This topic explains how to create custom grid views and tailor them to your needs. The default set of columns displayed are not always what you need to see, or you may want to maintain several ways of viewing the same grid of data. Custom grid views allow you to display columns you want in the order you wish, with
filters, sorts and aggregate functions applied. Custom grid views can be saved for easy reference, or used as the default display for a dataset. Editors, administrators, and users granted "Shared View Editor" access can create and share customized views with other users.
Customize a Grid View
To customize a grid for a given dataset, open the dataset, then select
(Grid Views) > Customize Grid.
- Tabs: The tabs contain tools for:
- Available Fields: Shows the fields available for display. Place a checkmark next to a field to display it. Greyed out items are not fields, but table names. Click and buttons to expand/collapse fields in those tables.
- Selected Fields: Shows the list of fields currently shown in the grid.
- Delete: Deletes the current grid view. You cannot delete the default grid view.
- Revert: Returns the grid to its original default state.
- View Grid: Click to preview your changes. When viewing a modified grid with unsaved changes, the top bar will include revert, edit, and save buttons.
- Save: Click to save your changes as the default view or as a new named grid. Saved grid views appear on the (Grid Views) pulldown menu.
Add Columns
- To add a column to the grid, place a checkmark next to the field in the Available Fields pane. The field will be added to the Selected Fields pane.
- Hover over any selected field name to see a popup with more information about the key and datatype of that field, as well as a description if one has been added.
- To change the column display name, click the icon.
Notice the checkbox for
Show hidden fields. Hidden fields typically contain metadata about the grid displayed. Learn more about common hidden fields for lists and datasets in
this topic.
Add Columns from Other Datasets
In the
Available Fields panel, a
button indicates fields that are linked to other datasets through joins. When two or more datasets share a key field, that field can be used to construct joins between datasets. In this way, you can see columns from two or more datasets in one view. This combined view is the equivalent of a SQL SELECT query with one or more inner joins. For more information on joined views, see
Join Columns from Multiple Tables.
- To add fields from other datasets, expand the plus sign next to the "DataSets" node.
- Expand the node of the dataset of interest.
- Check boxes next to the desired fields.
Reorder Fields
To reorder the columns, drag and drop the fields in the
Selected Fields pane. Columns will appear left to right as they are listed top to bottom. Note that the display order is changed, but no changes happen to the underlying data table.
Remove Columns
- To remove a column, hover over the field in the Selected Fields pane, and click the icon.
- You can also remove a column directly from the grid itself by clicking the column header and selecting Remove Column.
Sort and Filter
You can further refine your grid view by saving filters and sorts with the column configuration developed above.
- View the data grid.
- Apply filters and sorts by clicking the column headers and using the direct menu options.
- When satisfied, select (Grid Views) > Customize Grid.
- Find your filters and sorts on the Filter and Sort tabs. A number in parentheses will indicate the number present. Here we show 1 filter and 2 sorts.
- Each sort or filter is represented as the column with a selector for the type of filter or direction in the case of sorts. On the tab in the view customizer, you can reorder by dragging and dropping, or change the direction or filter criteria using the pulldown menus.
- Use View Grid to preview the grid with your changes.
Important note about filtering: If a grid view is available to all users, whether it's the default view or a custom view, it's possible to filter it in a way that's unexpected to the user. For example, if you filter the Issues grid on all issues whose priority is 0, 1, or 2 (
e.g., Pri less than or equal to 2), and the user filters on issues whose priority is 3, no rows will be returned. But this does not necessarily mean that there are no Pri=3 rows in the table, because they are already being filtered out by the pre-defined filter.
Note: When saving or modifying grid views of
assay data, note that run filters may have been saved with your grid view. For example, if you customize the default grid view while viewing a single run of data, then import a new run, you may not see the new data because of this filter. To resolve this issue:
- Select (Grid Views) > Customize Grid.
- Click the Filters tab.
- Clear the Row ID filter by clicking the 'X' on it's line.
- Click Save, confirm Default grid view for this page is selected.
- Click Save again.
Save Grid Views
- When you are satisfied with your grid, click Save.
- By default, you will save your changes as the Default grid view for this page.
- To save an alternate option for users, select Named, and enter a title for the new grid view.
- By default a customized grid is private to you. If you have "Editor" permissions (or higher) in the current folder, you can make a grid available to all users by checking the box Make this grid view available to all users.
- In this example, we named the grid "My Custom Grid View" and you can see it was added to the (Grid Views) pulldown menu.
When the list of saved grid views is long, a
Filter box is added. Type to narrow the list making it easier to find the grid view you want.
Reset the Default Grid View
- To set the default view to an existing view, select (Grid Views) > Set Default.
- Select the grid you prefer from the list available.
Revert to the Original Default Grid View
- To revert any customizations to the default grid view, open it using (Grid Views) > default.
- Select (Grid Views) > Customize Grid.
- Click the Revert button.
Views Web Part
To create a web part listing all the customized views in your folder, an administrator can create an additional web part:
- Enter > Page Admin Mode
- In the lower left, select Views from the Select Web Part menu.
- Click Add.
- The web part will show saved grid views, reports, and charts sorted by categories you assign. Here we see the new grid view we just created.
Inheritance: Making Custom Grids Available in Child Folders
In some cases custom grids can be made available in child folders.
When saving a custom grid select the checkbox
Make this grid view available in child folders.
The following table types support grid view inheritance in this way:
| Table Type | Supports Inheritance into Child Folders? |
|---|
| Query | Yes (Also see Edit Query Properties) |
| Linked Queries | Yes (Also see Edit Query Properties) |
| Lists | No |
| Datasets | No |
| Query Snapshots | No |
| Assay Data | Yes |
| Sample Types | Yes |
| Data Classes | Yes |
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