# Implementing a User Defined Record Filter String in a Report **URL:** \ **Category:** questions\ **Tags:** report\ **Created:** [July 26, 2023, 9:41am UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432 "2023-07-26T09:41:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NeutronBoy](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/neutronboy/32/4355_2.png) [@NeutronBoy](https://clarionhub.com/u/NeutronBoy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 9:41am UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432/1 "2023-07-26T09:41:23Z")
Hi All I want to filter a report based on some selection(s) that a user has made in a another window and are dumped into a string. I want that string to be the expression used in the Report Properties like as shown below. I seem to recall that I need to put some special characters before the GLO:Filter entry to make this work right. I cant remember how this is done. ![image](https://clarionhub.com/images/transparent.png) ---
**Author:** ![seanh](https://clarionhub.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@seanh](https://clarionhub.com/u/seanh)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 10:14am UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432/2 "2023-07-26T10:14:39Z")
!Glo:Filter The ! says its a variable ---
**Author:** ![amardeep\_srivastav](https://clarionhub.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@amardeep\_srivastav](https://clarionhub.com/u/amardeep_srivastav)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 1:06pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432/3 "2023-07-26T13:06:19Z")
That is fine you are using that Glo:Filter, but if you want to filter the report data then you can use QUEUE and filter the queue based on the filter option selected then display the records. ---
**Author:** ![CarlBarnes](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/carlbarnes/32/1859_2.png) [@CarlBarnes](https://clarionhub.com/u/CarlBarnes)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 3:43pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432/4 "2023-07-26T15:43:30Z")
> [@seanh](#): > > !Glo:Filter > The ! says its a variable I had School example open and took some captures showing the Exclamation makes it generate a simple assignment as Filter: ![image](https://clarionhub-uploads.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/original/2X/a/a859c7328002f5339d9bd8e36fc5b5e28e4666ef.png) ![image](https://clarionhub-uploads.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/original/2X/5/5e6a33cf91fc8fd26d0ad36d68efbaa4b72d7d0c.png) This is common in many of the templates, but not all. ---
**Author:** ![NeutronBoy](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/neutronboy/32/4355_2.png) [@NeutronBoy](https://clarionhub.com/u/NeutronBoy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432/5 "2023-07-26T19:03:37Z")
thank you both … BTW Carl, I have wondered about the topic of example files … I don’t seem to get any when I did full installs for C8. Are they somewhere else? ---
**Author:** ![NeutronBoy](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/neutronboy/32/4355_2.png) [@NeutronBoy](https://clarionhub.com/u/NeutronBoy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432/6 "2023-07-26T19:27:44Z")
One other issue (I have lots of them 🙂 ): LEGACY CODE: The filters I am using are on two fields: SCH:Date and SCH:MachineName. Things go great when I filter on the date and variations on the date (start/end dates), but when I filter on machine name, I am getting this error: ![image](https://clarionhub-uploads.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/original/2X/5/58a6bb3b55f6cba045ee6e6172f1a3263ed8a7d0.png) The Sessions file is a child to the SCH file. I am not doing any filtering on the Child file. The Report is simply printing the Parent Header (SCH:) along with the linked Child (Sessions) data. I have researched that error and it seems that there it has been longstanding and that there is no workaround (staying in template land) and may require hand coding. TRUE? I should add that the SCH: file consists of DATE and MachineName. ---
**Author:** ![CarlBarnes](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/carlbarnes/32/1859_2.png) [@CarlBarnes](https://clarionhub.com/u/CarlBarnes)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 10:29pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432/7 "2023-07-26T22:29:40Z")
To help spot the problem you’ll have to show the contents of your filter string throwing the error i.e. Glo:Filter . One likely issue is you must BIND() any variables you use in that String. Is “Laser” a variable? E.g. if `Glo:Filter='SCH:MachineName = MachineWanted'` you’ll must have done a `BIND('MachineWanted',MachineWanted )`. Search the source for BIND and add yours near there. > [@NeutronBoy](#): > > Things go great when I filter on the date and variations on the date (start/end dates), but when I filter on machine name, I am getting this error: If you are trying to match the literal “Laser” your filter string will need quotes around that literal e.g. `Glo:Filter='SCH:MachineName = ''Laser'' '`. While matching a Number does not need quotes e.g. `Glo:Filter='SCH:Date = 80808 '` There is a QUOTE() function to help. ---
