Angular TreeList Column Menu

The TreeList allows you to show a menu with quick actions for its columns.

The column menu provides a convenient way to apply data processing features to the specified columns. The user can sort and filter the TreeList data, toggle the locked state of the columns, or change their visibility. You can customize the order of the menu items and create custom controls as necessary.

To display the column menu on each column, set the columnMenu option of the TreeList. The property accepts both boolean and ColumnMenuSettings parameters. The default value of the columnMenu option is false.

The following example demonstrates a basic column menu in action.

Configuring the Column Menu

To specify which items to appear in the column menu, pass a ColumnMenuSettings parameter object to the columnMenu option.

The available predefined column menu items are:

• Sort item—Displays Sort Ascending and Sort Descending buttons, which apply the corresponding sorting to the current column. If the TreeList is sortable, this option defaults to true for model-bound columns.
• Filter item—Displays a Filter button and an expandable filter menu. If the TreeList is filterable, this option defaults to true for model-bound columns.
• Lock and unlock items—Determines if the users can lock and unlock the column through the column menu. Defaults to false.
• Column Chooser item—Displays a Columns button and an expandable checkbox-style menu with all columns. This menu allows the users quickly show or hide the TreeList columns. Defaults to true.

Sort Item

The sort item of the column menu is displayed by default if the following conditions are met:

• The sortable functionality of the TreeList is enabled.
• The current column binds to a field from the TreeList model.

To add the sort item without enabling sorting, manually set the sort option of the ColumnMenuSettings to true. To hide the sort item for individual columns, set the sortable option of the column to false.

Filter Item

The filter item of the column menu is displayed by default if the following conditions are met:

• The filterable functionality of the TreeList is enabled.
• The current column binds to a field from the TreeList model.

To add the filter item without enabling filtering, set the filter option of the ColumnMenuSettings to true. To hide the filter item for individual columns, set the filterable option of the column to false.

Lock and Unlock Items

The lock and unlock items of the column menu are not displayed by default. To add them, set the lock option of the ColumnMenuSettings to true. To hide the lock and unlock items for individual columns, set the lockable option of the corresponding column to false.

The prerequisites and limitations of the locked columns apply to the lock item.

The following example demonstrates how to lock and unlock columns from the column menu.

Column Chooser Item

The column chooser item allows you to dynamically show and hide columns through a dedicated sub-menu with checkboxes. The column menu displays a column chooser item by default. To hide it, set the columnChooser option of the ColumnMenuSettings to false.

The following example demonstrates the column chooser item.

To exclude a column from the column chooser checkbox list, set the includeInChooser property of the respective column to false.

Customizing the Content

You can customize the content of the column menu through templates. This approach allows you to specify a column menu template for:

• All Columns—Nest an <ng-template> tag with the kendoTreeListColumnMenuTemplate directive inside the kendo-treelist component.
• Specific Column—Nest the template inside the column component tag, for example, inside kendo-treelist-column.

Before using the predefined column menu items inside the template, set ColumnMenuService that is passed by the template to the service input of the column menu item.

To include the predefined column menu items in the template, add the following components:

• kendo-treelist-columnmenu-sort
• kendo-treelist-columnmenu-filter
• kendo-treelist-columnmenu-lock
• kendo-treelist-columnmenu-chooser

The following example demonstrates how to define a custom column menu template.

Customizing the Position

By default, the column menu renders as the last item in the header cell. To change the position of the menu icon in the header, follow the steps below:

1. Disable the built-in column menu by setting columnMenu on the respective column to false.
2. Nest an <ng-template> tag inside the column and apply a HeaderTemplateDirective directive to it.
3. Place a ColumnMenu component anywhere in the header template by nesting a <kendo-treelist-column-menu> tag inside.
4. Bind the column property of the ColumnMenu component to the column field that is passed by the template.
5. Optionally, bind the sort and filter properties of the ColumnMenu component to the respective TreeList state.

When used as a standalone component, the ColumnMenu ignores the sortable and filterable settings of the TreeList. You must configure the respective column menu items through the component properties instead.

The following example demonstrates the described approach for changing the column menu position inside the cell header template.

Hiding the Column Menu per Column

By default, the column menu appears for all columns. To disable the column menu for specific columns, use the columnMenu option of the respective column and set it to false.

Using Standalone Column Chooser

You can use the column chooser item outside the column menu.

To allow the user to show and hide the columns without including the column chooser item in the column menu, use the ColumnChooser component separately by nesting a <kendo-treelist-column-chooser> tag inside the TreeList toolbar.

Suggested Links

• API Reference of the ColumnComponent
• API Reference of the TreeListComponent
• API Index of the TreeList