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Navigation - Grid View
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Written by BLDR TEAM
Updated over a week ago

BLDR can display records in a grid view (data grid) similar to Microsoft Excel. Records can be sorted, filtered, and searched easily in grid views. The BLDR grid supports various advanced features such as mass editing of multiple records, exporting data, and some key mathematical operations.

The grid allows very large sets of data to be displayed without overloading the browser. Additionally, you are able to customize your grid view and save the layout also known as grid state so every time you return your data is organized with your personal view.

Features & Key Items

  • Make sure to review the Navigation - Filters section to learn about grid filters.

  • To switch between the List View and Grid View click the gear icon located on the right side of the top toolbar.

  • To view or edit a record from the grid view left click the edit icon located at the beginning of the corresponding row. Note: If you right click the edit icon then the record will open in a new tab.

  • To select individual rows or multiple rows within the grid use the check boxes to the left of each row. The uppermost checkbox will select all the rows in the grid.

  • Each field in the grid has a corresponding down arrow to the right of the column header which displays a context menu of actions you can take on the column such as sorting, grouping, aggregation, etc.

  • The grid menu can be accessed by clicking the three-bar icon at the top right of the grid. 

  • The grid menu allows you to perform various actions on the records in the grid such as show/hide columns/fields, edit selected records, delete selected records, export records, etc.

  • To create a new record click the + button on the bottom toolbar. If no + button is present you do not have permission to create new records within the form type. 

  • The navigational breadcrumbs above the search bar display your current location within BLDR and additionally are a clickable navigation tool. For example, Projects > Current Project > RFI's > Current RFI. When a user clicks Current Project BLDR will navigate back to the Current Project from the Related RFI.

Sorting

  • By default, data in tables is sorted in ascending order by the first column. 

  • To sort a field, click the column header. When sorting is ascending, an upward arrow appears next to the column name. When sorting is descending, a downward arrow appears.

  • When clicking on a column heading the sort direction will cycle to ascending, then descending, then back to unsorted. 

  • Multiple columns can be sorted by shift-clicking on the 2-n columns. 

  • When sorting using the menus, the sorts are additive. So if you have one column sorted and you pick another sort from a column menu, it will add on to the existing sort rather than replacing it. You need to use the 'remove sort' option on the existing column if you don't want to sort by it any more.

  • When sorting using the headers, clicking on a header removes all other sorts unless you shift-click.

  • The sort is automatically recalculated when you edit a field.

  • The sort algorithm is chosen based on the column type. The grid will guess the type based on the data.

Filtering

  • Filters are used to separate desired records from the stack of other records and capture them in a different bucket.

  • For instance, you can quickly filter all the records by their status and assign those records to a project manager.

  • Each field has a corresponding filter box at the top of the grid column.

  • You can use asterisks to fuzz-match, i.e. use "*z*" as your filter to show any row where that column contains a "z". 

  • You can also perform operations on the filtered records like mass edit, delete, calculations or export them.

Column pinning

  • The pinning feature allows the user to pin a column to left or right.

  • Use Column Pinning to pin one or more columns to the left or to the right. 

  • Pinned columns are always present and not impacted by horizontal scroll.

Grouping

  • The grouping feature allows you to group rows together based on similar values in specific columns, providing an effect similar in some ways to an Excel pivot table. 

  • Columns that aren't grouped by can be aggregated, providing for example a running count of the number of rows in each group.

  • Grouping leverages the sort functionality, allowing a user to change the sort order or use external sort functionality and have the resulting list grouped. 

  • A column that is marked as being grouped is always moved to the high order of the sort priority, as the data must be sorted to permit grouping.

  • Optionally (and by default) grouped columns are moved to the front of the grid, which provides a more visually pleasing effect. 

  • Grouping and aggregation should work cleanly with filtering - it should group and aggregate only the filtered rows.

  • Group header rows cannot be edited, and if using the selection feature, cannot be selected. They can, however, be exported.

  • Grouping rows works with check boxes from selection and left pins.

Exporting

  • When using grid, it is often useful and important to export your data to MS Excel in order to make it accessible offline, share it with your colleagues, etc.

  • The exporter feature allows data to be exported from the grid in csv or excel format. 

  • The exporter can export all data, visible data or selected data.

  • Note that the option to export selected data is only visible if you have data selected.

Column Moving

  • This feature allows moving columns to different positions.

  • Columns can be repositioned by dragging and dropping them to a specific position.

Column Resizing

  • The Resize Columns feature allows each column to be resized.

  • When you resize a column any other columns with fixed widths, or that have already been resized, retain their width. All other columns resize to take up the remaining space. As long as there is at least one variable column left your columns won't reduce below the full grid width - but once you've resized all the columns then you can end up with the total column width less than the grid width.

  • Resize columns by dragging the edge of the column header,

  • Double-click the column header edge to size according to rendered column contents. 

Save & Restore Grid Views

  • A saved view is a table with applied filters and/or custom column orders. 

  • The default table grid view shows the first 15 fields from the form and the data is unfiltered.

  • The save state feature allows you to save the current look of the grid and restore it upon returning to the grid.

  • For example, the user can reorder the columns, adjust column widths, apply sorts and filters, and show/hide certain fields. The user might adjust their grid to look as they wish, and then navigate to another page. When the user returns to the page with the grid, they might expect it to look like it did when they left. The save state feature permits this.

  • The feature provides the ability to save the following state items: Widths, Order, Scroll, Focus, Visible, Sort, Filter, Pagination, Pinning, Grouping, Grouping Expanded States, Tree View, Selection.

  • The save table state button is located on the bottom left of the grid next to the "Total Items". If you are using a device with a right click button then right clicking on any visible records will also display the save state menu.

  • The save table state button has three options available, Save, Restore, Clear.

  • By default, if a custom grid view is created upon returning to the grid the view will automatically be loaded. 

Aggregation

  • The grid provides aggregation logic, this logic is used by grouping to provide totals, averages etc.

  • You can pick from the grid's built in aggregation functions. Out of the box the grid provides sum, min, max, count, avg.

  • When grouping, you can apply an aggregation function to any column to populate the group row with values. 

  • The aggregation logic works well with grouping, as grouping creates new blank rows into which the aggregated totals can be written.

Mass Edit

  • The BLDR grid allows you to mass edit records.

  • To mass edit records select the rows by clicking the checkbox to the left of the rows you would like to edit, click the grid menu (three-bar icon), edit selected items option.

  • For example, you may wish to mass edit the status of multiple records from Open to closed. This is how you would accomplish this. 

Mass Delete

  • The BLDR grid allows you to mass delete records.

  • To mass delete records select the rows by clicking the checkbox to the left of the rows you would like to delete, click the grid menu (three-bar icon), delete selected items option.

Limits

  • BLDR limits allows you to limit the amount of records loaded into the grid.

  • By default, if no limits are set, BLDR will display the last 500 records.

  • Limits are set using the filter button on the bottom toolbar. 

  • BLDR supports the following limit options: 1K, 5K, 10K, 20K, 1M. The K stands for thousand and M stands for million.

  • BLDR automatically remembers the limits you set for each form.

  • Limits are designed to increase grid performance on low power and mobile devices. 

  • Make sure to review the Navigation - Filters section to learn about grid filters.

Refresh

  • The refresh button is found on the bottom toolbar and will refresh the data in the current grid view without having to navigate away from the view.

Permissions

  • Grid Views are affected by Role permissions. If you do not have rights to view certain types of records they will not be visible in your grid view.

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