**Author:** ![NeutronBoy](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/neutronboy/32/4355_2.png) [@NeutronBoy](https://clarionhub.com/u/NeutronBoy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 10:36pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432/8 "2023-07-26T22:36:28Z")
Here is the part of the filter building code that is meessing up: ```auto IF LEN(CLIP(GLO:MachineFilter)) > 0 IF LEN(CLIP(GLO:Filter)) > 0 ! to append or not GLO:Filter = CLIP(GLO:Filter) & ' AND Sch:MachineName = ' & CLIP(GLO:MachineFilter) ELSE GLO:Filter = 'Sch:MachineName = ' & CLIP(GLO:MachineFilter) . . ``` The last part of the IF is goofing up. GLO:MachineFilter gets filled by a dropdown list. It contains the value ‘Laser’ from the dropdown. Sch:MachineName is a field from the file being filtered. Sessions is a child file to SCH and is not in the filter, but is shown in the report as a child file. The child processes fine when the MachineFilter stuff is not in the filter. ---
**Author:** ![CarlBarnes](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/carlbarnes/32/1859_2.png) [@CarlBarnes](https://clarionhub.com/u/CarlBarnes)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 11:06pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432/9 "2023-07-26T23:06:48Z")
A literal needs to be in Single Quotes. Quotes must be doubled in Source. That can be hard to see so some use `<39>` or CHR(39). Show the Filter in a message or debug to be sure what you have. QUOTE() ```auto GLO:Filter = 'Sch:MachineName = ''' & QUOTE(CLIP(GLO:MachineFilter)) &'''' ! or with <39> for Single Quote as more visible GLO:Filter = 'Sch:MachineName = <39,39>' & QUOTE(CLIP(GLO:MachineFilter)) & '<39,39>' ``` * * * You have your filter code 2 Times, once adds an `' AND '` to append to existing filter. That’s a pain. There are a few ways to eliminate that, like using `CHOOSE(Condition, True Value, False Value)` that is an IF Function to append the " AND ".: ```auto IF GLO:MachineFilter THEN !Is it Not Blank? GLO:Filter = CHOOSE(~GLO:Filter,'', CLIP(GLO:Filter) & ' AND ') & | 'Sch:MachineName = <39,39>' & QUOTE(CLIP(GLO:MachineFilter)) & '<39,39>' END ``` * * * A simpler way to deal with that is to always insert the `'AND '`. Then at the end of your concatenation code check IF the Filter starts with `' AND '` then remove it: ```auto IF GLO:DateFilter THEN !Is it Not Zero? GLO:Filter = CLIP(GLO:Filter) & ' AND ' & | 'Sch:Date = ' & GLO:DateFilter END IF GLO:MachineFilter THEN !Is it Not Blank? GLO:Filter = CLIP(GLO:Filter) & ' AND ' & | 'Sch:MachineName = <39,39>' & QUOTE(CLIP(GLO:MachineFilter)) & '<39,39>' END IF SUB(GLO:Filter,1,5)=' AND ' THEN !Starts with just " AND " ? GLO:Filter=LEFT(SUB(GLO:Filter,6, SIZE(GLO:Filter) ) !Reomve first 5 byteswith 'AND ' END ``` ---
**Author:** ![NeutronBoy](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/neutronboy/32/4355_2.png) [@NeutronBoy](https://clarionhub.com/u/NeutronBoy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 1:30pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432/10 "2023-07-27T13:30:49Z")
Consider this: The filter on the Report works when I just reduced it to the following: `Sch:MachineName = GLO:MachineFilter` Granted that is the directly entered in the the Record Filter entry in the Report Properties, and not part of a string in GLO:FIlter. Why should it not work as part of the string? No quotes are needed for the expression as it does not contain any literals. ---
**Author:** ![CarlBarnes](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/carlbarnes/32/1859_2.png) [@CarlBarnes](https://clarionhub.com/u/CarlBarnes)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/implementing-a-user-defined-record-filter-string-in-a-report/6432/11 "2023-07-27T17:45:22Z")
> [@NeutronBoy](#): > > Consider this: The filter on the Report works when I just reduced it to the following: > > `Sch:MachineName = GLO:MachineFilter` That is typical Filter code with a `File Variable = Variable with Value I Want `. That Value Variable works because it is BINDed. All the answers are in the Generated code. Open the Embeditor and search for GLO:MachineFilter. You should find these 2 lines: ```auto Process:View{PROP:Filter}='Sch:MachineName = GLO:MachineFilter' BIND('GLO:MachineFilter',GLO:MachineFilter) ``` The Templates spotted you used GLO:MachineFilter in a Filter and added the BIND so it would work in FILTER. Without that BIND you get error 1011. Read the Help on BIND, FILTER and EVALUATE.