Search

• Dec 10, 2020
• 7 minutes to read

The built-in Search Panel allows users to find information within the GridControl:

Tip

Demos:

• Search Panel - Filter Mode
• Search Panel - Highlight Mode

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Keyboard Operations

To display the Search Panel, a user should do one of the following:

• Press Ctrl + F.
• Click the Show Search Panel button ( ).
• Select the Show Search Panel item in a column’s context menu.

To hide the Search Panel, a user should do one of the following:

• Press Esc (the first press clears the search box; the second press closes the Search Panel).
• Click the Close button ( ).
• Select the Hide Search Panel item in a column’s context menu.

To move focus from the Search Panel to the grid’s data area, a user should press Down Arrow.

To show the MRU search drop-down list, a user should press Alt + Down Arrow.

Tip

Set the DataViewBase.ShowSearchPanelMode property to ShowSearchPanelMode.Always to always display the Search Panel.

Set the DataViewBase.ShowSearchPanelMode property to ShowSearchPanelMode.Never to prohibit users from displaying the Search Panel.

Filter and Highlight Modes

You can specify how to show search results:

• Filter Mode - hides records that do not match the query and highlights results in the view.
• Highlight Mode - highlights results in the view. Set the DataViewBase.SearchPanelAllowFilter property to false to enable the Highlight mode.

Filter Mode (SearchPanelAllowFilter = True)

Highlight Mode (SearchPanelAllowFilter = False)

Search Panel UI

Search String

A user specifies a search string in the Search Panel‘s edit box. Use the DataViewBase.SearchString property to specify a search string in code.

Note

Searches performed with the Search Panel are case-insensitive.

Null Text

The text displayed in the Search Panel‘s edit box when the search text is null. Use the DataViewBase.SearchPanelNullText property to specify the null text.

Result Info Panel

Shows information about search results in the Search Panel. Set the DataViewBase.ShowSearchPanelResultInfo property to true to show the result info panel.

Note

The result info panel is not displayed when the Search Panel is in Filter mode (the DataViewBase.SearchPanelAllowFilter property value is true).

Navigation Buttons

Allow users to navigate through search results. Set the DataViewBase.ShowSearchPanelNavigationButtons property to true to show navigation buttons in the Search Panel.

MRU Button

Allows users to invoke the MRU search drop-down list. Set the DataViewBase.ShowSearchPanelMRUButton property to true show the MRU button in the Search Panel.

The MRU search drop-down list displays the most recently used search strings. If the DataViewBase.SearchPanelImmediateMRUPopup property value is true, the MRU search drop-down is invoked when a user types in the Search Panel.

Find Button

The GridControl starts to search data after the delay the DataViewBase.SearchDelay property specifies.

Set the DataViewBase.SearchPanelFindMode property to FindMode.FindClick to make the GridControl start to search data when a user presses Enter or clicks the Find button. To show the Find button in the Search Panel, set the DataViewBase.ShowSearchPanelFindButton property to true.

Close Button

Closes the Search Panel. Set the DataViewBase.ShowSearchPanelCloseButton property to false to hide the Close button.

Search Panel Positions

The Search Panel is merged with the Group Panel:

Set the GridViewBase.SearchPanelPosition property to SearchPanelPosition.OverGroupPanel to show the Search Panel over the Group Panel:

You can specify the DataViewBase.SearchPanelHorizontalAlignment property to set the Search Panel‘s alignment. In the following image, the Search Panel is stretched.

Search Syntax

• Single keyword.

  Sales - Selects records that contain the “Sales” string in any search column.

  

• To search for a string that contains a space character, specify this string in quotation marks.

  "Sales Manager" - Selects records that contain “Sales Manager” in any search column.

  

• Without quotation marks, words separated by the space character are treated as individual conditions.

  Sales Manager - Selects records that contain either “Sales” or “Manager” strings in any search column.

  

• To search against a specific column, precede a search string with the column’s display name plus a colon character.

  Instead of the complete name, you can partially specify the display name using the initial characters of a column’s display name. A search is performed against the first column whose display name starts with the specified substring. To search against a column whose display caption contains space characters, specify the column’s display caption in quotation marks.

  Group:Sales - Selects records that contain “Sales” in the column that starts with “Group”.

  

  If the search string contains multiple conditions separated by space characters, and at least one condition defines a search against a specific column, only records that match all of these conditions are shown (i.e., the conditions are combined by the AND logical operator). If there is no column specification, records that match at least one of these conditions are shown (i.e., the conditions are combined by the OR logical operator).

  Group:Sales Manager - Selects records that contain “Sales” in the column that starts with “Group”, and also contain “Manager” in any search column.

  

• Precede a condition with + to display only records that match this condition. The + specifier allows you to implement the logical AND operator. There should be no space character between the + sign and the condition.

  Sales +Specialist - Selects records that contain both “Sales” and “Specialist” in search columns.

  

• Precede a condition with - to exclude records that match this condition from the result set. There should be no space between the - sign and the condition.

  Sales -Specialist - Selects records that contain “Sales” excluding records that contain “Specialist”.

  

  If the expression contains the - character, quotation marks are ignored.

• You can combine different operators.

  Sales +Representative -"United States" - Selects records that contain both “Sales” and “Representative” in search columns, excluding records that contain “United States”.

  

Parse Modes

Use the DataViewBase.SearchPanelParseMode property to specify how the search string is parsed.

Tip

Demo: Search Panel - Parse Modes

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“Exact” Mode

The exact match. If the search string contains the space characters, the words are not treated separately:

“And” Mode

Search words are combined by the AND operator:

“Or” Mode

Search words are combined by the OR operator:

To use the AND operator for a search word, add the + character before this word:

“Mixed” (Default) Mode

Search words are combined by the OR operator:

The operator changes to AND if you specify a column name before a search word:

Related API

SearchColumns Property

The DataViewBase.SearchColumns property specifies the field names against which searches are performed.

Default property value is *. In this case, a search is performed against all visible columns. To search against specific columns, specify the corresponding field names, delimiting them with the ; character. You can use the ColumnBase.AllowSearchPanel property to specify whether the column data is taken into account when using the Search Panel.

SearchPanelFindFilter Property

The DataViewBase.SearchPanelFindFilter property specifies the type of the comparison operator used to create filter conditions.

SearchPanelHighlightResults Property

The DataViewBase.SearchPanelHighlightResults property specifies whether to highlight search strings within the located records.

SearchPanelHighlightResults = True

SearchPanelHighlightResults = False

Tip

Set the TableView.ScrollBarAnnotationMode / TreeListView.ScrollBarAnnotationMode property to SearchResult to highlight results on the scrollbar.

SearchStringToFilterCriteria Event

The DataViewBase.SearchStringToFilterCriteria occurs after the search string is changed.

The following code sample shows how to make the Search Panel search for a string that contains a space character without the need to specify this string in quotation marks:

Xaml

<dxg:TableView 
    SearchStringToFilterCriteria="TableView_SearchStringToFilterCriteria"
    SearchString="Alex Mercer" SearchPanelAllowFilter="False"/> 

C#

void TableView_SearchStringToFilterCriteria(object sender, SearchStringToFilterCriteriaEventArgs e) {
    e.Filter = CriteriaOperator.Parse(string.Format("Contains([Name], '{0}')", e.SearchString));
}

VB.NET

Private Sub TableView_SearchStringToFilterCriteria(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As SearchStringToFilterCriteriaEventArgs)
    e.Filter = CriteriaOperator.Parse(String.Format("Contains([Name], '{0}')", e.SearchString))
End Sub 

Tip

GitHub Example: How to Search a String with Spaces

Limitations

• In master-detail mode, each panel is displayed within the root master grid and searches only against that root dataset.

• In virtual sources, the Search Panel is disabled by default. Refer to the Enable Search Panel topic to learn how to enable the Search Panel.