Filter List Dialog Box (Report Builder)

When adding an entity to the filter area in the Filter Data dialog box and specifying certain comparison operators, you need to select which instance(s) of the entity that you want to use in your filter. If the list of instances is small enough, a list of the items is displayed when you click the criteria area. For example, if you add the Customer entity to your filter area and you only have 50 customers, all 50 customers are listed in a drop-down list and you can select the check box for each customer that you want to add to the filter. However, suppose you have 10,000 customers; to work with a list this large would simply not be practical.

In situations where the entity contains a large quantity of data and you need to select which items to use in the filter, Report Builder automatically launches the Filter List dialog box when you click the no values selected criterion within the filter clause on the Filter Data dialog box. Use the Filter List dialog box to reduce the number of items listed in the drop-down list box that is displayed in the filter. The purpose of the Filter List dialog box is to help you pre-filter the data that you want to add to your filter.

The Available data list is pre-populated when the number of entities is less than a pre-determined value set in the data source. To reduce the number of items listed in the Available data list, you can type a word in the Filter text box and then click the Filter button.

The Available data list is not pre-populated when the number of available entities exceeds the pre-determined value set in the data source. In this case, a filter is required and the Filter List dialog box opens with a Find button, which is used to open a second Filter Data dialog box. From here, you can create a filter that returns only those items from which you want to select. After filtering the data, the Available data list is populated with the items returned in your filter.

After you have filtered your data to a manageable list, you can select the items that you want to display in your criteria drop-down list by moving them to the Selected data list. When you click OK, the items in the Selected data list are displayed in a drop-down list in your original filter.

Options

  • Find
    Click to filter the number of items that you want to display in the Available data list box. If you are required to perform a filter, the Find button is displayed. When clicked, a new Filter Data dialog box is displayed. Apply a valid filter and click OK. When the Filter List dialog box is displayed again, the Available data list is populated.
  • Available data
    Select which items that you want to add to the drop down list in your filter. This list might be pre-populated. Otherwise, you need to click the Find button to populate it.
  • Add
    Click to move the selected items from the Available data list to the Selected data list.
  • Add All
    Click to move all the items in the Available data list to the Selected data list.
  • Selected data
    Displays all the items that will be added to the filter criterion drop down list in the Filter Data dialog box.
  • Delete
    Select an item and click to remove it from the Selected data list.
  • Filter
    To reduce the number of visible items in the Available data list, type a word and click the Filter button. For example, if your list consists of product names and you are only interested in products that have the word 'mountain' in their names, type the word 'mountain' to display only those items. This option is only available when the Available data list is pre-populated

See Also

Reference

Filter Data Dialog Box (Report Builder)

Other Resources

Working with Filters (Report Builder)
Specifying Criteria for a Filter Condition (Report Builder)

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance