Search, Sort, Filter
Description
Control over the display of the lists of forms and form types.
Discussion
The Forms List and the Form Types List each have buttons above the list that may be used to modify what is displayed in the list. This includes restricting the displayed items to those that include search text typed in by the user, grouping and sorting the items based on certain values, and filtering the list to only display items that meet specified criteria.
When any of searching, sorting, or filtering is active, the corresponding buttons will be highlighted and an indication of the number of displayed items will be shown right below the buttons. In addition, a Show All button will be displayed. Tapping the Show All button will clear the search text and disable filtering.
Search
Tapping the 
Search button brings up a textbox in which to type the text to be used as search text. As text is typed, the number of items matching that search text will be shown.
To apply the search to the list, tap the Apply Search button on the right, or press Return on the keyboard.
The x button may be used to clear the search text, selecting all items.
The Cancel button returns to displaying the list with searching as it was before the Search button was pressed.
When search is active, the Search button will be highlighted. The Show All button may be used to clear the search text and turn off filtering.
Which fields associated with an item that are searched for a match are specific to the account, form type, and user role. By default, just the form type name is searched. The account administrator may specify that other fields be included in the search, such as form data fields in forms of a certain type.
Sort
The Sort button displays a menu for specifying how the Forms List is ordered and filtered. For most accounts, by default all forms are listed in the order in which they were created, indicated by the Date item on the menu. The specific menu choices may be different for different accounts.
The menu choices are:
- Date
Sort by date/time created, with most recent last.
- Status
Group by the Status of the form, then by date/time created within the group. New forms usually start out with a status of "Open" or something similar. Once a form has been submitted, it may have a different status, such as "Submitted". The set of particular statuses are dependent upon the TransForm account and settings assigned by the form type designer.
- Form
Group by the Form Type name, then by date/time created within the group.
- Status, Form
Group by the Status of the form, and within that by Form Type name, then by date/time created within the group.
- Form, Status
Group by the Form Type name, and within that by the Status of the form, then by date/time created within the group.
When the Forms List is grouped by Status and/or Form there is an option to hide (collapse: –) or or show (expand: +) each group. Tap on the hide/show buttons or double-tap on the group header row to toggle.
Buttons to either Expand all rows or Collapse all rows for all of the groups will be shown above the list.
Filter
The Filter button displays a screen with options for filtering the displayed items in the list. If any of the filtering options are active, then only items that meet that criteria (and all other active criteria) will be displayed. As options are selected or deselected to be active, the number of items matching the active options will be shown.
The particular filtering options are a property of the account and the user role within that account. This property is set by the administrator of the account.
When filtering is active, the Filter button will be highlighted. The Show All button may be used to turn off filtering as well as clear the search text.
There are a few different types of filtering options:
- Has / Does Not Have attribute
This type of filtering option looks for the presence of a particular attribute of the item, such as if a form is unsaved or has any missing required fields.
The option is either active or inactive as indicated by a checkbox on the right. Tapping the option's row will toggle the check from inactive (no check) to active (checked).
- Matches predetermined attribute value
This type of filtering option looks for a match to any of a specified predetermined set of values for a field associated with the item. The field may be row "metadata" such as the form name, form ID, or status, or "formdata" particular to instances of a type of form.
The list of predetermined values may be shown or hidden using + and – buttons on the right side of the option row. Tapping the row toggles those buttons.
When the list of values is displayed, tapping the value row will toggle a checkbox that indicates whether or not that value is active.
Active filtering values are displayed on the filtering option row in bold.
The descriptive title of the filtering option and each of the values is determined by the account administrator.
Whether an exact match is required for the value, or just "contains specific text" is sufficient for a match, is determined by the account administrator when the filter is specified.
- Matches current attribute value
This type of filtering option is similar to the Matches predetermined attribute value option. Instead of testing for a value predetermined by the account administrator, though, this filtering option lists the current values for the specified field in all items and provides them as choices. Matching any of the active choices is considered a match for the filtering option.
The list of current values may be shown or hidden using + and – buttons on the right side of the option row. Tapping the row toggles those buttons.
When the list of values is displayed, tapping the value row will toggle a checkbox that indicates whether or not that value is active.
Active filtering values are displayed on the filtering option row in bold.
- Date attributes
This type of filtering option compares the current date to an attribute of the item. It is mainly for the optional "Due Date" (duedate) attribute of a form. An example would be to list only those forms whose Due Date was on or before the current date. The descriptive title of the filtering option and the type of comparison is determined by the account administrator.
The option is either active or inactive as indicated by a checkbox on the right. Tapping the option's row will toggle the check from inactive (no check) to active (checked).
Above the list of filters there are the following buttons:
- Apply
Set filtering for the current list to be as specified by the settings shown, and then return to displaying the list.
- Cancel
Ignore any changes that were made to the settings and return to the list.
- Clear All Filters
Reset all filters to be inactive and have no active values.
- Enable / Disable
This is a button that toggles between enabling filtering as defined by the settings and disabling filtering but preserving the active/inactive settings for reuse when filtering is re-enabled.
The default filtering options for the List of Forms are the three "Has attribute" filters "Unsaved forms", "Has errors", and "Required fields are missing", and the "Matches current attribute value" filter for the form type (only form types of forms in the full list will be shown in the list of values).
The default filtering option for the Form Types List is the "Matches current attribute value" filter for the form type.
See Also