Love, Hate relationship with Filters

BLOMASKY

OK, maybe it's really a Hate, Hate.

My latest issue, If I don't have the field displayed in the column (which is silly looking for a narrow field), then I use the funnels. I want a text field to either be START WITHS or CONTAINS. However, it always opens up with EXACT match. The user is complaining that they always have to click the funnel, click the combo, scroll down to CONTAINS (since not show), then click in the input field, then FINALLY type in the filter.

Anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks
Bruce

aware_support

Why can't you use the "Default operator" setting in the filters dialog?

pureist

aware_support wrote
Why can't you use the "Default operator" setting in the filters dialog?

..because 'default operator' setting only works when the filter is is a separate row at the top of the grid.
setting the 'default operator' to 'contains' for instance, is not respected when the filter in the the column menu, and it will always have 'is equal to' as the default irrespective.
frustrating.. YES!
irregular behavior.. YES!

aware_support

We'll investigate this. In the meantime you can probably fix this using the following initialisation script for the query:

for (var i = 0; i < config.columns.length; ++ i)
{
if (config.columns.field == "AttributeNameCorrespondingToColumnWithFilter")
config.columns.filterable.cell = { operator: "contains" };
}

pureist

..a waste of screen real estate (because presently to use 'default operator' setting you have to sacrifice an entire row)? YES!
AND IF you're gonna make 'default setting' also work in a filter in a column menu, then the way it should work, in order to achieve the best end-user experience, is as follows:

after the user clicks the 'Filter' button following having entered filter values, the dropdown column menu SHOULD NOT COLLAPSE. IT SHOULD STAY OPEN.
It should stay open after the filter is applied so the user can change the filter values if they want and re-execute the filter operation.
Of course, this will require another action by the user to collapse the column menu (simply moving the mouse hover to not be over the expanded menu - not a hassle at all as they already have their hand on the mouse cause they clicked the Filter button, and only have to move the mouse pointer 1 cm).
NOT collapsing the column menu after the Filter button is clicked is precisely inline with how users work/think:
they apply a filter
they realize, based on the results, it wasn't ideal
they want to refine their filter text and filter again
they filter again
SO DON'T make them open the column menu again to change the filter value(s) just cause they want to execute another filter operation 5 seconds later after reviewing the results of the prior filter operation and realizing they were not as expected/wasted.

pureist

in addition to the previous post about not collapsing the column menu after the user clicks the "Filter" button (because they invariably want to filter again immediately to further refine their search) , what would deliver an even more elegant end-user experience insofar as filtering is concerned, is if when the filter is the in the column menu, the column menu is a bit longer and actually incorporates the filter value entry box(es) and "Filter" button, instead of the user having to move the mouse to the bottom of the drop-down column menu to "Filter >", then wait for the sub menu to pop out, then move the mouse to a filter value entry box and click it. as an additional benefit, the filter value entry boxes would inherently be wider because the main column menu is wider. below is precisely what I mean: