treatment. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the associated score is based on at least two predicted performance metrics. 11. A method of selecting a recommended fabric for a window treatment to be installed in a building, the method comprising: determining predicted performance metrics for each fabric of a plurality of fabrics when used with the window treatment to control daylight in a plurality of environments; establishing the predicted performance metrics for the plurality of fabrics that correspond to environmental characteristics associated with the building or a location in the building in which the recommended fabric is to be installed; ranking the plurality of fabrics based upon the predicted performance metrics that correspond to the environmental characteristics associated with the building or the location in the building, wherein the plurality of fabrics are ranked according to a glare score that indicates a predicted amount of glare resulting in a building from use of the at least one fabric in the window treatment; and displaying, based on the ranking of the plurality of fabrics, at least one of the plurality of fabrics on a visual display as the recommended fabric for being installed in the building. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the predicted performance metrics comprise at least one of a daylight glare probability value that indicates a maximum daylight glare intensity over a period of time, a maximum daylight glare probability value that indicates a predefined maximum threshold for the daylight glare probability, a spatial daylight autonomy value that may indicate an amount of floor space in the building where daylight alone may provide light over a period of time, a spatial daylight autonomy limit value that may indicate the maximum spatial daylight autonomy value for the fabrics with a glare summary score higher than zero, a view rating value that may indicate an amount (e.g., percentage) of the window that may be unobstructed by the fabric, a view limit rating value that may indicate the maximum spatial daylight autonomy value for the fabrics with a glare summary score higher than zero, a view clarity value that may indicate an amount of visibility available through the fabric, a view preservation rating value that may be based on a view rating of the fabric and may indicate an amount of the window that may be unobstructed by the window treatment and a view clarity rating of the fabric that indicates an amount of visibility available through the fabric, a direct glare score that may indicate the reduction in glare based on the fabric, or an angle of the sun. 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the view rating is determined based on a view clarity rating of the fabric that indicates an amount of visibility available through the fabric. 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the environmental characteristics associated with the building or the location in the building in which the recommended fabric is to be installed comprise at least one of a location of the building, a latitude of the building, a longitude of the building, an orientation of the building, at least one façade of the building on which the window treatment is to be installed, a buffer zone between a window in the building and an occupant's work space, a window size associated with a window in the building, a glass type associated with a window in the building, a window-to-wall ratio for a room in the building, a visible light transmittance for a window in the building, a daylight glare probability value that indicates a maximum daylight glare intensity over a period of time, a maximum daylight glare probability value that indicates a predefined maximum threshold for the daylight glare probability value, a room color, a depth of a room or a type of space in the building in which the recommended fabric is to be installed. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the latitude and longitude of the building are based on the location of the building, wherein the window-to-wall ratio is based on the window size, wherein the visible light transmittance for the window is based on the glass type of the window in the building, and wherein at least one of the daylight glare probability value or the maximum daylight glare probability value are based on the type of space in the building in which the recommended fabric is to be installed. 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the predicted performance metrics are associated with a front side and a back side of at least one fabric in the plurality of fabrics. 17. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving the environmental characteristics as input data; and accessing fabric data that includes fabric characteristics for the plurality of fabrics, and wherein the predicted performance metrics for each fabric of the plurality of fabrics is determined based on the environmental characteristics and the fabric characteristics. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the fabric characteristics for each fabric of the plurality of fabrics comprises at least one of an openness factor associated with the fabric, a visible light transmittance associated with the fabric, a color group associated with the fabric, a view clarity rating that indicates an amount of visibility available through the fabric, a solar heat gain associated with the fabric, or a combined solar heat gain associated with the fabric and the glass. 19. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving the environmental characteristics as input data; determining computed fabric performance input data based on the input data; sending the computed fabric performance input data to a fabric performance engine; and receiving the predicted performance metrics as fabric performance output from a performance engine, wherein the predicted performance metrics are determined by the receiving of the predicted performance metrics. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the environmental characteristics comprise at least one of a location of the building, an orientation of the building, at least one façade of the building on which the window treatment is to be installed, a buffer zone between a window in the building and an occupant's work space, a window size associated with a window in the building, a glass type associated with a window in the building, a room color, a depth of a room, or a type of space in the building in which the recommended fabric is to be installed. 21. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of fabrics are further ranked according to at least one of a daylight score or a view score, wherein the daylight score indicates a predicted amount of daylight resulting in the interior space from use of the fabric in the window treatment, and wherein the view score indicates an occupant's view out of a window of the building when the window treatment is installed. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the view score is based on a view preservation rating that indicates an amount of a window view that may be preserved when a window treatment is used, and wherein the view preservation rating is based on a view rating of the fabric that indicates the amount of the window that may be unobstructed by the window treatment and a view clarity rating of the fabric that indicates an amount of visibility available through the fabric. 