UI Differences (Before / After)

The new Interface is coming with a major change in the advanced search. The Advanced search is more prominent and set globally in the Interface. It has also more functionalities, which can be used.

Advanced Search

Before

(blue star) The Advanced search was hidden behind an extra page to search and build filter criteria and nested conditions:

After

(blue star) In the new interface it is not an extra page anymore and the search is executed within the same view (page):

Quick Search

Before

(blue star) You had a search field directly above your list which is searching within the selected ContentType

After:

(blue star) Now you have a search in the header which allows you to search within the ContentType but also generically and flexibly if you change your criteria

If you open the search field, you will now see at one glance

Basic functionalities

To understand the usage of the search, let’s dive into the basic functionalities of this feature.

Main features


This search is divided into following areas:

  1. Quick Search → You can search via fields within ‘'Entries’' or ‘'Assets’'

    1. If you use the spacebar on your keyboard a new dropdown with a selection of system-defined fields of ContentStack are shown for Entries, such as

  2. Recently used fields → fields which has been recently used for a search by you

  3. Saved searches → You see a

    save-icon next to the search field. You are able to save your queries for specific usecases

  4. Advanced Search-button (violett) → if you click on this button, it will open a tree-structure and helps you to expand your search conditions and specify your search criteria. If you want to go back to the quick search you have to clear your search.

5. Filters: if you click onto this button it will open an another ‘'view’' of this functionality and it helps you to further narrow down your search results and get specific output.

System-defined fields vs. User-defined fields or others

System-defined fields are fields which are covered by ContentStack as a system itself.

User-defined fields or others are custom-fields which you can find e.g. within a content-type entry

Quick Search

The quick search contains the functionality to search within a standard condition. It helps you to search within a basic criteria and in all entries/assets.

E.g. if you would like to check quickly who published when within a ContentType. You are able to only select fields (system-defined fields) in a base condition.

Example:

In this filter criteria, I defined following condition for the functionality of ContentStack:

If ‘'entries matches all’'; ‘'published by = Juliana Rilke’'; “ContentType = Contentblock”; ''published at = 2022-08-29’', then show me results.

Translated: Show me all results by entries and which are matching to → published by Juliana at 2022-08-29 within the ContenType ‘'Content Block’'.

You are also able to search via ‘'text’', here’s an example that shows all entries which contain ‘'whitepaper robotics’':

Please be aware that only one text snippet could be searched in the quick search. Currently it is not possible to combine text snippets.
(Contentstack announced that they are working on that.)

For a specific, refined search it is recommended to use and click directly on the Advanced Search functionality.

Advanced Search

The Advanced Search option within the search allows you to perform a deeper field-level search on entries and assets. It allows you to refine search results based on specific parameters by adding conditions to the base query. You can use conditional operators to specify your search:

Conditional Operators

You can create multiple search queries and run them to get the exact piece of content that you are looking for. It is allowed to build queries using “Any” or “All” operators (not only one as in the quick search).

If you start with a search, you have two options to specify your condition type. Conditional types are ANY(OR) and ALL(AND) to search for specific pieces of content within your stack.

You are performing a search query with a combination of condition-types and operators.

You have the possibility to add condition types and operators which are:

Condition type

  • match all (AND) → If all Entries and matches: it searches through all entries, but you specify it with an and

  • match any (OR) → If all Entries or matches (to any criteria): it searches through overall entries and checks if any of the criteria you’ve added are matching.

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Basic operators

  • match → If a field ‘'matches to XY'' (exact match)

  • contains → If a field “contain XY” (fuzzy search)

  • does not match → If a field does not match (if you want to exclude sth., the ‘'does not match’' operator could be used.)

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Additional Operators (used for dates/counts)

  • Equal to

  • Less than or equal to

  • Greater than or equal to

  • Greater than

  • Less than

Bildschirmvideo aufnehmen 2022-11-21 um 21.11.36.mov

The new Interface shows you a tree-structure which helps you to see additional/nested conditions directly.

The advanced search acts from top-level fields (system-defined fields) to lower-level fields.

Here’s an example for following use case, if you want to have an exact result:

Show me all landingpages (web pages) with the URLs containing /lp/Whitepaper which are published in PROD

  1. Start with a conditional type and base query: match all (AND) → Match all entries to ContentType ‘'Webpage’' AND which are published in PROD (Top-Level)

2. Now add more criterias as an additional second condition (Nested condition) to specifiy your search query (Lower-Level):

3. Use the operator ‘'contain’' → because /lp/Whitepaper is not the EXACT URL path, you would like to have all whitepaper webpages which contains /lp/Whitepaper in the URL.

4. Apply

As a comparison, if you use the quick search:

It searches through all entries and looks for a text which contains ‘'/lp/Whitepaper’' in the entire Mitsubishi ContentStack universe.

Use cases

Show me all registered MyMitsubishi users in 2022 for Germany.

→ Open Advanced Search

Base Query

  • ConditionType match all (AND) and define your base query

    • match all

    • ContentType: MyMitsubishi users

    • Created at 2022-01-01 (Greater than and equals) & created at 2022-09-30 (Less than and equals)

    • Published Environment = PROD

Additional query/Nested Condition

  • Add nested condition

    • matches [System] Portal = de

Show me all registrated MyMitsubishi users which contains @freshcells is from beril in the Email adress

→ Open Advanced Search

Base Query

  • ContentType = MyMitsubishi Users

Additonal query (Nested Condition)

  • Match all (AND)

  • User-defined field: [SYSTEM] Email in authentification system contains @freshcells

  • User-defined field: [SYSTEM] Email in authentification system contains beril

Alternatively you can use: First name, but I’m not always enter my first name (smile)

Show me web pages which contain ‘'Selection Tool’'

→ Use QuickSearch

Base query

  • You can go to ‘'Webpage’' (or start from scratch)

  • The search automatically changes, if you have selected a ContentType in left navigation bar and a query is automatically applied

  • Type in ‘'Selection tool’' it will be added as a ‘'text’'

Show me all FR-A8CN04 in Products

  • Select ContentType: Product

  • Type in: FR-A8CN04 (it will be added as a “text” automatically)

Show me results with /lp/Whitepaper in Germany-Germany in Web page on prod

→ Open Advanced Search

Base Query

  • Go to Advanced Search to have a specific, refined result

  • ContentType = Webpage (You can also can go directly to the Webpage ContentType)

  • Language = Germany-German & Localized in Germany-German

  • Published Environment = PROD

Addtional query (Nested Condition)

  • Match all (AND)

  • URL contains /lp/Whitepaper

Hints for using the Search

Hints if you are using the Search

  1. If you use the quick search, please be aware that if you open the Advanced Search the search query which you’ve entered before resets → If you know already your search query will be more complex, please use Advanced Search directly

  2. If you are in e.g. a ContentType, used the Search and then changing the language dropdown to change the locale, your search will be reset → Try to use the filter possibilities within the Search to change locales / narrow down your filters

Updates by ContentStack (Q&A by ContentStack)

ContentStack continuously improving their features. In regards to Advanced Search there will be upcoming updates.

Please find below Question and Answers which are giving you an overall overview:

We are rolling out some new filtering and sorting options ro make searching and filtering easier.

Yes, you can search tags. Tags are currently the best way to organize content. If you have a lot of content, using tags will help you find everything associated with it.

We are actively working on enhancing search. We have a UX (user experience team) working at this and we plan to roll out enhanced search soon.