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Custom AutoFilter Dialog

The Custom AutoFilter dialog, accessible from the Select Records dialog or the print-time Record Picker data entry control, enables you to create a custom filter for a specific column using a complex expression with up to two specific criteria.

To open the Custom AutoFilter dialog, move the cursor over the header of the column you want to filter, and allow the cursor to hover in this position until the Filter button appears. Click and select Custom from the Filter button dropdown list.

The second Assignment Operator dropdown list and Filter Value text box located below the Boolean operators enable you to define a second condition statement.

ClosedExample: Creating a Filter using the Custom Autofilter Dialog

Suppose you have a database containing customer names and addresses. The database fields include CustomerName, CompanyName, StreetAddress, City, State, and Zip. To show only those records that have "Anderson" or "Johnson" in the CustomerName field, you need to create a filter based on two joined conditional statements.

ClosedTo create a custom filter

  1. In the Select Records dialog or the print-time Record Picker data entry control, position your cursor over the CustomerName column header and click to open the Filter button menu.

  2. Select (Custom) to open the Custom AutoFilter dialog.

  3. In the first filter criterion, located directly below CustomerName, use the Assignment Operators dropdown list to select Equals.

  4. In the Filter Value field at the right of the Assignment Operators dropdown list, enter "Anderson" (without the quotation marks).

  5. Select Or for the Boolean operator. Note that selecting Or will cause both records containing "Anderson" and records containing "Johnson" to be displayed. If you had selected And, the Custom AutoFilter dialog would search for records containing both names together in the CustomerName field.

  6. In the second filter criterion, select Equals from the Assignment Operators dropdown list.

  7. In the Filter Value field, enter "Johnson" (without the quotation marks).

  8. Click OK to close the Custom AutoFilter dialog. The results are displayed in the Select Records or Record Picker table. Records with the names "Anderson" and "Johnson" are displayed.

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