23. The method of claim 11, wherein the environmental characteristics include data indicating a plurality of façades of the building, and wherein the predicted performance metrics comprise a predicted performance of the window treatment in the building when the window treatment is installed with the plurality of fabrics on each of the plurality of façades. 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the predicted performance metrics are based on a use of each fabric of the plurality of fabrics with the window treatment when the window treatment is installed on each façade of the plurality of façades. 25. The method of claim 11, wherein the window treatment comprises at least one of a manual window treatment or an automated window treatment, and wherein the predicted performance metrics are based on a predicted performance when installed in the at least one of the manual window treatment or the automated window treatment. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein ranking the plurality of fabrics further comprises ranking the plurality of fabrics based on the predicted performance metrics when the fabric is installed in the at least one of the manual window treatment or the automated window treatment. 27. The method of claim 25, further comprising: comparing the predicted performance metric of each fabric of the plurality of fabrics when installed in the automated window treatment to the predicted performance metric of the fabric when installed in the manual window treatment; and displaying the performance metric of the recommended fabric when installed in the automated window treatment and the performance metric of the recommended fabric when installed in the manual window treatment on a visual display. 28. The method of claim 11, wherein the recommended fabric comprises an openness factor that comprises an amount of open space within the recommended fabric and a visible light transmittance that comprises an amount of visible light allowed to transmit through the recommended fabric, and wherein the openness factor and the visible light transmittance of the recommended fabric result in a daylight glare probability of less than 45%. 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the openness factor and the visible light transmittance of the recommended fabric result in the daylight glare probability of less than 35%. 30. The method of claim 28, wherein the recommended fabric comprises an openness tolerance of less than 1% for a variance of the openness factor. 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the openness tolerance of the recommended fabric is less than 0.5% for the variance of the openness factor. 32. The method of claim 28, wherein the openness factor is between 1% and 10%, the visible light transmittance of the fabric is between 1% and 30%, and the recommended fabric comprises an openness tolerance of equal to or less than 0.5% resulting in the daylight glare probability comprising between 15% and 35%. 33. A motorized window treatment system for controlling an amount of light entering a space in a building, the system comprising: a motorized window treatment configured to adjust a covering material to control the amount of light entering the space; and a network device configured to: determine predicted performance metrics for each fabric of a plurality of fabrics when used with the motorized window treatment to control daylight in a plurality of environments; select the predicted performance metrics for the plurality of fabrics that correspond to environmental characteristics associated with the building or a location in the building in which a recommended fabric is to be installed; rank the plurality of fabrics based upon the predicted performance metrics that correspond to the environmental characteristics associated with the building or the location in the building, wherein the plurality of fabrics are ranked according to a glare score that indicates a predicted amount of glare resulting in a building from use of the at least one fabric in the window treatment; and display, based on the ranking of the plurality of fabrics, at least one of the plurality of fabrics on a visual display as the recommended fabric for being installed in the building. 34. The motorized window treatment system of claim 33, wherein the network device is further configured to: receive the environmental characteristics as input data; and access fabric data that includes fabric characteristics for the plurality of fabrics; and determine the predicted performance metrics for each fabric of the plurality of fabrics based on the environmental characteristics and the fabric characteristics. 35. The motorized window treatment system of claim 33, wherein the network device is further configured to: receive the environmental characteristics as input data; determine computed fabric performance input data based on the input data; send the computed fabric performance input data to a fabric performance engine; and receive the predicted performance metrics as fabric performance output from a performance engine, wherein the predicted performance metrics are determined by the receiving of the predicted performance metrics. 36. The motorized window treatment system of claim 33, wherein the network device is further configured to rank the plurality of fabrics according to at least one of a daylight score or a view score, wherein the daylight score indicates a predicted amount of daylight resulting in the interior space from use of the fabric in the window treatment, and wherein the view score indicates an occupant's predicted amount of view out of the at least one window when the window treatment is installed 37. The motorized window treatment system of claim 33, further comprising: a system controller configured to automatically control the motorized window treatment in response to at least one of a timeclock schedule or a sensor. 38. A motorized window treatment for controlling an amount of light entering a space in a building, the motorized window treatment comprising: an electronic drive unit configured to control the amount of light entering the space in the building; and a fabric material, wherein the electronic drive unit is further configured to raise or lower the fabric material to control the light entering the space in the building, and wherein the fabric material comprises an openness factor that comprises an amount of open space within the fabric material and a visible light transmittance that comprises an amount of visible light allowed to transmit through the fabric material, and wherein the openness factor and the visible light transmittance of the fabric material result in a daylight glare probability of less than 45%. 39. The motorized window treatment of claim 38, wherein the fabric material comprises an openness tolerance of less than 1% for variance of the openness factor. 40. The motorized window treatment of claim 39, wherein the openness tolerance of the fabric material is less than 0.5% for variance of the openness factor. 41. The motorized window treatment of claim 38, wherein the openness factor and the visible light transmittance of the fabric material result in a daylight glare probability of less than 35%. 42. The motorized window treatment of claim 38, wherein the openness factor is between 1% and 10%, the visible light transmittance of the fabric is between 1% and 30%, and the fabric material comprises an openness tolerance of equal to or less than 0.5% resulting in the daylight glare probability comprising between 15% and 35%.