JavaScript Data GridSet Filter - Filter List

This section describes how Filter List values can be managed through custom sorting and formatting. Supplying filter values directly to the Set Filter is also discussed.

Sorting Filter Lists

Values inside a Set Filter will be sorted by default, where the values are converted to a string value and sorted in ascending order according to their UTF-16 codes.

When a different sort order is required, a Comparator can be supplied to the set filter as shown below:

const gridOptions = {
    columnDefs: [
        {
            field: 'age',
            filter: 'agSetColumnFilter',
            filterParams: {
                comparator: (a, b) => {
                    const valA = parseInt(a);
                    const valB = parseInt(b);
                    if (valA === valB) return 0;
                    return valA > valB ? 1 : -1;
                }
            }
        }
    ],

    // other grid options ...
}

The Comparator used by the Set Filter is only provided the values in the first two parameters, whereas the Comparator for the Column Definition (colDef) is also provided the row data as additional parameters. This is because when sorting rows, row data exists. For example, take 100 rows split across the colour values [white, black]. The column will be sorting 100 rows, however the filter will be only sorting two values.

If you are providing a Comparator that depends on the row data and you are using the Set Filter, be sure to provide the Set Filter with an alternative Comparator that doesn't depend on the row data.

The following example demonstrates sorting Set Filter values using a comparator. Note the following:

• The Age (no Comparator) filter values are sorted using the default string order: 1, 10, 100...
• The Age (with Comparator) filter has a custom Comparator supplied in the filterParams that sorts the ages by numeric value: 1, 2, 3...

Formatting Values

This section covers different ways to format the displayed Filter List values in the Set Filter.

Value Formatter

A Value Formatter is a good choice when the string value displayed in the Filter List needs to be modified, for example adding country codes in parentheses after a country name, as shown below:

const countryValueFormatter = params => {
    const country = params.value;
    return country + ' (' + COUNTRY_CODES[country].toUpperCase() + ')';
};

The following snippet shows how to provide the countryValueFormatter to the Set Filter:

const gridOptions = {
    columnDefs: [
        // column definition using the same value formatter to format cell and filter values
        {
            field: 'country',
            valueFormatter: countryValueFormatter,
            filter: 'agSetColumnFilter',
            filterParams: {
                valueFormatter: countryValueFormatter,
            },
        }
    ],

    // other grid options ...
}

In the code above, the same value formatter is supplied to the Column and Filter params, however separate Value Formatters can be used.

The following example shows how Set Filter values are formatted using a Value Formatter. Note the following:

• No Value Formatter does not have a Value Formatter supplied to the Set Filter. The column is supplied a Value Formatter through colDef.valueFormatter = countryValueFormatter.
• With Value Formatter has the same Value Formatter supplied to the Column and Set Filter. The Set Filter is supplied the value formatter through filterParams.valueFormatter = countryValueFormatter.
• Click Print Filter Model with a filter applied and note the logged Filter Model (dev console) has not been modified.

Cell Renderer

A Cell Component is a good choice when the value displayed requires markup. For instance if a country flag image is to be shown alongside country names.

The same Cell Component can used to format the grid cells and filter values, or different components can be supplied to each. Note that the Cell Component will be supplied additional info when used to format cells inside the grid (as grid cells have row details that are not present for values inside a Filter List).

Assuming you have a custom Country Cell Component, the following snippet shows how to provide the countryCellRenderer to the Set Filter:

const gridOptions = {
    columnDefs: [
        // column definition using the same cell renderer to format cell and filter values
        {
            field: 'country',
            cellRenderer: countryCellRenderer,
            filter: 'agSetColumnFilter',
            filterParams: {
                cellRenderer: countryCellRenderer
            }
        }
    ],

    // other grid options ...
}

The following example shows how Set Filter values are rendered using a Cell Renderer. Note the following:

• No Cell Renderer does not have a Cell Renderer supplied to the Set Filter. The Column has a Cell Renderer supplied to the Column using colDef.cellRenderer = countryCellRenderer.
• With Cell Renderer uses the same Cell Renderer to format the cells and filter values. The Set Filter is supplied the Value Formatter using filterParams.cellRenderer = countryCellRenderer.
• Click Print Filter Model with a filter applied and note the logged filter model (dev console) has not been modified.

Supplying Filter Values

The Set Filter will obtain the filter values from the row data by default. These are retrieved from the data based on the field attribute. This can be overridden by providing a filterValueGetter in the Column Definition. This is similar to using a Value Getter, but is specific to the filter.

It is also possible to provide values for the Filter List. This is necessary when using the Server-Side Row Model. This can be done either synchronously or asynchronously as described below.

Synchronous Values

The simplest approach is to supply a list of values to filterParams.values as shown below:

const gridOptions = {
    columnDefs: [
        {
            field: 'days',
            filter: 'agSetColumnFilter',
            filterParams: {
                // provide all days, even if days are missing in data!
                values: ['Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Wednesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday', 'Saturday', 'Sunday']
            }
        }
    ],

    // other grid options ...
}

Note that if there are missing values in the row data, the filter list will display all provided values. This could give users the impression that filtering is broken.

