Filter widget loses unselected values after selection is made - query logic issue or bug?

[JasperRomero]

I have repeatedly encountered behavior with ExB filters which I think reflects a bug, or at least a profoundly unintuitive implementation:

I have several filters on a single data source in one filter widget. Each filter operates on a different field, and most of them follow the pattern "[Field] is any of [selection]" from the Multiple source type, with "Ask for values" selected and "List values based on" = "All unique values of this field".

Most of the filters include some default values selected, and have "Apply this filter automatically" selected.

When the Experience is opened, the preconfigured filter application and value selections work as intended. When I open the dropdown for one of the filters, the "Show all" and "Show selection" buttons do what they should.

However, if I "Clear selection" for one of the filters, and then select only a couple of options, all of the other options disappear. Whether I have "Show all" or "Show selection" selected, only the selected options are available.

If I then "Clear selection", it deselects the options but the rest of the values do not reappear.
The only ways to get the full list of values back are to either use the "Turn off all filters" button or "Reset all filters" button (which returns them to their default state with multiple selections made for each filter).

 
I have read similar posts where the issue is the SQL query logic in the filter configuration, but I can't understand why, if all of the records are able to be displayed when the app first loads with multiple filters applied and multiple selections per filter, they would disappear when the user starts to manually change filter selections. In any case, it seems like "All unique values of this field" should ensure that all unique values of the field are indeed displayed regardless of other filter settings, otherwise I would have selected "Values filtered by previous expressions" or "Values filtered by all other expressions". The behavior seems like the filter selection is immediately applied to the data source, thereby limiting the data the filter is available to see...

I have not tried manually defining all of the options and using the Multiple (predefined) source type, but this shouldn't be necessary (especially if I have a field with 100 different values).

Any insights, explanations, configuration suggestions, or confirmation that this is strange behavior would be very much appreciated.

[NicoleJohnson]

If I'm understanding correctly, you have several filters, all/some of which have pre-selected values, but more values might be available for a given filter depending on the filter. The expected behavior is that no matter what the user selects/deselects, they're still able to see all the values that exist. Is that correct? If so, I've definitely seen this behavior before too and have handled it a few different ways depending on the data/my mood:

• Like you mentioned, use the multiple (predefined) option and enter all the options. Not a great option when you have a lot of values or changing values.
• You can instead create data views (comprised of all the data) for each filter you're wanting to use, then have that data view be the primary layer in a group filter.
  • I've had issues before doing this with a data view created from the same layer being used in a map. I always keep my map data instance and my everything-else data instance separate.
• You could also bring in the unique values through Arcade and like the 2nd option, use a group filter.

[JasperRomero]

@NicoleJohnson thanks for the response!

Yes, your summary of what I'm hoping for is correct.

First off, from your suggestions it sounds like this behavior is more bug to circumvent than feature, is that fair to say? i.e. there is nothing in the logic of my data or filter configuration that should necessarily force the behavior? Trying to figure this out because (i) if I'm doing something outright wrong I want to understand what it is and (ii) maybe this is worth a bug report or suggestion.

Re: your suggestions - haven't used Group filters before, could you say a little more about how to configure this? I would make a Data view in ExB (not the same as a feature layer view?) by adding the same layer that's in the map as a standalone data source, not filter anything out when making the data view, and use that as the primary layer for a group filter, then presumably would add a trigger data/action data connection to the filter so that the results of the filter are also applied to the map layer? Additionally, if I have both a map and several charts all using the same data source, is the issue you encounter specific to the map layer? i.e. is it safer to separate "filter layer =/= map and chart layers" or "map layer =/= filter and chart layers"?

Thank you again, really appreciate the suggestions and response. Happy to add more info/screenshots if anything is unclear.