Filter Bar - blank values and "contains"

Question

Is it possible to type the "contains" operator in the default/basic filter bar?

Is it possible to type something that means "not blank"?

Is it possible to pre-filter a column for not blank?

Filter items by contains operator.

Declaration

public const Operator Contains

Renjith Singh Rajendran · Answer

Hi Byron, 

Greetings from Syncfusion support. 

Query 1 : Is it possible to type the "contains" operator in the default/basic filter bar? 
We suggest you to refer to the below documentation for more details regarding changing the default operator for the FilterBar. In the below documentation we have changed the default operator for the CustomerID column. 
https://blazor.syncfusion.com/documentation/datagrid/filtering/#change-default-filter-operator 

Query 2 & 3: Is it possible to type something that means "not blank"?Is it possible to pre-filter a column for not blank? 
We are not clear about these query. We suspect that you would like to filter a column on initial rendering. If so, then we suggest you to refer to the below documentation for more details regarding filtering a Grid on its initial rendering. 
https://blazor.syncfusion.com/documentation/datagrid/filtering/#initial-filter 

Please refer the above suggestions, and if we have misunderstood your requirement or if you are still facing difficulties then kindly share with us the following details for better assistance.  


Share with us a video demo showing your complete requirement and the problem you are facing.
Share with us a detailed description of your complete requirement.

The provided information will help us analyze the problem, and provide you a solution as early as possible. 

Regards, 
Renjith R

Byron · Answer

Hi Byron, 

Greetings from Syncfusion support. 

Query 1 : Is it possible to type the "contains" operator in the default/basic filter bar? 
We suggest you to refer to the below documentation for more details regarding changing the default operator for the FilterBar. In the below documentation we have changed the default operator for the CustomerID column. 
https://blazor.syncfusion.com/documentation/datagrid/filtering/#change-default-filter-operator 

Query 2 & 3: Is it possible to type something that means "not blank"?Is it possible to pre-filter a column for not blank? 
We are not clear about these query. We suspect that you would like to filter a column on initial rendering. If so, then we suggest you to refer to the below documentation for more details regarding filtering a Grid on its initial rendering. 
https://blazor.syncfusion.com/documentation/datagrid/filtering/#initial-filter 

Please refer the above suggestions, and if we have misunderstood your requirement or if you are still facing difficulties then kindly share with us the following details for better assistance.  


Share with us a video demo showing your complete requirement and the problem you are facing.
Share with us a detailed description of your complete requirement.

The provided information will help us analyze the problem, and provide you a solution as early as possible. 

Regards, 
Renjith R Query 1 : Is it possible to type the "contains" operator in the default/basic filter bar? We suggest you to refer to the below documentation for more details regarding changing the default operator for the FilterBar. In the below documentation we have changed the default operator for the CustomerID column. https://blazor.syncfusion.com/documentation/datagrid/filtering/#change-default-filter-operator Well, no.  I don't need to change the DEFAULT, unless you are saying that the filter bar can only ever have ONE operator.Let's say names are formatted as LAST, FIRST; so the grid contains:     SMITH-JONES, Mary Jane     GATES, Bill     BIDEN, Joe     TRUDEAU, Justin     etc...I can type TRUD and get back all the Trudeau's. But I'd like to be able to type "Contains 'J', and get back Jane, Joe and Justin. (That's what "contains" means to me.) The doc suggests that there is a "contains" operator but it doesn't say how or if you can type it.This is the SQL equivalent: " WHERE x LIKE '%search%' "  (The filter bar normally equates to  " WHERE x LIKE 'search%' ")Query 2 & 3: Is it possible to type something that means "not blank"?Is it possible to pre-filter a column for not blank? We are not clear about these query. We suspect that you would like to filter a column on initial rendering. If so, then we suggest you to refer to the below documentation for more details regarding filtering a Grid on its initial rendering. https://blazor.syncfusion.com/documentation/datagrid/filtering/#initial-filter Please highlight for me where that page discusses "NULLs" or "BLANKs". Directing me back to vague documentation without guidance is not the usual level of helpful support that I see from SyncFusion.Whether I want to do it as an Initial filter or on demand is not relevant.My grid contains a column that about 30% of the rows do not contain (the field is NULL in sql). I should be able to filter out blanks (or, for that matter, to see ONLY blanks.)In SQL it would be something like  WHERE X IS NOT NULL AND X <> ''In C# it would be something like IF ( !string.IsNullOrWhitespace(x) ) ....Can that not be done from the filter bar?