The following example demonstrates providing filter values using filterParams.values. Note the following:

• The Days (Values Not Provided) set filter obtains values from the row data to populate the filter list and as 'Saturday' and 'Sunday' are not present in the data they do not appear in the filter list.
• As the Days (Values Not Provided) filter values come from the row data they are sorted using a Custom Sort Comparator to ensure the days are ordered according to the week day.
• The Days (Values Provided) set filter is given values using filterParams.values. As all days are supplied the filter list also contains 'Saturday' and 'Sunday'.
• As the Days (Values Provided) filter values are provided in the correct order, the default filter list sorting is turned off using: filterParams.suppressSorting=true.

Asynchronous Values

It is also possible to supply values asynchronously to the set filter. This is done by providing a callback function instead of a list of values as shown below:

const gridOptions = {
    columnDefs: [
        {
            filter: 'agSetColumnFilter',
            filterParams: {
                values: params => {
                    // async update simulated using setTimeout()
                    setTimeout(() => {
                        // fetch values from server
                        const values = getValuesFromServer();
                        // supply values to the set filter
                        params.success(values);
                    }, 3000);
                }
            }
        }
    ],

    // other grid options ...
}

Note in the snippet above the values callback receives a parameter object which contains params.success()which allows values obtained asynchronously to be supplied to the set filter.

The interface for this parameter object is SetFilterValuesFuncParams:

The following example demonstrates loading set filter values asynchronously. Note the following:

• filterParams.values is assigned a callback function that loads the filter values after a 3 second delay using the callback supplied in the params: params.success(['value1', 'value2']).
• Opening the set filter shows a loading message before the values are set. See the Localisation section for details on how to change this message.
• The callback is only invoked the first time the filter is opened. The next time the filter is opened the values are not loaded again.

Refreshing Values

When values are initially passed to the set filter, they are only loaded once when the set filter is initially created. When those values are updated via filterParams.values, the set filter will automatically update to reflect the new values.

It may be desirable to refresh the values at a later point, for example to reflect other filtering that has occurred in the grid. To achieve this, you can call refreshFilterValues on the relevant filter that you would like to refresh. This will cause the values used in the filter to be refreshed from the original source, whether that is by looking at the provided values array again, or by re-executing the values callback. For example, you might use something like the following:

const gridOptions = {
    onFilterChanged: params => {
        params.api.getColumnFilterInstance('columnName').then(setFilter => {
            setFilter.refreshFilterValues();
        });
    },

    // other grid options ...
}

If you are using the grid as a source of values (i.e. you are not providing values yourself), calling this method will also refresh the filter values using values taken from the grid, but this should not be necessary as the values are automatically refreshed for you whenever any data changes in the grid.

If instead you want to refresh the values every time the Set Filter is opened, you can configure that using refreshValuesOnOpen:

const gridOptions = {
    columnDefs: [
        {
            filter: 'agSetColumnFilter',
            filterParams: {
                values: params => params.success(getValuesFromServer()),
                refreshValuesOnOpen: true,
            }
        }
    ],

    // other grid options ...
}

When you refresh the values, any values that were selected in the filter that still exist in the new values will stay selected, but any other selected values will be discarded.

The following example demonstrates refreshing values. Note the following:

• The Values Array column has values provided as an array. Clicking the buttons to change the values will update the values in the array provided to the filter and call refreshFilterValues() to immediately refresh the filter for the column.
• The Values Callback column has values provided as a callback and is configured with 'refreshValuesOnOpen = true'. Clicking the buttons to change the values will update the values that will be returned the next time the callback is called. Note that the values are not updated until the next time the filter is opened.
• If you select 'Elephant' and change the values, it will stay selected as it is present in both lists.
• If you select any of the other options, that selection will be lost when you change to different values.
• A filter is re-applied after values have been refreshed.

Enabling Value Case-Sensitivity

By default the Set Filter treats values as case-insensitive. Practically this means that cell values of Black, black and BLACK are all treated as identical for matching purposes, and the first encountered value is used as the value displayed in the Filter List.

Case-sensitivity can be enabled by using the caseSensitive filter parameter:

const gridOptions = {
    columnDefs: [
        {
            field: 'colour',
            filter: 'agSetColumnFilter',
            filterParams: {
                caseSensitive: true
            }
        }
    ],

    // other grid options ...
}

The following example demonstrates the difference in behaviour between caseSensitive: false (the default) and caseSensitive: true:

• The case insensitive column's Filter List has seven distinct values with unique colours.
  • Typing black into the Mini Filter will match Black.
• The case sensitive column's Filter List has 21 distinct values, although there are only seven distinct colours ignoring case.
  • Typing black into the Mini Filter will match only black, but not Black or BLACK.

If case differences need to be normalised to remove redundant values from the data-source for filtering, a Value Formatter should be used.

