The view settings dialog helps users to sort, filter, or group data within a (master) list or a table. The dialog is triggered by icon buttons in the table toolbar.

Usage

We recommend making each feature (sort, filter, group) available as a separate button in the table toolbar (see Button Placement below). Each button then triggers a separate dialog. If specifically required, you can combine the dialogs into one with a segmented button acting as tabs to switch between the sort, filter and group options. Note: In a combined dialog, the Reset button resets all tabs.

Use the view settings dialog if:

• Users need to sort line items in a manageable list or table (up to about 20 columns).
• You need to offer custom filter settings in a manageable list or table (up to about 20 columns).
• Users need to group line items in a manageable list or table (up to about 20 columns).

Do not use the view settings dialog if:

• You have complex tables (more than about 20 columns).
• Users need to rearrange columns within the table. Use the table personalization dialog instead.
• Users need very specific sort, filter, or column sorting options within complex tables. Use the P13n dialog instead.

Button Placement

Use distinct icon buttons for the sort, filter, and group settings. Place the icons in the following order:   (Sort),  (Filter),   (Group).

Do not place Sort, Filter, or Group buttons in the footer toolbar if they refer to a table.

For more information about the button placement, see Sort, Filter, Group (Generic) in the table toolbar article.

Sort, Group, and Filter a List

You can also offer the view setting features for a list.

Responsiveness

Behavior and Interaction

The sort, filter, and group features can all be applied to a table simultaneously.

Sort

The sort dialog shows two groups of sort settings. The first group offers general Ascending and Descending sort options. The second group offers attributes that fit the use case, such as Product, Supplier, Weight, or Price. The attributes can match the table columns, but because a table column can also contain several data points, such as “Name” and “Surname”, the attributes allow an attribute to be shown for each data point.

Users can select attributes using the radio buttons. Clicking OK closes the dialog and shows the table items in the selected order.

If a combined dialog is used, the first tab is the sort feature.

Filter

The filter dialog can offer a single filter selection list, a multi-filter selection list, or a category list. The category list provides an overview, and allows the user to drill down to detailed filter selection lists.

In a combined view settings dialog, filtering is on the second tab.

Filter Selection List – Single Selection

The dialog offers one selection list with radio buttons to select a filter. This list is useful for offering a list of preconfigured filters for a specific use, such as “Products with numbers ‘starting between 100 and 200’ with status ‘in stock’ and color ‘green’”.

Filter Selection List – Multi-Selection

You can also offer a multi-selection list. For example, a user might want to show all open items for both “Company A” and “Company D”.

Show Selected Only

If the user clicks the    button (Show Selected Only), only the selected filters are shown (for example, “Company A” and “Company D”). Clicking the button again shows all of the available filter values.

Category List

The filter dialog shows a single list of general filter categories depending on the use case, like Price or Height. The user chooses a category by clicking the list item, such as Price. As this is a simple drilldown, these categories do not have radio buttons. The follow-on dialog shows a list of optional filter settings in the Price category. These filters, such as Less than 100, depend on the use case. The user chooses a specific filter setting by selecting one of the radio buttons offered in this list. Clicking OK closes the dialog and shows the table items filtered by the selected attribute. The infobar shows which filter has been set.

Example: Filter Dialog with Category List

Free-Form Apps

You can also customize your own filter UIs, for example, to support date picking.

Filter Values

Filters can correspond to single values as well as groups, such as “<100.00 EUR”.

Filter Reset

The Reset button on the filter tab resets all filter settings.

Removing Filters

In single selection lists, offer a Not Filtered option. This enables users to remove existing filters.

Group

The group dialog shows two groups of attributes. The first group offers a general Ascending or Descending order, which allows the user to select the order in which the defined groups appear. The second group offers attributes that fit the use case, such as Type or Supplier.

You can also offer an attribute like Price to group data in a table.

Users can choose attributes using radio buttons or checkboxes. Clicking OK closes the dialog and shows the table with items grouped below headers.

In a combined view settings dialog, the group feature is the third tab.

Naming Group Headers

Guidelines

On the table toolbar, use different buttons for each function (sort, filter, group). With each button, open the View Settings dialog with just the corresponding tab.

If possible, give users the option not to filter or group. For sorting, this is only necessary if the use case calls for an unsorted list. In all three cases, show this option as the first entry in the list of criteria (remember to include the brackets):

• (Not Sorted)
• (Not Filtered)
• (Not Grouped)

Resources