Filter p:datatable by boolean column (checkbox)

Question

I am trying to filter my primefaces datatable by a boolean column using a checkbox filter but unfortunately filtering in primefaces datatable seems it does not work with any type other than String, but there should be a workaround for this case.

datatable column

<p:column headerText="A_boolean_column" filterBy="#{myBean.myBoolean}"  filterMatchMode="exact">
  <f:facet name="filter">
     <p:selectCheckboxMenu label="BooleanFilter" onchange="PF('mydatatable').filter()" styleClass="custom-filter">
       <f:selectItems value="#{myBean.possibleAnswers}" />
       <p:ajax update="@form" oncomplete="PF('mydatatable').filter();"/>
    </p:selectCheckboxMenu>
  </f:facet>
     <h:outputText value="#{myBean.myBoolean}"/>
</p:column>

where possibleAnswers variable is a list that has been initialized on init method of myBean with true && false values

      @PostConstruct
      public void init(){
        this.possibleAnswers= new ArrayList<>();
        possibleAnswers.add(true);
        possibleAnswers.add(false);
      }

I have similar working examples in my datatable with text values and are working perfectly. Of course I could do a workaround to fix my issue by converting the values from boolean ( true / false) into String ("true" / "false") ( or even write a custom function to check for equality)but I don't really like this solution and I would prefer any other out of the box solution ( perhaps a different filterMatchMode ? ).

I am using primefaces 7.0

Are you sure you need the PF('mydatatable').filter(); twice? Both in the onchance and the ajax on click? — Kukeltje
You are right, actually it seems redundant to put filter() in both places, would it possibly cause any side-effect? — NickAth
No (but I'd not use the ajax one...) Having an update of the form as well might cause weird behaviour — Kukeltje
Actually I am thinking.. wouldn't be wiser to filter the table on the complete method of the ajax event as the last event taking place? — NickAth
Doing ajax on the select is not good (it might even be undeterministic). If you need to update something other then the datatable (and excluding it, so e.g. not a form that surrounds the datatable), add an ajax filter event to the datable and do updates on on that. — Kukeltje

Proph3cy Proph3cy · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-29T13:37:01

Normally an input component has a 'value' attribute that is bound to a field (getter/setter) in a backing bean. The type of this field can be used to automatically convert the technical string of the http request to the correct java type. For a datatable filter this cannot be automatically done since there is no value attribute. Giving all components knowledge about all possible containers they can be used in is bad design. So the only and corrrect solution is to use an explicit converter.

Have a Look at the Implementation of the Status-Column in the PrimeFaces datatable filter showcase, as far as I see it it is exactly what you need

for Reference:

<p:column filterBy="#{myBean.myBoolean}" filterMatchMode="in">
   <f:facet name="filter"> 
      <p:selectCheckboxMenu label="BooleanFilter" 
         onchange="PF('mydatatable').filter()" styleClass="custom-filter"> 
         <f:converter converterId="javax.faces.Boolean" /> 
         <f:selectItems value="#{myBean.possibleAnswers}" /> 
         <p:ajax update="@form" oncomplete="PF('mydatatable').filter();"/> 
      </p:selectCheckboxMenu> 
   </f:facet> 
</p:column>

Filter p:datatable by boolean column (checkbox)

1 Answers