View filter type

A view filter can be created by a user to filter the rows of a view. Only the rows that apply to the filters are going to be displayed. There can be many types of filters like equals, contains, lower than, is empty, etc. These filter types can easily be added when creating a plugin.

Backend

We are going to create a really simple equals filter. This filter already exists, but because of its simplicity we are going to use it as an example. In your filter class you can define compatible field types. It will only be possible to create a filter in combination with those field types. The get_filter method should return a Django models.Q object which will automatically be added to the correct queryset. Because the field name is provided we can easily do a Q(**{field_name: value}) comparison with the provided value.

plugins/my_baserow_plugin/backend/src/my_baserow_plugin/view_filters.py

from django.db.models import Q

from baserow.contrib.database.views.registries import ViewFilterType


class EqualToViewFilterType(ViewFilterType):
    type = 'equal_to'
    compatible_field_types = ['text']

    def get_filter(self, field_name, value, model_field, field):
        value = value.strip()

        # If an empty value has been provided we do not want to filter at all.
        if value == '':
            return Q()

        # Check if the model_field accepts the value.
        try:
            value = model_field.get_prep_value(value)
            return Q(**{field_name: value})
        except Exception:
            pass

        return Q()

Finally, we need to register the view filter in the registry.

plugins/my_baserow_plugin/backend/src/my_baserow_plugin/config.py

from django.apps import AppConfig

from baserow.core.registries import plugin_registry
from baserow.contrib.database.views.registries import view_filter_type_registry


class PluginNameConfig(AppConfig):
    name = 'my_baserow_plugin'

    def ready(self):
        from .plugins import PluginNamePlugin
        from .view_filters import EqualToViewFilterType

        plugin_registry.register(PluginNamePlugin())
        view_filter_type_registry.register(EqualToViewFilterType())

API request

After creating the filter type you can create a filter by making the following API request. Note that you must already have a grid view that contains some fields.

POST /api/database/views/{view_id}/filters/
Host: api.baserow.io
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "field": {field_id},
  "type": "equal_to",
  "value": "Example"
}

or

curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -i https://api.baserow.io/api/database/views/{view_id}/filters/ --data '{
  "field": {field_id},
  "type": "equal_to",
  "value": "Example"
}'

Now that the filter has been created you can refresh your grid view by calling the list_database_table_grid_view_rows endpoint. It will now only contain the rows that apply to the filter.

GET /api/database/views/grid/{view_id}/
Host: api.baserow.io
Content-Type: application/json

or

curl -X GET -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -i https://api.baserow.io/api/database/views/grid/{view_id}/'

Web frontend

This filter also needs to be added to the web frontend, otherwise it does not know the filter exists. You can add the filter by creating a new ViewFilterType class and register it with the viewFilter registry. the getName method should return a string that is visible to the user when choosing the filter. The getInputComponent method handles the user input of the value. By default no input is shown. The getCompatibleFieldTypes should return a list of field type names that are compatible with the filter. The last method is named matches and we use this to check if a value is compatible applies to the filter in real time.

It is unfortunate that we need to have the same code in two places, but because the filtering needs to happen at the backend and frontend for real time comparison we do need this. More specifically the frontend uses the filtering code to check if after a row is edited if it still matches the views current filters. If it doesn’t then a warning will be displayed to the user that if they save their edit, the row will be filtered out of view.

plugins/my_baserow_plugin/web-frontend/viewTypes.js

import { ViewFilterType } from '@baserow/modules/database/viewFilters'
import ViewFilterTypeText from '@baserow/modules/database/components/view/ViewFilterTypeText'

export class EqualViewFilterType extends ViewFilterType {
  static getType() {
    return 'equal_to'
  }

  getName() {
    return 'is 2'
  }

  getInputComponent() {
    // The component that handles the value input, in this case we use the existing
    // text input, but it is also possible to create a custom component. It should
    // follow v-model principle.
    return ViewFilterTypeText
  }

  getCompatibleFieldTypes() {
    return ['text']
  }

  matches(rowValue, filterValue) {
    if (rowValue === null) {
      rowValue = ''
    }

    rowValue = rowValue.toString().toLowerCase().trim()
    filterValue = filterValue.toString().toLowerCase().trim()
    return filterValue === '' || rowValue === filterValue
  }
}

plugins/my_baserow_plugin/web-frontend/plugin.js

import { PluginNamePlugin } from '@my-baserow-plugin/plugins'
import { EqualViewFilterType } from '@my-baserow-plugin/viewFilters'

export default (context) => {
  const { app } = context
  app.$registry.register('plugin', new PluginNamePlugin(context))
  app.$registry.register('viewFilter', new EqualViewFilterType(context))
}

Once you have added this code, a new filter to a view and have selected a text field you should be able to select the is 2 filter. It should also be possible to provide a text value to compare the field value with.

View type Field converter