If you’ve been using Duda’s dynamic pages to showcase internal or external content collections, there’s a new exciting capability you should know about:  dynamic filtering of collection-based widgets.

What’s a dynamic filter, anyway?

Dynamic pages are ideal for building websites with content that’s based on databases, and need to show specific categories as separate pages in the site. Dynamic pages are based on collections (or datasets) you add to the site (under the Content Library).

Dynamic filtering lets you filter one big comprehensive dataset that has lots of details and attributes, to show specific content on separate site pages - depending on your client’s needs. This means you can display only relevant content (collection rows) in a collection-connected widget found on a dynamic page. For example, let’s say you built a website for a fitness studio that includes dedicated pages for yoga, pilates, and core fitness classes, respectively.



With a dynamic filter, you can show only the pilates class schedule on the pilates site page, only the yoga class schedule on the yoga page, and so on - without constantly updating or maintaining those pages or their collections manually.

One filtering tool, virtually endless possibilities

You can apply the dynamic filter to every collection-supported widget you add to dynamic pages. This includes gallery, table, list, accordion, and slider widgets, in addition to custom widgets. The dynamic filter can be found in the Sort & Filter tab when connecting a widget to a collection (for example when connecting a List widget).

Here’s how to apply a dynamic filter:



1. Create the following 2 collections:
2. Data collection - one that contains your data with a category name field.
3. Categories collection - one that contains all categories and their details (category name, image, etc.).
4. Create a dynamic page for each of the 2 collections (i.e., one dynamic page for data and another dynamic page for categories).
5. Add a gallery widget to a regular page of your choice and connect it to the categories collection. 
6. Add a gallery widget to the categories dynamic page and connect it to the data collection. Before leaving the widget’s connected data screen, go to the “Filter & Sort” tab, and add a new filter.
7. Add a Dynamic filter and map the category name field in the data collection with the categories collection.

USE CASE: REAL ESTATE BUSINESS

Let’s say you built a website for a real estate agency, added their collection of home properties to the site (containing information like geographical area, number of bedrooms, size in square feet, etc.), and connected that collection to a dynamic page. So far so good. 

But what if you could allow potential home buyers visiting your client’s website to look at listings from a certain area? Or those with a certain number of bedrooms? Here’s how you can accomplish this advanced filtering for your client:

First, create an additional “Categories” collection with the field “Area.” Next steps include creating a dynamic page from this collection and connecting it to the navigation, adding a gallery widget to the dynamic page of “Area”, and connecting it to the agency’s property collection.

The magic of dynamic filtering

This is where the dynamic filter delivers its ‘wow’ effect: Set the filter of the connected gallery to a dynamic setting and map between the “Area” field in the property collection and the Areas collection. The result: When site visitors select an area in the site’s navigation, they’ll see only (accurately filtered) properties relevant to their desired geographical area.

Get started with dynamic pages and apply dynamic filters to your site collections, too. If you’re new to dynamic pages and need some help setting them up or applying a dynamic filter, explore the Dynamic Pages & Collections course available in Duda University.