fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.ColumnHeaderRowCount = 3
fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.ColumnHeader.AutoFilterIndex = 1
    
Dim instyle As New FarPoint.Win.Spread.NamedStyle()
Dim outstyle As New FarPoint.Win.Spread.NamedStyle()
instyle.BackColor = Color.Yellow
outstyle.BackColor = Color.Aquamarine
    
Dim fcd As New FarPoint.Win.Spread.FilterColumnDefinition(1)
Dim fcd1 As New FarPoint.Win.Spread.FilterColumnDefinition(2)
Dim fcd2 As New FarPoint.Win.Spread.FilterColumnDefinition(3)
    
Dim cfi As New CustomFilter(fpSpread1.ActiveSheet)
fcd.Filters.Add(cfi)
    
Dim srf As New FarPoint.Win.Spread.StyleRowFilter(fpSpread1.ActiveSheet, instyle, outstyle)
srf.AddColumn(fcd)
srf.AddColumn(fcd1)
srf.AddColumn(fcd2)
    
fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.RowFilter = srf

<Serializable()>
'Create a sub-class inheriting BaseFilterItem class.
Public Class CustomFilter Inherits FarPoint.Win.Spread.BaseFilterItem
   Private sv As FarPoint.Win.Spread.SheetView = Nothing

   Public Sub New() : MyBase
   End Sub

   Public Sub New(ByVal sheetView As FarPoint.Win.Spread.SheetView) : MyBase
      Me.sv = sheetView
   End Sub

   'Returns names to be displayed in a drop-down list.
   Public Overrides ReadOnly Property DisplayName() As String
      Get
         Return "Contains an 'A'"
      End Get
   End Property

   'Set sheets to filters.
   Public Overrides WriteOnly Property SheetView() As FarPoint.Win.Spread.SheetView
      Set(ByVal value As FarPoint.Win.Spread.SheetView)
         sv = value
      End Set
   End Property

   'Evaluate specified values by particular conditions.
   Public Function IsFilteredIn(ByVal value As Object) As Boolean
      If Not (CObj(value) Is Nothing) AndAlso TypeOf value Is String AndAlso (CStr(value)).Contains("A") Then
         Return True
      End If
         Return False
   End Function

   'Display names returned by DisplayName property.
   Public Overrides Function ShowInDropDown(ByVal columnIndex As Integer, ByVal filteredInRowList As Integer()) As Boolean
      Return True
   End Function

   'Execute filtering in the column specified in a sheet.
   Public Overrides Function Filter(ByVal columnIndex As Integer) As Integer()
      Dim list As ArrayList = New ArrayList()
      Dim returnList As Integer() = Nothing
      Dim row As Integer

      If sv Is Nothing Then
         Return returnList
      End If

      For row = 0 To (sv.RowCount - 1) Step row+1
         If CObj(sv.GetValue(row, columnIndex)) IsNot Nothing Then
            Dim value As Object = CObj(sv.GetValue(row, columnIndex))
            If IsFilteredIn(value) Then
               list.Add(row)
            End If
         End If
      Next

      'When there are any rows that meet conditions, copy them to arrays.
      If list.Count > 0 Then
         returnList = New Integer(list.Count) {}
         list.CopyTo(returnList)
         list.Clear()
      End If

      'Return all row indexes that meet conditions.
      Return returnList
   End Function

   'When any data that has to be serialized is included in a custom filter class, override it.
   Public Overrides Function Serialize(ByVal w As System.Xml.XmlTextWriter) As Boolean
      w.WriteStartElement("CustomFilter")
      MyBase.Serialize(w)
      w.WriteEndElement()
      Return True
   End Function

   Public Overrides Function Deserialize(ByVal r As System.Xml.XmlNodeReader) As Boolean
      If r.NodeType = System.Xml.XmlNodeType.Element Then
         If r.Name.Equals("CustomFilter") Then
            MyBase.Deserialize(r)
         End If
      End If
      Return True
   End Function
End Class