Filter using RefinableStringXX mapped to a multi-value person SharePoint Online column

[JoeAyre]

Hi,
I'm not sure if this is an issue or a 'by design' thing, but hoping someone has some suggestions that may help me.
Here's the scenario:

• I have a SharePoint Online document library that has a column called MultiplePeople. The column is a person or group column that allows multiple values.
• I have mapped the corresponding OWS_MultiplePeople crawled property to RefinableString00.
• I have also mapped the corresponding OWS_Q_USER_MultiplePeople crawled property to RefinableString01.
• I have included RefinableString00 and RefinableString01 in a search results web part.
• I have added RefinableString00 and RefinableString01 as filters in a filters web part, using the 'Check box' template and with 'Show count' enabled.
• I have two documents in the library, one that has the MultiplePeople column tagged with John Doe, and one that has the MultiplePeople column tagged with John Doe AND Jane Doe.

The issue I have is that neither filter looks how I want it to look.
The filter values using RefinableString00 i.e., mapped to OWS_MultiplePeople looks like this:

• Doe, Jane; Doe, John (1)
• Doe, John (1)

As you can see, when multiple people are selected, the names are concatenated.

The filter values using RefinableString01 i.e., mapped to OWS_Q_USER_MultiplePeople looks like this:

• Jane.Doe@thedomain.com | Doe, Jane | ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF123456 i:0#.f|membership|Jane.Doe@thedomain.com (1)
• John.Doe@thedomain.com | Doe, John | ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF123456 i:0#.f|membership|John.Doe@thedomain.com (2)

As you can see, whilst the number of filter values (and their total) is correct, the entire user object is returned.

What I would like is the filter to look like this:

• Doe, Jane (1)
• Doe, John (2)

Can anyone suggest how I can get the desired appearance?

Note, I accidentally added this to a closed issue #2096 which has some further information, but nothing that has helped me.

Thanks,
Joe

[wobba]

You can create a custom filter template in the web part to manipulate the strings using handlebars helper methods.

[JoeAyre]

Just to add, I've creating a custom filter template and referenced this via the 'Use an external template URL' option. My intention is to use the {{split}} helper to split the string on the | character and use the middle portion. Here's the code I'm using within the div class="filter--values-list" div:

`

			{{#each filter.values}}
				<div title="{{#with (split name '|')}}{{#if this.[1]}}{{this.[1]}}{{else}}{{this.[0]}}{{/if}}{{/with}} {{#if ../showCount}}({{count}}){{/if}}" class="filter--value">
					<pnp-filtercheckbox 
						data-instance-id="{{@root.instanceId}}" 
						data-filter-name="{{../filter.filterName}}" 
						data-name="{{#with (split name '|')}}{{#if this.[1]}}{{this.[1]}}{{else}}{{this.[0]}}{{/if}}{{/with}}" 
						data-value="{{value}}" 
						data-selected="{{selected}}" 
						data-disabled="{{disabled}}" 
						data-count="{{count}}"
						data-is-multi="{{../isMulti}}"
						data-theme-variant="{{JSONstringify @root.theme}}">
					</pnp-filtercheckbox>
					{{#if ../showCount}}
						<span data-ui-test-id="filterCount">({{count}})</span>
					{{/if}}
				</div>
			{{/each}}

`

Unfortunately, whilst this does split the string and display just the user name e.g., Doe, John, the 'Apply' button no longer becomes activated when I select some filter values.

[MirasMNC]

Hi @JoeAyre, have you found the solution how to handle this case? I have same scenario. Thanks! :)

[JoeAyre]

Hi @MirasMNC - unfortunately no, still hoping for some advice on this as to why the 'Apply' button becomes inactive after applying the code.

[wobba]

Any errors in the browser debug console when you use the template?

