[Lens] Accept filter definition via URL query parameters

[ghudgins]

Describe the feature:
Allow chart filter information to be passed into Lens via URL query parameter

Today there is a local/session storage for this information but you cannot generate this from another application outside of Kibana

Describe a specific use case for the feature:
When designing a custom application
I would like to construct a link into Lens carrying the current query context from my application
So I can lean on Kibana's functionality for data exploration rather than building it myself

[elasticmachine]

Pinging @elastic/kibana-app (Team:KibanaApp)

[wylieconlon]

@ghudgins I think this is actually a bug, it has been possible in the past to pass in filters from the URL into Lens. It is also possible for other apps to construct Lens URLs using the LensComponent which should allow filters to be passed in.

One of the things that is has never been possible to add via URL is the KQL/Lucene query as text- although it's possible to add via the LensComponent.

[flash1293]

As discussed offline, right now only pinned filters and the time range can be synced via URL. Adding query/regular filters to this (maybe even the full state) would be an interesting extension.

[wylieconlon]

Sorry, I confused myself. The only filters that are typically passed in the URL today are Pinned Filters, which are passed in using the global state _g instead of app state _a. We can add the Lens filters to the app state _a to match the behavior of Discover and Visualize. This does not affect the LensComponent, which is already able to provide all of these options in the Lens state.

The existing behavior is that if I pin a filter from Discover and then open Lens, I will see a URL like this. Only pinned filters are kept.

/app/lens#/?_g=(filters:!(('$state':(store:globalState),meta:(alias:!n,disabled:!f,index:'90943e30-9a47-11e8-b64d-95841ca0b247',key:bytes,negate:!f,params:(gte:1000,lt:!n),type:range),range:(bytes:(gte:1000,lt:!n)))),refreshInterval:(pause:!t,value:0),time:(from:now-15m,to:now))

The proposed change here is to add filters and query parameters into the Lens app state parameter, matching what Discover and Visualize do.

[stratoula]

This is possible now with the new Share capabilities of Lens. You can share a url containing filters and the context will be passed to the new window

[ElanHasson]

@stratoula Where is the share in lens? I'm not seeing it like I do when I'm using /app/dashboards