how to programatically search a jqgrid

Question

I have a jqGrid with lots of data loaded in it. I want to provide three buttons. Clicking on each button the grid will be prompt user to enter a number and based on that input it will search the grid.

Please tell me if jqGrid supports this.

Answer 1

This is the worst possible solution one can come out with. I programatically open the search form, fill it and submit it too.

$(".ui-icon-search").click();
$(".field0").val("gt");
$(".default.vdata").val($("#search-num").val());
$(".ui-icon-close").click();
$(".ui-icon-search").click();