Knockout Filtering on Observable Array

Question

I've started learning Knockout and I'm having some trouble filtering an observable array on a button click and displaying the results.

This is my model:

function Product(data) {     
    this.id = data.id;
    this.name = data.name;
    this.price = data.price;
    this.description = data.desc;
    this.image = data.image;
    this.genre = data.genre;
    this.show = data.show;
    this.offer_desc = data.offer_desc;
    this.offer_id = data.offer_id;
}

function ProductModel() {
    var self = this;
    self.products = ko.observableArray([]);

    $.getJSON('../PHP/Utilities.php?json=true', function(json) {
       var mappedProducts = $.map(json, function(item) { return new Product(item) });
       self.products(mappedProducts);
    });

    self.filterProducts = ko.computed(function(genre) {
        if(typeof genre === 'undefined') {
            return self.products(); //initial load when no genre filter is specified
        } else {
            return ko.utils.arrayFilter(self.products(), function(prod) {
                return prod.genre = genre;
            });
        }
    });
}

ko.applyBindings(new ProductModel());

This is the html:

<div data-bind="foreach: filterProducts">
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-2">
        <img data-bind="attr:{src: '../images/' + image, alt: name}" />
        </div>
        <div class="col-md-2" data-bind="text: name"></div>
        <div class="col-md-1" data-bind="text: price"></div>
        <div class="col-md-3" data-bind="text: description"></div>
        <div class="col-md-1" data-bind='text: offer_id'>                  
        <div class="col-md-2" data-bind="text: genre"></div>
        <div class="col-md-1" data-bind="text: show"></div>
    </div>
</div>

I'm also not sure how to bind a click function to filter the products on genre. I thought something like this...but it doesn't work

<button data-bind="click: filter('1')"> Filter </button>

self.filter = function(genre) {
    self.filterProducts(genre);
}

Answer 1

You cannot have a function with parameters inside a ko.computed.

What you need is store the current filter in a new property and use that in your computed

function ProductModel() {
    var self = this;
    self.products = ko.observableArray([]);

    self.currentFilter = ko.observable(); // property to store the filter

    //...

    self.filterProducts = ko.computed(function() {
        if(!self.currentFilter()) {
            return self.products(); 
        } else {
            return ko.utils.arrayFilter(self.products(), function(prod) {
                return prod.genre == self.currentFilter();
            });
        }
    });
}

And in your click handler just set the current filter:

<button data-bind="click: function() { filter('1') }"> Filter </button>

self.filter = function(genre) {
    self.currentFilter(genre);
}

Demo JSFiddle

Note the function() { } in needed if you want to pass additional arguments a in click binding (see also in the documentation), otherwise Knockout would execute your function when it parses the binding and not when you click on the button.