I have a jqGrid with a navBar that has search: true and multipleSearch: true. I would like to add a button to my UI that automatically adds an additional rule to the search.

I've tried manipulating the postData for the filter directly, but values added this way don't show up in the search UI.

I've also tried accessing the search box directly using jQuery, like this:

$('#fbox_list').searchFilter().add();
$('#fbox_list .sf .data input').each(function(index) {
    alert($(this).val());
});

But, in addition to feeling hackish, it only works if the user has already clicked on the search button (the fbox_list div is not constructed on load).

Has anyone else dealt with an issue like this?