Create advanced filters with ShowQL

The Showpad Query Language (ShowQL) is a powerful and user-friendly query language that lets you define sophisticated criteria to precisely target assets within your file library. As you build your filter, it is automatically applied.

See how it looks

Key features

• Organize assets in the Content Library
• Create filters based on one or more criteria
• Use these filters to export a specific list of assets

You need this to succeed

• Showpad Enterprise package
• Showpad Administrator or promoted user account

The quick way to awesomeness

To create filters using ShowQL, it's important to understand their construction and logic. This will ensure that you're able to use ShowQL effectively to locate and filter assets within your Showpad content Library. There are two types of filters you can build:

• Simple query - This is a filter that uses a single statement. You need to select an identifier, an operator, and a value. The identifier tells Showpad where to look, and the value defines what you're looking for. The operator determines how to compare the identifier and the value. 
• Combined queries - This is a more complex filter in which you can combine multiple statements by using one of the following logical operators: 
  • AND - This operator returns content that matches both statements.
  • OR - This operator returns content that matches either statement.

Case Sensitivity for Values

Manually entered text values are case-sensitive. This means that your results could be affected because "a" and "A" are treated as two distinct letters.

However, this is not the case when using the contains (~) or does not contain (!~) operators. When using either of these operators, manually entered text values must be lower case.

Do this step by step

1. Click Library in the top menu. If your organization uses Divisions, click the relevant Division.
2. Click the Advanced button to access the ShowQL guided query builder. You can return to basic filtering by clicking on the Basic button (displayed when viewing advanced options).
3. Click in the search bar and select one of the available attributes.
4. Select a comparison operator by clicking on the option presented in the search bar. This defines how the selected attribute is compared to the value. The available operators depend on the type of attribute selected.
5. Click in the search bar to select or enter the value you want to find. Only values that correspond to the selected attribute are displayed.
6. You can add another criterion to your search by clicking on + add. This will add a logical operator between your search criteria. You can click on the displayed operator to change it.
   • and - This operator is selected by default. Using this operator will require that any results returned must match both of your search criteria.
   • or - This operator will return results that match either of the criteria.
   You can continue adding additional criteria by repeating the steps above.
7. Click the Enter key to finish your query.

Note: You can clear the search bar at any time by clicking on Reset in the search bar.

Identifiers and Operators

Showpad identifiers are grouped into four themes. The following table provides details about the available identifiers and the operators that can be used with them.