Searching with SearchFilter

So far, only paging through ALL projects page by page is possible – the SearchFilter adds TARGETED searching by field value, AGAIN WITHOUT any custom query code.

Applying SearchFilter

api/src/Entity/Project.php

use ApiPlatform\Metadata\ApiFilter;
use ApiPlatform\Doctrine\Orm\Filter\SearchFilter;

#[ApiResource(
    normalizationContext: ['groups' => ['project:read']],
    denormalizationContext: ['groups' => ['project:write']]
)]
#[ApiFilter(SearchFilter::class, properties: [
    'name' => 'partial',
    'description' => 'partial',
])]
#[ORM\Entity(repositoryClass: ProjectRepository::class)]
class Project
{
    // ... unchanged
}

#[ApiFilter] is a FURTHER attribute ALONGSIDE #[ApiResource] – the properties array determines WHICH fields are searchable and WITH which comparison strategy.

partial vs. exact

Strategy	Behavior
`partial`	SQL `LIKE %value%` – finds substrings, case is usually ignored
`exact`	SQL `= value` – ONLY an exact match
`start`	SQL `LIKE value%` – match ONLY at the start
`end`	SQL `LIKE %value` – match ONLY at the end

Testing the search

curl -k 'https://localhost/api/projects?name=Relaunch'

{
  "hydra:member": [
    {"id": 1, "name": "Website Relaunch", "...": "..."}
  ],
  "hydra:totalItems": 1
}

The name query parameter MATCHES the property name from the properties array – name=Relaunch ALSO finds "Website Relaunch", since partial is configured.

Combining multiple search criteria

curl -k 'https://localhost/api/projects?name=Website&description=Redesign'

MULTIPLE query parameters get combined with AND AUTOMATICALLY – ONLY projects that meet BOTH criteria AT ONCE appear in the result.

Tipp: SearchFilter AUTOMATICALLY appears in Swagger UI (chapter 6) as its own query parameter fields – a CONVENIENT way to try out filters INTERACTIVELY without typing curl commands by hand.