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Neutral Filter Mode

  • 2 minutes to read

Overview

The filter elements show all items selected by default, to indicate that no filtering is currently taking place. Starting from this state, users typically begin each filtering operation by deselecting All, before they select individual items.

An extra click is required to begin any actual filtering operation, because the standard filter mode shows all items selected. This is not an optimal implementation for performance reasons, because it generates filtering criteria that are evaluated by the data layer and/or the database.

The dashboard in the image below illustrates how the filter elements are initialized in standard filter mode.

To solve these issues, the Neutral Filter Mode is implemented. It is neutral in the sense that it does not apply any criteria to the data source in its default state, resulting in improved performance.

All items are shown deselected. This means that an extra click is no longer required in the most common scenarios, and this behavior is familiar to end users from websites world-wide.

The Neutral Filter Mode helps in a situation when there is a potential “dead lock”, due to the fact that multiple filter elements influence each other. The Clear Master Filter button resets the filters.

There is a situation when a deadlock occurs in Neutral Filter mode and the end-user is unable to resolve it. Two Radio type list boxes have the ShowAllValue property set to false, as illustrated in the picture below. Items filter each other, and the master filter contains only data related to the year 2007.

API

To switch on the Neutral Filter Mode, use the following properties:

Platform

Property

WinForms Designer

DashboardDesigner.UseNeutralFilterMode

WinForms Viewer

DashboardViewer.UseNeutralFilterMode

WinForms Designer

DashboardDesigner.UseNeutralFilterMode

Web Forms Dashboard

ASPxDashboard.UseNeutralFilterMode

MVC Dashboard

DashboardExtensionSettings.UseNeutralFilterMode

.NET Core Dashboard

DashboardBuilder.UseNeutralFilterMode

HTML JavaScript Dashboard

DashboardControlOptions.useNeutralFilterMode