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Date filters generally define an interval where results should be located. Using “DateRange” filters, the developer can easily add a filter which will allow the user to define the interval setting its “From” and “To” date.
In many cases some intervals (relative to the current date) are used very frequently, sometimes even exclusively. In those cases, the user will probably prefer to select the interval, rather than selecting its start and end dates. To support this scenario, K2BTools includes two types of DateRange filters: “Manual”, and “Semantic”. The developer can choose among these two types using the “Date Range Type” property.
When using Manual Date Range filters, the following UI will be generated.
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| Date range filters, manual input type = TwoFields |
Using this UI, the user can select both the start and end dates for the interval, with complete flexibility. The developer can determine the default values for the start and end of the interval. Additionally, developer can choose between two fields with its own calendar (as shown in the picture above) or only one field with a calendar (as it is shown in the example bellow).
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| Date range filters, manual input type = OneField |
Using this option, the end user is given a unified control to enter both the “From” and “To” values, where:
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The current selection is highlighted.
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Two months are shown, to simplify the selection of ranges starting in one month and finishing in the next one.
To select between one filed or two fields, date range filters have the “Manual Input Type” property that can be set either to “TwoFileds” or "OneField".
When using this type of filter, the following UI will be generated.
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| Semantic Filter |
Using this UI, the user can quickly choose among the predefined options in the combobox. If the developer allows it, the user can also choose the “Other” option. When that option is selected, the UI will be updated like this.
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| Manual Option |
The developer can customize the filter using the following properties:
- Semantic Date Ranges: Defines the options present in the combobox and its default value. See more information below.
- Include Manual Option: Determines if the “Other…” option should be included.
- Date Range Empty Item, Date Range Empty Item Text: Determine if the “(All)” option should be included, and its text.
- Range Selector Control: Defines the UI for the range selector list. May be "Combo", as in the previous examples, or "List", as in the example below.
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| Range Selector Control = "List" |
This property is used to define the ranges available to the end user. To determine which ranges should be available by default, the developer must evaluate the data that will be filtered, and frequent values for the use case that the user will be executing.
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Example 1:
In a banking application, the user may be able to see the movements in its accounts. In that case, the user may filter “By month” frequently. In that case, The ranges could be:
- Current Month
- Last Month
- 2 Months ago
- …
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Example 2:
In an ecommerce application, the user be searching for an order whose exact date he doesn’t remember, but can estimate. In that case, the user may find something like this attractive:
- Last 30 days
- Last 60 days
- Last 120 days
- …
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K2BTools includes the definition for some common sets out of the box. The developer can redefine those sets, or create new ones. Also, those sets can be created for a particular filter or globally in the KB.
When creating a filter, the developer can choose from one of the globally-defined sets, or create a new independent set. To create an independent set the developer may override one of the default sets defined in a KB level. If the developer chooses not to override the set’s ranges, changes in the KB-level configuration will impact the filter.
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| Date Range set definition |
For each range, the developer must determine: its “InternalName”, an identifier inside the set, its “Description”, which should contain a GeneXus expression used to calculate the range description in runtime, and its “From” and “To” expressions, which will be used to calculate the From and To dates in runtime. If one of these expressions is empty, the range will not include its corresponding condition.
In this dialog, the developer may also select the default selected range. If left blank, the first available option will be selected by default.
To do this, use the “Default Semantic Date Ranges” property in K2BWebPanelDesignerSettings and K2BToolsPatterns General Settings. The sets defined in this property will be available in the “Default Range Set” combo when defining a filter.
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