Setting Filter Defaults

[jakeyoos]

When setting filters in LookML or in the 'Add/edit Dashboard Filters . . ." modal, we can assign a default value for the filter. In both cases, Looker expects a string. Looker will interpret that string and, depending on the filter type (date, string, or number), change the filter menu drop down option for the end user. E.g. if I want to have a date filter on the dashboard automatically present as “in the past 90 days”, typing “90 days” as the default value will produce the desired behavior.

To get the desired dropdown here:

Type in the appropriate String Format from the tables below in your dashboard default value field here:

Or as the default parameter in your LookML filter like this:

LookML

filter: date_filter {
  type: date
  default_value: "6 weeks"
}

For more information, check out our documentation on Looker Filter Expressions.

Date

Desired Dropdown	Required String Format	Example
"in the past"	i [timeframes]	6 weeks
"in the past (comlete)"	i [timeframes] ago for i [timeframes]	6 weeks ago for 6 weeks
"is on the day"	yyyy-mm-dd	2016-01-23
"is in range"	yyyy-mm-dd to yyyy-mm-dd	2016-01-23 to 2016-03-25
"is before" (absolute)	before yyyy-mm-dd	before 2016-01-23
"is before" (relative)	before i [timeframes] ago	before 3 weeks ago
	before now	before now
	before i [timeframes] from now	before 2 weeks from now
"is on or after" (absolute)	after yyyy-mm-dd	after 2016-01-23
"is on or after" (relative)	after i [timeframes] ago	after 3 weeks ago
	after now	after now
	after i [timeframes] from now	after 2 weeks from now
"is in the year"	yyyy	2016
"is null"	NULL	NULL
"is not null"	NOT NULL	NOT NULL

Where
i is an integer
[timeframes] is one of the following: minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, quarters, years

String

Desired Dropdown	Required String Format	Example
"is equal to"	string	foo
	string1, string2	foo, bar
"contains"	%string%	%foo%
	%string1%,%string2%	%foo%, %bar%
"starts with"	string%	foo%
	string1%, string2%	foo%, bar%
"ends with"	%string	%foo
	%string1, %string2	%foo, %bar
"is blank"	EMPTY	EMPTY
"is null"	NULL	NULL
"is not equal to"	-string	-foo
	-string1, -string2	-foo, -bar
"doesn't contain"	-%string%	-%foo%
	-%string1%, -%string2%	-%foo%, -%bar%
"doesn't start with"	-string%	-foo%
	-string1%, -string2%	-foo%, -bar%
"doesn't end with"	-%string	-%bar
	-%string1, -%sring2	-%foo, -%bar
"is not blank"	-EMPTY	-EMPTY
"is not null"	-NULL	-NULL

Note these rules for including special characters in string filters:

• To include % or , prefix with the escape character, ^. For example: ^% and ^
• To include ^, escape it as ^^.
• To include an item with commas, wrap it in double-quotes. For example: “Santa Cruz, CA”, “San Jose, CA”

Number

Desired Dropdown	Required String Format	Example
"is equal to"	x	42
	x, y	12, 42
"is greater than"	> x	> 42
"is greater than or equal to"	>= x	>= 42
"is less than"	< x	< 42
"is less than or equal to"	<= x	<= 42
"is between" "[inclusive]"	>= x and <= y	>= 42 and <= 75
"is between" "(exclusive)"	> x and < y	> 42 and < 75
"is between" "[right exclusive)"	>= x and < y	>= x and < 75
"is between" "(left exclusive]"	> x and <= y	>x and <=75
"is null"	NULL	NULL
"is not equal to"	not x	not 13
	!= x	!= 13
	<> x	<> 13
"is not between" "inclusive"	<= x or >= y	<= 23 or >= 27
"is not between" "exclusive"	< x or > y	< 23 or > 27
"is not between" "[right exclusive)"	<= x or > y	<= 23 or > 27
"is not between" "(left exclusive]"	< x or >= y	< 23 or >= 27
"is not null"	NOT NULL	NOT NULL