How to Modify the Text Filter Web Part to Allow Partial Searches (SharePoint 2010)

Hello!  If you are reading this, I am assuming that you were dramatically let down by the Text Filter Web Part as well (shakes fist at the sky).  I have no idea why Microsoft thought that only allowing exact string / text matches was a great idea for the text filter web part, but the reality is that the web part needs the flexibility to handle begins with clauses, contains, etc., and the good news is this article is how to do exactly that!

Materials Needed:

SP Designer 2010

A Web Page containing:

            The Text Filter Web Part

            Data View Web Part

By searching for this article, I am assuming that you already have a web page set up which has the text filter web part on it, so we will start the tutorial on this premise.

Starting Point:

1. Open designer

2. Open your page in advanced edit more

a. Right click and select edit in advanced mode

3. Select the split view

 

4. In the desired zone, select the data view of the list you are trying to filter off of the insert tab

a.  

 

b.  

 

 

5. Select the list you added to the page

6. Select Options

7. Select Filter

8. You will be presented with the following dialog box (select your field that you would like to filter and set your comparison to Contains or Begins With depending on your needs)

a.  

9. Select Create a new parameter

a. Rename Param1 to a name of your choosing, I will be using “FilterExample”

b. Select Query String under Parameter Source

c. Select Ok

10.Right Click Text Filter Web Part In Designer

a. Select Add Connection

b. Select Send Filter Values To

c. Select Next

d. Select Connect to a web part on this page

e. Select Next

f. Select the list you put on the page as your Target Web Part

g. Select Get Parameter From as the Target Action

h.  

i.    

j. Select Next

k. Select Finish

11.Save The Page

12.Select Yes to the dialog box

Now that you have completed the steps, the Text Filter web part should now allow partial searches of the desired field.  For this example I set my Text Filter to use contains on the Title field.  Since I defaulted my variable to not contain anything, the page should be blank to start.

After I put in the letter T and hit enter, it will filter my list and find any items containing the letter.

Cheers!
Dan

Corrupt / Broken Web Part No Worries! How to Access the Web Part Maintenance Page

I haven't had to use this trick in a while, but I ended up having to remember it today, so I figured I would write quick blog post on it.

From time to time a web part can become corrupt or broken making it impossible to delete, edit, remove, etc from the page.  This can be an enormous headache and a very annoying scenario when you first encounter it.  The easiest way to remove the broken web part is by utilizing the web part maintenance page.  To access the page, simply put “?contents=1” at the end of your URL.  For example if my page was:

us/sitename/pages/ExamplePage.aspx

I would use us/sitename/pages/ExamplePage.aspx?contents=1 to access the web part maintenance page.  From this page you can easily see which web parts are being used on the page and easily delete the one(s) that are corrupt or broken.

Cheers!

Dan

How to Clear Your SharePoint Designer 2013 Cache

This quick tutorial will cover how to clear your SPD 2013 Cache, which comes in handy especially when working with SPD 2010 & SPD 2013.  Clearing the cache will remove any of your past connection history as well give you a “clean slate” to work from.  The cache is not even cleared after doing a reinstall, so this really is the only way to clear it.

Steps:

1.    Close SPD if it is open

2.    Open My Computer

a.    Click the address bar

3.    Paste %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache

4.    Delete everything within this location

5.    Click the address bar

6.    Paste %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Web Server Extensions\Cache

7.    Delete everything in this location

 

This is a quick couple of steps in order to clear your cache and to hopefully resolve SharePoint Designer anomalies which present themselves from time to time.

Cheers!

Dan