Filter to distinguish tasks vs. subtasks desperately needed

There should be a filter to that will will select only parent tasks (i.e. not subtasks).  Or, better yet, can filter by task "level".

For example, if I want to generate a dashboard showing all "in process" tasks, excluding subtasks, I should be able to do that without some type of hacked solution where the subtasks have a different property that has been manually added/altered.

I believe this is related to the "Filter out subtasks in reports" request, which appears to have been put on the backburner, despite having quite an extensive conversation.  This is somewhat different because it has to do with creating dashboards, and affects the everyday use of the tool.

I am happy to discuss further and explain why I think this is absolutely essential.