Filter data

Creating filters is an essential part of building a focused and effective dashboard. Filters enable you to specify one or more search conditions to limit the features from the source layers that are used to power your dashboard's data visualizations. Only layer features that meet the search conditions you define are used to render the dashboard's elements.

Filters can be applied at design time, when you're configuring the dashboard, or at run time when you're configuring selectors as part of an interactive dashboard experience.

Note that any filter conditions that have been applied to a web map's operational layer or to a web layer item that are used in a dashboard are respected. All filter conditions that you configure in the dashboard are implemented in addition to any predefined filter conditions that have already been created.

Filter condition components

In general, a filter condition is composed of a field name, an operator, and a value or values. These are specified in the first, second, and if applicable, third settings that appear when creating a filter, respectively.

condition = <field name> <operator > <a value or values>

Operators can be broken down into the following categories based on their general purposes:

  • Comparison
  • Fixed comparison
  • Relative comparison
  • List
  • Null or empty value
  • Pattern match
  • Range
When configuring a filter, the available operators are determined by the type of field you choose and whether the field contains coded strings. The following table lists the available operators based on these factors:

Operator purposeField type and coded string

Comparison

equal

unique, number, decimal, string, coded string

not equal

unique, number, decimal, string, coded string

greater than

unique, number, decimal

greater than or equal

unique, number, decimal

less than

unique, number, decimal

less than or equal

unique, number, decimal

Fixed comparison

is

date

is not

date

is before

date

is or is before

date

is after

date

is or is after

date

Relative comparison

is within the last

date

is before the last

date

is within the next

date

is after the next

date

List

include

unique, number, string, coded string

does not include

unique, number, string, coded string

Null or empty

is null

number, decimal, date, string, coded string

is not null

number, decimal, date, string, coded string

is empty

string

is not empty

string

Pattern match

starts with

string

does not start with

string

ends with

string

does not end with

string

contains

string

does not contain

string

Range

between

unique, number, decimal

not between

unique, number, decimal

For additional details about fixed and relative comparison operators, see Date-based filter conditions.

Note:

To filter features effectively, the layer must support standardized SQL functions.

The last step of configuring a filter condition is specifying the value or values. Which values you can define and how to define them depend on the purpose of the operator you chose as summarized in the following table:

Operator purpose Options for specifying value

Comparison

Choose a specific value or another field.

Fixed comparison

Choose a time period, enter a specific value, or choose a field.

Relative date comparison

Enter a date unit multiplier and specify date units.

List

Enter one or multiple values.

Null or empty

N/A

Pattern match

Enter a value to match against.

Range

Enter a lower bound value and upper bound value.

Combine filter conditions

Filter conditions can be combined to create complex expressions. There is no limit to the number of conditions you can include in your filter. When combining conditions, two logical operators are offered: AND and OR. For instance, you can make the following expression:

expression = condition1 AND condition2 OR condition3

If you click AND, the element displays information about features that satisfy both conditions simultaneously. For instance, if you want an indicator to display information about emergency incidents that occurred on a certain date (condition1) and have not been responded to yet (condition2), join the two conditions by clicking AND.

If you click OR, the element displays information about features that satisfy one condition, the other condition, or both conditions simultaneously. For example, if you want an indicator to display information about emergency incidents that occurred on two specific dates, combine the two conditions for each date by clicking OR.

Note that for unique, number, string, and coded string field types, you can avoid combining conditions using the operators include or does not include, which enable you to enter multiple unique values.