Global filter only works on string and number types

[jake8655]

Hi all!

I've recently been building some tables with tanstack table and I've come across some situations where I have a column with boolean values and I want to include that (transformed) in the global filter.

Simple reproduction: https://stackblitz.com/edit/vitejs-vite-vej6boy5?file=src%2Fmain.tsx
Line in tanstack table that is causing it (I think):

table/packages/table-core/src/features/GlobalFiltering.ts

Line 116 in db745af

return typeof value === 'string' || typeof value === 'number'

Goal

I'm trying to have a column of boolean type which is globally searchable using some transforming logic. I want to transform the boolean to a string when searching/somewhere else if possible and pass that to the global filter.

Possible solution

I could just store the transformed string in the column instead of the boolean (eg. "Online"/"Offline" instead of online: true/false). I would like to avoid this if possible, but if using strings is preferred in tanstack table then let me know.

[agammann]

You can keep the underlying values as booleans. In v8, getColumnCanGlobalFilter decides which columns are eligible, separately from globalFilterFn. The default eligibility check excludes boolean columns, so your custom filter never receives them.

For the linked example, add an eligibility override and map boolean values inside the filter:

getColumnCanGlobalFilter: () => true,
globalFilterFn: (row, columnId, filterValue) => {
  const raw = row.getValue(columnId);
  const text = typeof raw === 'boolean'
    ? (raw ? 'Online' : 'Offline')
    : String(raw ?? '');

  return text.toLowerCase().includes(String(filterValue).toLowerCase());
},

Here, () => true opts in all accessor columns. You can narrow it to particular column IDs if some fields should remain unsearchable, and enableGlobalFilter: false still excludes an individual column.

I checked the linked reproduction and tested its data with the real table core in 8.21.2 and 8.21.3. Searching online returned Tanner and Joe, offline returned Tandy, and linsley still matched the ordinary string column. The stored boolean values stayed boolean.

See getColumnCanGlobalFilter and the eligibility rules.