Rahul Narayanasamy · Answer

Hi Byron, Query: Is it possible to type the "contains" operator in the default/basic filter bar? -- I can type TRUD and get back all the Trudeau's. But I'd like to be able to type "Contains 'J', and get back Jane, Joe and Justin. (That's what "contains" means to me.) We have validated your query and you want to perform filtering operation for a column that contains the particular entered value. By default, the filter operator for column is Startswith. You can change the filter. You can change the default filter operator by extending FilterSettings property in the column. After typing value(J) in filterbar, it will filters the values which contains the given value(J) in the column values. you Video: https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/support/forum/161498/ze/VideoContains162041186 Query: Is it possible to type something that means "not blank"? Is it possible to pre-filter a column for not blank? We have validated the query and we might suspect that you want to perform filtering operation for particular column which does not contains null value at initially. You can achieve your requirement by using below way. . . . @code{ public List Orders { get; set; } public string val = null; . .. } So it will filter the CustomerID column and shows the values which does not contains null values. Sample: https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/support/forum/161498/ze/BlazorApp1SAmple2003802915 If you want to perform filtering operation for null values, then you can type null in filterbar and press enter. It will show all the rows which contains null value for particular column. Video: https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/support/forum/161498/ze/FilterNull1839059771 Please let us know if you have any concerns. Regards, Rahul

Byron · Answer

Hi Byron,

Query: Is it possible to type the "contains" operator in the default/basic filter bar? -- I can type TRUD and get back all the Trudeau's. But I'd like to be able to type "Contains 'J', and get back Jane, Joe and Justin. (That's what "contains" means to me.)

We have validated your query and you want to perform filtering operation for a column that contains the particular entered value.

By default, the filter operator for column is Startswith. You can change the filter. You can change the default filter operator by extending FilterSettings property in the column. After typing value(J) in filterbar, it will filters the values which contains the given value(J) in the column values.

<SfGrid DataSource="@Orders" AllowFiltering="true">

    <GridFilterSettings>

        <GridFilterColumns>

            <GridFilterColumn Field="CustomerID" MatchCase=false Operator="Operator. NotEqual" Predicate="and" Value="@val"></GridFilterColumn>

        </GridFilterColumns>

    </GridFilterSettings>

    <GridColumns>

        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Order.OrderID) HeaderText="Order ID" TextAlign="TextAlign.Right" Width="120"></GridColumn>

        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Order.CustomerID) HeaderText="Customer Name" FilterSettings="@(new FilterSettings{ Operator = Operator.Contains })" Width="150"></GridColumn>

        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Order.OrderDate) HeaderText=" Order Date" Format="d" Type="ColumnType.Date" TextAlign="TextAlign.Right" Width="130"></GridColumn>

        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Order.Freight) HeaderText="Freight" Format="C2" TextAlign="TextAlign.Right" Width="120"></GridColumn>

    </GridColumns>you

</SfGrid>

Video: https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/support/forum/161498/ze/VideoContains162041186

Query: Is it possible to type something that means "not blank"? Is it possible to pre-filter a column for not blank?

We have validated the query and we might suspect that you want to perform filtering operation for particular column which does not contains null value at initially. You can achieve your requirement by using below way.

<SfGrid DataSource="@Orders" AllowFiltering="true">

    <GridFilterSettings>

        <GridFilterColumns>

            <GridFilterColumn Field="CustomerID" MatchCase=false Operator="Operator. NotEqual" Predicate="and" Value="@val"></GridFilterColumn>

        </GridFilterColumns>

    </GridFilterSettings>

    <GridColumns>

        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Order.OrderID) HeaderText="Order ID" TextAlign="TextAlign.Right" Width="120"></GridColumn>

        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Order.CustomerID) HeaderText="Customer Name" FilterSettings="@(new FilterSettings{ Operator = Operator.Contains })" Width="150"></GridColumn>

        . . .

