Search

The search functionality allows you to perform full-text search across multiple fields in a single query. This is particularly useful for implementing search bars, autocomplete features, or general content discovery.

Overview

When you mark fields as searchable: true in your DTO, a search parameter is automatically added to all query endpoints. The search will be performed across all searchable fields simultaneously.

Configuring Searchable Fields

To enable search on a field, use the searchable option in @EnhancedField:

import { EnhancedField, IDField } from '@lib/type-graphql-query';
import { ObjectType, ID, Field } from '@lib/type-graphql';

@ObjectType('Product')
export class Product {
  @IDField(() => ID)
  id!: string;

  @EnhancedField({ searchable: true })
  name!: string;

  @EnhancedField({ searchable: true })
  description!: string;

  @EnhancedField()
  price!: number;
}

Basic Search

Once you have searchable fields, you can use the search parameter in your queries:

GraphQL:

{
  products(search: "premium eggs") {
    edges {
      node {
        id
        name
        description
        price
      }
    }
  }
}

The search will match records where any searchable field contains the search term.

Search Options

You can configure advanced search options for each field:

import { EnhancedField, IDField } from '@lib/type-graphql-query';
import { ObjectType, ID, Field } from '@lib/type-graphql';

@ObjectType('Product')
export class Product {
  @IDField(() => ID)
  id!: string;

  @EnhancedField({
    searchable: {
      unaccent: true, // Remove accents from search text
      simplified: true, // Use simplified text matching
      escapeHtml: true, // Escape HTML characters
      op: 'ILIKE', // Use ILIKE (case-insensitive) or EQUAL
    },
  })
  name!: string;

  @EnhancedField({ searchable: true })
  description!: string;
}

Search Options Explained

• unaccent - When set to true, removes accents from the search text. Useful for languages with accented characters (e.g., “café” matches “cafe”).
• simplified - When set to true, uses simplified text matching. Useful for handling special characters.
• escapeHtml - When set to true, escapes HTML characters in the search text. Useful when searching content that may contain HTML.
• op - The SQL operator to use:
  • 'ILIKE' - Case-insensitive pattern matching (default)
  • 'EQUAL' - Exact match

Combining Search with Filtering

You can combine search with other filters:

GraphQL:

{
  products(search: "premium", filter: { price: { gt: 10 } }) {
    edges {
      node {
        id
        name
        description
        price
      }
    }
  }
}

The search and filter are combined using AND logic - records must match both the search term and the filter criteria.

Combining Search with Sorting and Paging

Search works seamlessly with sorting and paging:

GraphQL:

{
  products(search: "eggs", sorting: [{ field: "price", direction: ASC }], paging: { first: 10 }) {
    edges {
      node {
        id
        name
        price
      }
    }
    pageInfo {
      hasNextPage
      hasPreviousPage
    }
  }
}

Multiple Searchable Fields

When you have multiple searchable fields, the search is performed across all of them:

@ObjectType('Article')
export class Article {
  @IDField(() => ID)
  id!: string;

  @EnhancedField({ searchable: true })
  title!: string;

  @EnhancedField({ searchable: true })
  content!: string;

  @EnhancedField({ searchable: true })
  tags!: string;
}

A search query will match if the search term appears in any of these fields.

Best Practices

1. Use searchable for text fields - Only mark text fields as searchable, not numeric or date fields
2. Configure search options appropriately - Use unaccent: true for multilingual content
3. Combine with filters - Use filters to narrow down results before searching
4. Consider performance - Search across many fields can be slower; use indexes appropriately
5. Use ILIKE for flexible matching - The default ILIKE operator provides case-insensitive pattern matching

Next Steps

• DTOs - Configure searchable fields
• Queries - Query operations
• Filtering - Filter query results