Guest Author: Peter Allen
BitsOfSharePoint

On Oct. 20th I released a solution that would filter any list in SharePoint.  The purpose of the solution was to make it easy to get to the information needed from the list currently being viewed.  Original article: jQuery – List and Document Library Filtering Solution In the latest version 2.0 the purpose has not changed, but improvements have been added.   Based on feedback from others there were a few features requested.

Here is what has been improved in version 2.0:

• Speed Improvements – Improved the speed to display the results by 4x for large lists.
• Grouped Lists – Added a solution to better able grouped list filtering.
• Add Comments – You can easily add comments to the filter box for the end-user.
• Filter Box Position – You can now easily position the filter box to the left, center or right on the page.
• New Options Interface – The new options interface makes it so that any of the above customizations can be done code free.

Speed

The first version slowed a bit for larger lists.  I reworked the code to bring additional improvements to the speed of showing the filtered results.  As a result the filtering is about 4 times faster than before.  This should make filtering larger list much better.

Grouped Lists

The first version did not handle grouped lists if they were collapsed.  There are a few challenges with collapsed lists.  The big one is that none of the data in the list is loaded.  This is good from a page loading stand point and makes the page come up faster.  But since there is no data loaded the Filter List has nothing to filter and the results show nothing.  The solution I deployed uses one of Paul Grenier’s jQuery solutions to expand all groupings.  So the solution provides a link to expand all groupings.  This will then load all the data and the Filter List solution will then have something to filter.  You will notice that grouping headers disappear after filtering.  I do not keep the grouping headers for several reasons.  The grouping header shows how many items are in that group.  This is calculated at the server and then displayed locally.  It would mean that when filtered the groupings would still show the original number of items in a group.  So as not to confuse people the groupings are removed.

This image shows the new option to expand groups.  This will only show up if the list is grouped.

Add Comments

You now have the ability to add comments to be show in the Filter Box.  I noticed on some implementations that people added comments and so I made this a feature.  It is very simple; if comments are added the options interface (read below)  then it will show.  If the comments field is blank then the comments area does not shows up.  This is all done with the new interface that I will explain more below.

This image shows what it looks like with comments added.

Filter Box Position

I realized that some people like to have the filter box in different places.  So I added the feature where you can designate if the filter box is to the right, center or left on the page.  Again, no need to go into the code to figure this out.  You can do this all from the new interface.

Options Interface

To improve on the end-user experience I have implemented a new way to make changes to various aspect of the solution without having to go into the code.  All of the changes can now be done through the Rich Text Editor (RTE).  That is correct, just choose Modify Shared Web Part for the edit pull down and then select Rich Text Editor in right panel.  You will then be presented with a view of the options that can be changed.  All the gray boxes are values that can be changed.  Simply follow the Option’s Help to make the necessary changes.  I will be deploying this on all future solutions.  For CEWP solution developers I will be launching a site that will go over how to integrate this into your solutions.

This image shows the new end-user interface to be code free in making changes.

Conclusion

Filter List version 2.0 now has improved speed, ability to address grouped lists, add comments, position the filter box, and a new options interface to make it easy to change these options.  I look forward to your feedback on this latest version.

The new version 2.0 can be found here:  http://www.bitsofsharepoint.com/ExamplePoint/Site/ListSearch.aspx

Guest Author: Peter Allen
BitsOfSharePoint

Peter Allen is a SharePoint enthusiast and evangelist having deployed solutions in Healthcare, financial, and engineering firms.  He has worked in the technology field for 15 years creating solutions both internally and externally for clients. He has worked at start-ups, mid and larger corporations and has consulted.  He currently hosts a site http://www.bitsofsharepoint.com where he blogs about solutions to extend the features of SharePoint.