Compatibility:
SharePoint 2013 Foundation (SPF) and Server (SPS) SharePoint 2010 Foundation (SPF) and Server (SPS) Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 / Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007
SPF & SPS 2013 • 2010 • 2007
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« Walkthrough: using FilterZen | Text Filters »
Sunday
Apr262009

General Filter Settings

The following settings apply across all filter types.

Column / Filter Name

This name is the name used to identify a filter among other filters in your FilterZen Filter Web Part. It is also the filter name sent to connected Web Parts.

Different kinds of Web Parts may vary in their requirements for filter names. When connected to a List View Web Part (or a Data View Web Part whose data source is a SharePoint list or document library), those out-of-the-box, filter-receiving SharePoint Web Parts require the FilterZen Filter Web Part to send filter names that correspond exactly to internal Column names (which never change once a Column has been created) rather than their current display names (Column titles, which can be changed by end-users at any time).

The internal name of a Column is set when a it is first created, and it never changes, even though the Column title might be changed repeatedly from SharePoint's Edit Column page later on. The patterns for internal names vary: for some built-in Columns from SharePoint's out-of-the-box List definitions there are internal names such as AssignedTo for the Tasks List's "Assigned To" Column, or _ModerationComments for any List's "Approver Comments" Column. A user-created Column with an initial title of "Test-Link" will get an internal name of Test_x002d_Link.

FilterZen cannot change this requirement (to send filter names corresponding exactly to internal Colum names) — it was built right into SharePoint. You therefore need to specify filter names corresponding to the internal Column names.

To make this as easy as possible for you, we built a useful tool right into the Web Part's configuration tool pane that empowers you to instantly figure out the proper filter name to use for the Column you want to filter, that is, its internal Column name. Once you expand this tool by clicking the Filtering List Data link, you can immediately select the list you are filtering to see all its Columns. Now select the Column and you will see its internal name. Just copy and paste it into the Column / filter name text box, or click the Use as filter name link:

If you are filtering a Data View Web Part sourcing its data from a list in another web site or site collection, just enter the web site's URL in the tool's text box and click OK to be able to locate the list in the drop-down box.

Enabling and Disabling Filters

The FilterZen Filter Web Part only ever sends those of your filters that are marked enabled. Tick or untick the This filter is enabled check box to enable or disable a filter. You need to enter a filter name before you can enable a filter, because a filter name is required to send a filter to conencted Web Parts.

Default Filter Value

All filter types that optionally support an interactive mode (i.e. all filter types except Page Column Filter and Page Request / URL Filter) also have a setting to set a default filter value, even though they vary in their semantics and user interface depending on the filter type. The default filter value is the filter value initially sent, and in interactive mode, also the one initially presented to end users, which they may then change.

About "Empty" Filter Values

For each filter you create, you need to decide which approach to dealing with empty filter values is optimal given the particular filtering context:

  • Empty = Empty or None — if you do send empty filter values, and a filter value is empty, the resulting behaviour of the filter receiver should be to show only items where the specified Column has no value.
  • Empty = All (no filtering) — if you do not send empty filter values, and a filter value is empty, the filter will not be sent, usually resulting in no filtering being applied to the specified Column and thus showing all items as far as that Column is concerned.

Every filter type provides the Send filter value even if empty check box to control this setting.

Fallback Filter Value

All filter types, including the non-interactive ones, let you specify an optional fallback filter value that will only ever be sent if the filter value is empty.

"Interactive" Filters

All filters except Page Column Filters and Page Request / URL Filters offer an optional interactive mode that you can turn on or off via the Allow users to enter/pick a filter value check box. In interactive mode, the FilterZen Filter Web Part will render into the Web Part Page a visible, interactive user interface control for changing the filter value of each interactive filter. This user interface control will be a single-line text box for Text Filters, a date picker for Date Filters, and a drop-down list for Choice Filters, List Lookup Filters, User Filters, SQL Data Filters and BDC Filters. You can optionally specify a label text in the filter label text box, which will then be prepended to the filtering user interface control by the FilterZen Filter Web Part, to let your users know what this control is actually for. There are also additional Web Part settings for further customizing the appearance and behavior of all interactive filtering user controls.

Pre-Filtering of Choice, List Lookup, SQL Data, BDC and User Filters

Tick the Pre-filtering — only offer pickable choices that also exist in a List column check box in a Choice Filter, List Lookup Filter, SQL Data Filter, BDC Filter or User Filter editor to be able to enter a List View URL and an internal Column name both used to eliminate from the drop-down list of available choices all those that do not exist as exact values in the specified List Column.

Locking out specific filter values

In the drop-down list labelled Always suppress certain filter values, select an item other than Don't suppress any filter values to show a multi-line text box allowing you to enter specific filter values. Your drop-down choice then controls whether the filter values entered are the only ones allowed to be sent (Suppress all filter values except...), or the only ones that should never be sent (Suppress no filter values except...).