Page Properties Report - How to use "display columns" with columns that are page links
Asked by Roland Pfuhl:

Hi,

in the page properties macro I have a 2-column-table with topicnames on the left and infos in the right column. On another page I have the page properties report macro where the topic names become the columns. These columns can be filtered to display only a few.

So far so good.

But now I would like to use Confluence Page Links as topicnames, since every topic has a main page and I would like to link to that. Alas, I cannot filter on the name of the page anymore. What is the trick here? Or does it just not work?

Thanks for any help here.


Answers:
author: Andrey Khaneev _StiltSoft_
body: Hi Roland,

You can use [Table Filter](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/com.stiltsoft.confluence.plugin.tablefilter.tablefilter/server/overview) macro to filter Page Properties Report as you want.

comments: author: Roland Pfuhl
body: Hi Andrey,

thanks for the quick reply, but I guess I was not clear when using "filter". The Page Properties Report (PPR) has the option to restrict which columns will be *displayed*. So if I have topicnames A,B and C and filter C then only C will be displayed in the PPR macro.

The table filter is afaik a wrapper to filter the content (or did I miss a feature?). But even if it could, I assume the PPR would not render all the available content of all columns if I restrict to column A, while I have made the experience wit Table Filter that large datasets will be preloaded completely and only afterwards the filter will be applied (i,.e. the filtering takes place in the client which first fetches all data).


author: Andrey Khaneev _StiltSoft_
body: Yes, Roland, first the all the content will be loaded and then filtered by Table Filter. And you want to avoid loading unnecessary data to speed up page load, right?


author: Roland Pfuhl
body: No, that is only the secodary issue. First of all I only want to display column C and hide the other columns completely. This is possible with PPR like this:

If this is a source table in a PP macro on a page called *Example 1*:

Topic A Some stuff

Topic B Lots of info

**Topic C** A picture

then I want to use the PPR macro in a page called *Topic C* and display this:

Topic C

Example 1 A picture

The PPR on page *Topic C* already renders the page name *Example 1* as a link so I can jump to that page onClick. If I want to jump back to page *Topic C* from page *Example 1* I would have to link the page name instead of writing it (see bold text).

And here is my problem: if I do that, then I get no results in PPR on page *Topic C* if I just write "Topic C" into the display options of the PPR macro.


author: Andrey Khaneev _StiltSoft_
body: As far as I know, PPR can't hide Title column with pages links. But you can hide it with [Hide Columns](https://docs.stiltsoft.com/display/TableFilter/Managing+Look+of+the+Table+and+Filtration+Pane#ManagingLookoftheTableandFiltrationPane-HidingTableColumns) filter in Table Filter macro.

So in PPR you need limit columns to Title and Topic C, wrap it with TF and hide column Title. Filtration pane in TF can be [hidden](https://docs.stiltsoft.com/display/TableFilter/Managing+Filtration+Parameters#ManagingFiltrationParameters-HidingtheFiltrationPane).

I think this workaround should work for you.


author: Roland Pfuhl
body: Thanks Andrey, but it still does not work out for me. Hide Columns is a blacklist saying "hide these specific columns". If I have 5 Topic Pages and use your solution, then each time a new topic is added I would have to adjust ALL of the pages' Hide Column property.

The PPR display filter is a whitelist saying: display only these. Here, I would not have to adjust the existing pages afterwards.

But thanks, I actually overlooked the Hide Columns feature in the TF.


author: Andrey Khaneev _StiltSoft_
body: You can set Hide Columns filter [inverse](https://docs.stiltsoft.com/display/TableFilter/Managing+the+Reverted+Mode+of+Filters) by clicking '=' sign and changing it to '?' so it will hide all columns except of specified. Don't forget to save changes.


author: Roland Pfuhl
body: Ah, very nice. Thank you very much for your time and your knowledge! I could use it as a workaround then (and will for now).

Nevertheless, if someone has an answer, I would still - if only for educational reasons - like to know if the PPR Macro allows the definition of colums to display for columns with links as header (or why it doesn't).


author: Andrey Khaneev _StiltSoft_
body: You are welcome, Roland!


Tags: confluence-app

page-property