Filter

Now we would like to add a filter to the table. The user should have a text field in which we can enter a first- or lastname. Only the names which applies to this filter should get displayed.

Adding a filter to a view is simple, you use method addFilter() on the viewer, which expects a ViewFilter as argument. Each ViewFilter is checked the input on the viewer is changed of whenever the viewer.refresh();

Create a new Class "de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.filter.PersonFilter.java"

   
package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.filter;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.Viewer;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.ViewerFilter;

import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.Person;

public class PersonFilter extends ViewerFilter {

 private String searchString;

 public void setSearchText(String s) {
  // Search must be a substring of the existing value
  this.searchString = ".*" + s + ".*";
 }

 @Override
 public boolean select(Viewer viewer, Object parentElement, Object element) {
  if (searchString == null || searchString.length() == 0) {
   return true;
  }
  Person p = (Person) element;
  if (p.getFirstName().matches(searchString)) {
   return true;
  }
  if (p.getLastName().matches(searchString)) {
   return true;
  }

  return false;
 }
}

  

We will create a new text field in which the user can search. This text field will have a keyListener which updates the filter and the viewer. Change the View.java to the following .

   
package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewer;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewerColumn;
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.KeyAdapter;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.KeyEvent;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.SelectionAdapter;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.SelectionEvent;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridData;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Label;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Table;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.TableColumn;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Text;
import org.eclipse.ui.part.ViewPart;

import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.filter.PersonFilter;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.ModelProvider;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.providers.PersonContentProvider;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.providers.PersonEditingSupport;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.providers.PersonLabelProvider;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.sorter.TableSorter;

public class View extends ViewPart {
 public static final String ID = "de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.view";

 private TableViewer viewer;

 private TableSorter tableSorter;

 private PersonFilter filter;

 public void createPartControl(Composite parent) {
  GridLayout layout = new GridLayout(2, false);
  parent.setLayout(layout);
  Label searchLabel = new Label(parent, SWT.NONE);
  searchLabel.setText("Search: ");
  final Text searchText = new Text(parent, SWT.BORDER | SWT.SEARCH);
  searchText.setLayoutData(new GridData(GridData.GRAB_HORIZONTAL
    | GridData.HORIZONTAL_ALIGN_FILL));
  searchText.addKeyListener(new KeyAdapter() {
   public void keyReleased(KeyEvent ke) {
    filter.setSearchText(searchText.getText());
    viewer.refresh();
   }

  });
  viewer = new TableViewer(parent, SWT.MULTI | SWT.H_SCROLL
    | SWT.V_SCROLL | SWT.FULL_SELECTION | SWT.BORDER);
  createColumns(viewer);
  viewer.setContentProvider(new PersonContentProvider());
  viewer.setLabelProvider(new PersonLabelProvider());
  // Get the content for the viewer, setInput will call getElements in the
  // contentProvider
  viewer.setInput(ModelProvider.getInstance().getPersons());
  // Make the selection available
  getSite().setSelectionProvider(viewer);
  // Set the sorter for the table
  tableSorter = new TableSorter();
  viewer.setSorter(tableSorter);
  filter = new PersonFilter();
  viewer.addFilter(filter);

  // Layout the viewer
  GridData gridData = new GridData();
  gridData.verticalAlignment = GridData.FILL;
  gridData.horizontalSpan = 2;
  gridData.grabExcessHorizontalSpace = true;
  gridData.grabExcessVerticalSpace = true;
  gridData.horizontalAlignment = GridData.FILL;
  viewer.getControl().setLayoutData(gridData);
 }

 public TableViewer getViewer() {
  return viewer;
 }

 // This will create the columns for the table
 private void createColumns(final TableViewer viewer) {
  Table table = viewer.getTable();
  String[] titles = { "First name", "Last name", "Gender", "Married" };
  int[] bounds = { 100, 100, 100, 100 };

  for (int i = 0; i < titles.length; i++) {
   final int index = i;
   final TableViewerColumn viewerColumn = new TableViewerColumn(
     viewer, SWT.NONE);
   final TableColumn column = viewerColumn.getColumn();
   column.setText(titles[i]);
   column.setWidth(bounds[i]);
   column.setResizable(true);
   column.setMoveable(true);
   // Setting the right sorter
   column.addSelectionListener(new SelectionAdapter() {
    @Override
    public void widgetSelected(SelectionEvent e) {
     tableSorter.setColumn(index);
     int dir = viewer.getTable().getSortDirection();
     if (viewer.getTable().getSortColumn() == column) {
      dir = dir == SWT.UP ? SWT.DOWN : SWT.UP;
     } else {

      dir = SWT.DOWN;
     }
     viewer.getTable().setSortDirection(dir);
     viewer.getTable().setSortColumn(column);
     viewer.refresh();
    }
   });
   viewerColumn.setEditingSupport(new PersonEditingSupport(viewer, i));
  }
  table.setHeaderVisible(true);
  table.setLinesVisible(true);
 }

 /**
  * Passing the focus request to the viewer's control.
  */
 public void setFocus() {
  viewer.getControl().setFocus();
 }
}
  

Run the example, filtering should work.