[kasperbolarsen]

Stand by..... I am looking into this ( actually for my employer 😊 ) and hope to release an update on the PnP Modern Search layouts repository within the week.
I hope to be able to add a People refiner later this year but can't promise anything 😉

[kasperbolarsen]

I am using a RefinableString114 mapped to OWS_Q_USER_SEARCH_PERSONMULTI
and out of the box gives me this

in the layout I replace line 104 data-name="{{name}}" with
data-name= "{{#with (split name '|')}}{{[1]}}{{/with}}"

which gives me this

It is better than nothing, but I can't figure out a way to update the display value of the selected filter in the layout, I think it will take some rewriting of the pnp-filtersearchbox

[kasperbolarsen]

I agree. One way to handle that is the wrap the multi value people property in a clause like this:
(it isn't a pretty way to do it, but it is a custom template anyways and it works ;-) )

`
{{#eq filter.filterName 'RefinableString114'}}
<pnp-filtercheckbox
data-instance-id="{{@root.instanceId}}"
data-filter-name="{{filter.filterName}}"
data-name= "{{#with (split name '|')}}{{[1]}}{{/with}}"

		data-value="{{value}}" 
		data-selected="{{selected}}" 
		data-disabled="{{disabled}}" 
		data-count="{{count}}"
		data-is-multi="{{../isMulti}}"
		data-theme-variant="{{JSONstringify @root.theme}}">
	</pnp-filtercheckbox>

{{else}}
	<pnp-filtercheckbox 
	data-instance-id="{{@root.instanceId}}" 
	data-filter-name="{{filter.filterName}}" 
	data-name="{{name}}" 
	data-value="{{value}}" 
	data-selected="{{selected}}" 
	data-disabled="{{disabled}}" 
	data-count="{{count}}"
	data-is-multi="{{../isMulti}}"
	data-theme-variant="{{JSONstringify @root.theme}}"
	>
	</pnp-filtercheckbox>
{{/eq}}

`

[kasperbolarsen]

added to the PnP Modern Search Layouts repo as https://github.com/microsoft-search/pnp-modern-search-layouts/blob/main/Refiner/MultiValuePeopleRefiner/Multi%20value%20people%20property.md

[MirasMNC]

Thanks, for my use case it works well even if it is not perfect. :)

[kasperbolarsen]

Would prefect look like this?

(both the selected value(s) and the mouse over/hint now shows the "short version/display name"

[MirasMNC]

I think it looks perferct! :)

[JoeAyre]

@kasperbolarsen - So close to it being perfect! If only there was a way to handle the data in the pnp-filtersearchbox so that we get just the name rather than the whole object. I've tried and tried to do this but just can't get it to work. It would be great if someone can come up with a solution to this, as it would mean that a person column with mutliple values would be supported by the filters web part. I feel that we are close, but at the moment, having that really ugly object in the pnp-filtersearchbox is just not going to float for our use case - despite it being functional, the users are (somewhat understandably) fixated on getting it looking 'correct'.

[kasperbolarsen]

I have spent a considerable amount of time figuring out how to get the filter value to look nice, but without success.
I think it will require a brand new filter template so it is impossible to predict when or if it will ever show up 🤷

[calebmil]

@kasperbolarsen Is the above-mentioned filter template in the works? I just recently ran into a similar use case with a multi-value managed metadata field (State) where the different elements of the managed metadata item are being treated as separate filter values. Ultimately, I wind up with three filter values for each available State term as well as a filter value for the parent term set and parent term group.

[kasperbolarsen]

That doesn't look like the issue I am working on, it looks more like a mapping issue or stale data

[kasperbolarsen]

Perhaps enabling localization?

[calebmil]

That doesn't look like the issue I am working on, it looks more like a mapping issue or stale data

I'm not sure where localization would come in. While we have a multi-geo tenant, we are only working on this within our NA tenant. No additional languages, just English.

I've tried changing the mapping for the State column and am waiting for the index to update. Seems like the SLA is no longer 24 hours for requested index refreshes anymore ...