Kontent.ai Learn

Filter content to get what you need

Jan Cerman
9 minutes
Download PDF
0% complete
The Delivery API provides several filters to help you refine your requests based on your requirements. To choose the right one, think about what you know about the content you want to get. There’s a filter for every use case.Find a scenario relevant to you and adjust the code samples to get the content you need.

Filter by item ID or a codename

To get an item based on its identifier (like ID or codename), use the equals filter. For example, if you need to get an item by its internal ID, you match the item's ID (found in system.id) against the ID value you have.
  • PHP
<?php
// Gets an item by its internal ID
$items = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->equals('system.id', '2f7288a1-cfc8-47be-9bf1-b1d312f7da18'));
?>
Tip: This approach works equally well for other system properties of the content item object. For example, system.workflow_step, system.collection, system.last_modified.
If you have multiple identifiers of a single type (for example, only IDs or codenames) and want to retrieve them in a single request, use the in filter.
  • PHP
<?php
// Gets three items by their codenames. The codenames are unique per project.
$items = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->in('system.codename', ['delivery_api', 'get_content', 'hello_world']));
?>
If you know the item's codename, we recommend you retrieve the content item directly for better performance.

Filter by content types

To get items based on a single content type, specify the content type's codename (system.type) using the equals filter.
  • PHP
<?php
// Gets items based on the type Product
$items = $deliveryClient->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->equals('system.type', 'product'));
?>
To get items based on multiple content types, specify the content types' codenames using the in filter.
  • PHP
<?php
// Gets items based on the types Product, Article, and News
$items = $deliveryClient->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->in('system.type', ['product', 'article', 'news']));
?>

Filter by date & time and numbers

To get items by a datetime value, you can use one of the comparison filters. This lets you retrieve content modified or released before or after a certain date. The following code shows the filters used on the last content modification date and a date & time element.
  • PHP
<?php
// Note: Date & time element values are provided by users and stored with minute precision. The system.last_modified value reflects Last content change to an item and is stored with ms precision.
// Gets items modified after April 9 2020, 9 am UTC+0
$items1 = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->greaterThan('system.last_modified', '2020-05-09T09:00:00.000000Z'));

// Gets items released at or after April 9 2020, 7 am UTC+0
$items2 = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->greaterThanOrEqual('elements.release_date', '2020-05-09T07:00:00Z'));

// Gets items modified before April 5 2020 UTC+0. Last match would be at 2020-05-04T23:59:59.
$items3 = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->lessThan('system.last_modified', '2020-05-05'));

// Gets items released at or before April 5 2020 10:30 am UTC+0
$items4 = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->lessThanOrEqual('elements.release_date', '2020-05-05T10:30:00Z'));
?>
Tip: Use the same approach for number elements.

Filter by a range of dates and numbers

To get items based on a date range, you need to specify two datetime values using the range filter.
  • PHP
<?php
// Note: Date & time element values are provided by users and stored with minute precision. The system.last_modified value reflects Last content change to an item and is stored with ms precision.
// Gets items modified between April 5, 2020 10:30 UTC and April 7, 2020, 7:00 UTC
$items = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->range('system.last_modified', '2020-05-05T10:30:00', '2020-05-07T07:00:00'));
?>
To get items based on a number range, you need to specify two numbers. The numbers can be either integers like 3 or floats like 3.14.
  • PHP
<?php
// Gets items whose rating is at least 6.5 and at most 9
$items = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->range('elements.product_rating', '6.5', '9'));
?>

Filter by text and rich text

To get items based on the value of a text or rich text element, you need to specify the value using the equals filter.
 The same approach also applies to custom elements.
  • PHP
<?php
// Gets items whose Title element value equals to 'Hello World'
$items = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->equals('elements.title', 'Hello World'));
?>

Filter by taxonomy and multiple choice

To get items tagged with specific taxonomy terms, you need to specify the terms using the contains, any, or all filters.
  • PHP
<?php
// Note: Filters work with codenames of the tags.
// Gets items tagged with one specific tag
$items = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->contains('elements.tags', ['kontent_ai']));

// Gets items tagged with a list of specific tags
$items = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->all('elements.tags', ['kontent_ai','cms']));

// Gets items tagged with at least one of multiple tags
$items = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->any('elements.tags', ['headless','cms']));
?>
Also works for the multiple choice and custom elementsUse the same approach to get items based on a specific value or values of the multiple choice elements. For custom elements, the contains, any, and all filters work only if the element’s value is a stringified array of strings. For example, "[\"DE\",\"US\",\"UK\"]".

Filter by URL slug

The URL slug element value is stored in the same way as the values of text elements. This means the approach to getting items by a specific URL slug is the same, using the equals filter.
  • PHP
<?php
// Gets items in default language with the URL slug element equal to 'sample-url-slug'
$items = $client->getItems((new QueryParams())
  ->equals('elements.url_slug', 'sample-url-slug'));
?>
To ensure you get content in a specific language, use the language parameter in your requests.

Filter by parent items

When you link multiple items together using the linked items elements, you can retrieve your items based on their relationships.Examples:
  • Filter by where items are used – You can have a linked items element for navigation. Each linked item represents a navigation item in a hierarchy.
  • Filter by article's author – You can have several articles written by a single author, Jane. Each article has a linked items element named Author, containing a reference to the content item that represents the author Jane.
  • When using Web Spotlight to manage your website content, you can retrieve subpages the same way as your linked items. For example, you can have various insurance-related pages linked in multiple places on your website.
Sign in with your Kontent.ai credentials or sign up for free to unlock the full lesson, track your progress, and access exclusive expert insights and tips!