In order to use Filtering Feature of rich:dataTable with some custom filtering functions and controls you should use the next available attributes on columns:

• filterExpression - Attribute which allows to define expression evaluated to boolean value. This expression should check whether the object satisfies filtering condition or not.
• filterMethod - Attribute which should be defined with method binding. This method should accept on Object parameter and return a boolean value. Thus, this method also should be used to check whether the object satisfies filtering condition or not.

In the next simple example we use filterMethod and filterExpression for the first and second columns filtering correspondingly.

Filtering DataTable example

Filtering Example
State Name	State Time Zone
	-5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10
«« « 1 2 » »»
Connecticut	GMT-5
Delaware	GMT-5
Florida	GMT-5
Georgia	GMT-5
Indiana	GMT-5
Kentucky	GMT-5
Maine	GMT-5
Maryland	GMT-5
Massachusetts	GMT-5
Michigan	GMT-5
New Hampshire	GMT-5
New Jersey	GMT-5
New York	GMT-5
North Carolina	GMT-5
Ohio	GMT-5
Pennsylvania	GMT-5
Rhode Island	GMT-5
South Carolina	GMT-5
Tennessee	GMT-5
Vermont	GMT-5

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<ui:composition xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
    xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
    xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
    xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
    xmlns:a4j="http://richfaces.org/a4j"
    xmlns:rich="http://richfaces.org/rich"
    xmlns:fn="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/functions">
    <script type="text/javascript">
        function setCaretToEnd (e) {
            var control = $((e.target ? e.target : e.srcElement).id);
            if (control.createTextRange) {
                var range = control.createTextRange();
                range.collapse(false);
                range.select();
            }
            else if (control.setSelectionRange) {
                control.focus();
                var length = control.value.length;
                control.setSelectionRange(length, length);
            }
            control.selectionStart = control.selectionEnd = control.value.length;
        } 

    </script>
     
    <h:form>
        <rich:dataTable value="#{capitalsBean.capitals}" var="cap" id="table" rows="20">
            <f:facet name="header">
                <rich:columnGroup>
                    <rich:column colspan="2">
                        <h:outputText value="Filtering Example" />
                    </rich:column>
                    <rich:column breakBefore="true">
                        <h:outputText value="State Name" />
                    </rich:column>
                    <rich:column>
                        <h:outputText value="State Time Zone" />
                    </rich:column>
                </rich:columnGroup>
            </f:facet>
            <rich:column filterMethod="#{filteringBean.filterStates}">
                <f:facet name="header">
                    <h:inputText value="#{filteringBean.filterValue}" id="input">
                        <a4j:support event="onkeyup" reRender="table , ds2"
                            ignoreDupResponses="true" requestDelay="700"
                            oncomplete="setCaretToEnd(event);"
                            />
                    </h:inputText>
                </f:facet>
                <h:outputText value="#{cap.state}" />
            </rich:column>
            <rich:column
                filterExpression="#{fn:containsIgnoreCase(cap.timeZone, filteringBean.filterZone)}">
                <f:facet name="header">
                    <h:selectOneMenu value="#{filteringBean.filterZone}">
                        <f:selectItems value="#{filteringBean.filterZones}" />
                        <a4j:support event="onchange" reRender="table, ds2" />
                    </h:selectOneMenu>
                </f:facet>
                <h:outputText value="#{cap.timeZone}" />
            </rich:column>
            <f:facet name="footer">
                <rich:datascroller id="ds2" renderIfSinglePage="false"></rich:datascroller>
            </f:facet>
        </rich:dataTable>       
    </h:form>
</ui:composition>

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HideView FilteringBean.java Source

package org.richfaces.demo.filteringFeature;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import javax.faces.model.SelectItem;

import org.richfaces.demo.capitals.Capital;

/**
 * @author Ilya Shaikovsky
 * 
 */
public class FilteringBean {

    private String filterZone = "5";
    private String filterValue="";
    private ArrayList<SelectItem> filterZones = new ArrayList<SelectItem>();

    public boolean filterStates(Object current) {
        Capital currentCapital = (Capital)current;
        if (filterValue.length()==0) {
            return true;
        }
        if (currentCapital.getState().toLowerCase().startsWith(filterValue.toLowerCase())) {
            return true;
        }else {
            return false; 
        }
    }

    public FilteringBean() {
        for (int i = 5; i < 11; i++) {
            SelectItem select = new SelectItem();
            select.setLabel("-" + i);
            select.setValue(i);
            filterZones.add(select);
        }
    }

    public String getFilterValue() {
        return filterValue;
    }

    public void setFilterValue(String filterValue) {
        this.filterValue = filterValue;
    }

    public String getFilterZone() {
        return filterZone;
    }

    public void setFilterZone(String filterZone) {
        this.filterZone = filterZone;
    }

    public ArrayList<SelectItem> getFilterZones() {
        return filterZones;
    }
}

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