</SfGrid>

@code{

    public List<Order> Orders { get; set; }

    public string val = null;

    . ..

}

So it will filter the CustomerID column and shows the values which does not contains null values.

Sample: https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/support/forum/161498/ze/BlazorApp1SAmple2003802915

If you want to perform filtering operation for null values, then you can type null in filterbar and press enter. It will show all the rows which contains null value for particular column.

Video: https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/support/forum/161498/ze/FilterNull1839059771

Please let us know if you have any concerns.

Regards,

Rahul

Thank you. We are getting closer.

For Query 1:

Is it not possible to TYPE the query operator in the filter bar? In other words, the filter bar is locked to one kind of operation? In almost all other free-form search/filters, you can type an operator in the field ... for example, putting a word in quotes in a google search makes it mandatory.

If you look at this SyncFusion page https://blazor.syncfusion.com/documentation/datagrid/filtering/ , under the sub-head "Fiter bar", the documentation status that "you can enter the following filter expressions (operators) manually in the filter bar". This doesn't just _imply_ it directly states that you can override the "default" action.

However.... (a) "Contains" is not listed in this table, and (b) = and * are BOTH listed as "Startwith" (one for strings and one for dates). Was it deliberate to not let a user type an operator for "contains"? I appreciate that you have told me twice that I can change the default, but that is NOT what I asked. I asked "Is it possible to type the "contains" operator in the default/basic filter bar?" I gather that your answer is "no, you cannot type it but you can change the default." Is this correct?

For Query 2:

Filtering the initial display was, I guess, a "Query 3". Query two is "Is it possible to TYPE [in the filter bar], something that means "not blank?"

Use case:

The user is looking at a grid.

The grid has 80,000 contacts.

Half of the contacts have a blank or null for "email address"

The user, at run time, all on his or her own, says to himself "I'd like to look at just the ones with email addresses".

What, if anything, can they type in the filter bar to eliminate all the blanks.?

Thank you.

PS: On this Rich Text Editor, cutting and pasting screws up the formatting. :(

Vignesh Natarajan · Answer

Hi Byron,  

Thanks for the explanation.  

We have analyzed your query and currently we are validating the feasibilities of achieving your requirement. We will update you the further details in two business days.  

Till then we appreciate your patience.  

Regards, 
Vignesh Natarajan

Rahul Narayanasamy · Answer

Hi Byron, Thanks for your patience. Query 1: Is it not possible to TYPE the query operator in the filter bar? In other words, the filter bar is locked to one kind of operation? In almost all other free-form search/filters, you can type an operator in the field ... for example, putting a word in quotes in a google search makes it mandatory. We have validated your query and you can achieve your requirement by using FilterTemplate. In this filter template you can type the operator and value in rendered textbox(in FilterTemplate) and you can perform the operation using FilterByColumn method. @code{ SfTextBox TextBox; SfGrid Grid; public List Orders { get; set; } public string val = null; . . . public async Task Enter(KeyboardEventArgs e) { if (e.Code == "Enter" || e.Code == "NumpadEnter") { //you can get the entered value in text box reference(TextBox.Value) and perform filter operation using FilterByColumn method with typed operator and value await Grid.FilterByColumn("CustomerID", operator, value); } } } Query: Filtering the initial display was, I guess, a "Query 3". Query two is "Is it possible to TYPE [in the filter bar], something that means "not blank?" We have validated your query and you want to filter the values which are not null/ blank. You can achieve your requirement by using FilterTemplate. Find the below code snippets and sample for your reference. @code{ SfTextBox TextBox; SfGrid Grid; public List Orders { get; set; } . . . public async Task Enter(KeyboardEventArgs e) { if (e.Code == "Enter" || e.Code == "NumpadEnter") { await Grid.FilterByColumn("CustomerID", "notequal", TextBox.Value.Replace('"', ' ').Trim()); } } } Sample: https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/support/forum/161498/ze/Sample1441338722 Please let us know if you have any concerns. Regards, Rahul