I get optimistic when I have found the ColumnFilterPanel.hideColumns(DataColumnSpec…) method. I hoped it can help to filter specially the column list. But it seems it does nothing useful. It fires a filtering change event, which clears the hides, and restores the original values with the update method. Is this historical, or intended behaviour, or I just tried to use it in a wrong way? Thanks, gabor
Sorry, it was my use. After fixing my selection algorithm it works well. 
Never mind. It seems it is not usable (at least for me), after setting them it looses its effect on any change. So I designed a dumb replacement.