Kendo Grid columnMenuInit and Filter Operator Restore Not Firing After Sort

[Isis]

Hi,

I’m using the Kendo UI Grid with column menu filters. My requirement:

• Let the user pick a filter operator (e.g., contains, equals).

• Don’t apply a filter if the value is empty.

• Keep the operator visible every time the 3-dot menu opens, even after sorting.

What I’ve tried:

1. columnMenuInit → Works first time, but doesn’t fire again for the same column.

2. Popup open inside columnMenuInit → Fires once, but after sorting the grid, it doesn’t trigger again.

3. Delegated jQuery click handler → Works reliably, but feels like a hack.

Minimal repro (MVC wrapper):

@(Html.Kendo().Grid<MyModel>()
    .Name("Invoices")
    .Columns(c => {
        c.Bound(x => x.InvoiceNumber);
        c.Bound(x => x.CustomerName);
    })
    .Sortable()
    .Filterable(f => f.Extra(false))
    .ColumnMenu(m => m.Filterable(true))
    .Events(e => e.ColumnMenuInit("onColumnMenuInit"))
)

<script>
function onColumnMenuInit(e) {
    var popup = e.container.data("kendoPopup");
    if (popup) {
        popup.bind("open", function () {
            var ddl = e.container.find("select[title='Operator']").data("kendoDropDownList");
            if (ddl) ddl.value("contains"); // operator only, no value
            e.container.find("input[type=text]").val("");
        });
    }
}
</script>

Issue:

• The operator shows correctly the first time.

• After sorting and reopening the menu, the operator reset logic does not run.

Questions:

• Is there an official event I can use to run logic every time the column menu opens?

• What’s the recommended way to restore operator state when no filter value is applied?

Thanks!

[Ivaylo]

Hi Isis, 

Thank you for reaching out.

Before proceeding with the technical matter, I noticed that this account does not have an active license, which is mandatory to use Telerik and Kendo UI components in your development project.

Please contact your company representative to assign an active license to this e-mail: imartel[at]boldgroup.com

Once this is done, I will be glad to help you with the Grid and Filter questions.

Regards,
Ivaylo
Progress Telerik