Missing Values

If there are missing / empty values in the row data of the grid, or missing values in the list of Supplied Values, the Filter List will contain an entry called (Blanks) which can be used to select / deselect all of these values. If this not the desired behaviour, provide a Formatter to present blank values in a different way.

undefined, null and '', as well as an empty array if using Multiple Values Per Cell, are all treated as missing values. These will appear within the Set Filter Model as a single entry of null. This also applies to supplied Filter List values (e.g. if you supply '' it will appear in the filter model as null), as well as when setting the Filter Model via the API.

Filter Value Types

The Set Filter internally maintains the original type of the cell values, but always uses strings for the keys. E.g. if the cell contains a number, the Filter Model will contain those numbers converted to strings, but if you specified a value formatter, that would use the values with type number.

Complex Objects

If you are providing complex objects as values, then you need to provide both a Key Creator function and a Value Formatter function when using the Set Filter.

The Key Creator generates a unique string key from the complex object (note that if the key is null, undefined or '' it will be converted to null, the same as for Missing Values). This key is used within the Filter Model, and to compare objects. You can either provide a Key Creator within the filter params, which will be specific to the Set Filter, or you can provide one in the Column Definition that is shared with other features such as grouping.

The Value Formatter is used to generate the label that is displayed to the user within the Filter List. You can provide the Value Formatter in the filter params.

const gridOptions = {
    columnDefs: [
        {
            field: 'country',
            filter: 'agSetColumnFilter',
            filterParams: {
                keyCreator: params => params.value.code,
                valueFormatter: params => params.value.name,
            },
        }
    ],

    // other grid options ...
}

The snippet above shows a Key Creator function that returns the country code from the complex object, and a Value Formatter that returns the name. If the Key Creator or Value Formatter were not provided at all, the Set Filter would not work.

If Supplied Values are used for the Filter List, these must be the full complex objects.

The following example shows the Key Creator handling complex objects for the Set Filter. Note the following:

• Country column is supplied a complex object through colDef.field.
  • A Key Creator is supplied to the filter using colDef.filterParams.keyCreator = countryCodeKeyCreator which extracts the code property for the Set Filter.
  • A value formatter is supplied to the filter using colDef.filterParams.valueFormatter = countryValueFormatter which extracts the name property for the Filter List.
  • A value formatter is supplied to the column using colDef.valueFormatter = countryValueFormatter which extracts the name property for the cell values.
• Click Print Filter Model with a filter active on Country and note the logged Filter Model (dev console) uses the code property from the complex object.

Multiple Values Per Cell

Sometimes you might wish to support multiple values in a single cell, for example when using tags. In this case, the Set Filter can extract each of the individual values from the cells, creating an entry in the Filter List for each individual value. Selecting a value will then show rows where any of the values in the cell match the selected value.

The example below demonstrates this in action. Note the following:

• The Animals (array) column uses an array in the data containing multiple values.
• The Animals (string) column uses a single string in the data to represent multiple values, with a Value Getter used to extract an array of values from the data.
• The Animals (objects) column retrieves values from an array of objects, using a Key Creator. The Key Creator is applied to the elements within the array (as is the Value Formatter).
• For all scenarios, the Set Filter displays a list of all the individual, unique values present from the data.
• Selecting values in the Set Filter will show rows where the data for that row contains any of the selected values.
• The first row contains empty arrays for the Animals (array) and Animals (objects) columns, and an empty string for the Animals (string) column which is converted to an empty array. These all appear in the Filter List as (Blanks).

Default State

By default, when the Set Filter is created all values are selected. If you would prefer to invert this behaviour and have everything de-selected by default, you can use the following:

const gridOptions = {
    columnDefs: [
        {
            field: 'country',
            filter: 'agSetColumnFilter',
            filterParams: {
                defaultToNothingSelected: true,
            }
        }
    ],

    // other grid options ...
}

In this case, no filtering will occur until at least one value is selected.

Note that the default state cannot be changed if Excel Mode is enabled.

The following example demonstrates different default states. Note the following:

• The Athlete column has everything selected when the Set Filter is first opened, which is the default
• The Country column has nothing selected by default, as defaultToNothingSelected = true.
• When the Set Filter for the Country column is opened, the grid is not filtered until at least one value has been selected.

Filter Value Tooltips

Set filter values that are too long to be displayed are truncated by default with ellipses. To allow users to see the full filter value, tooltips can be enabled as shown below:

const gridOptions = {
    columnDefs: [
        {
            field: 'country',
            filter: 'agSetColumnFilter',
            filterParams: {
                showTooltips: true,
            }
        }
    ],

    // other grid options ...
}

The default tooltip component will be used unless a Custom Tooltip Component is provided.

The following example demonstrates tooltips in the Set Filter. Note the following:

• Filter values are automatically truncated with ellipses when the values are too long.
• Col A does not have Set Filter Tooltips enabled.
• Col B has Set Filter Tooltips enabled via filterParams.showTooltips=true.
• Col C has Set Filter Tooltips enabled and is supplied a Custom Tooltip Component.

Next Up

Continue to the next section to learn about Data Updates.