Search
Bayanat has a powerful search tool that allows searching every data field and creating advanced and complex queries. Available for Actors, Bulletins, and Incidents, and also for finding related items within any component.
Quick Search
The main search box searches text fields (titles, descriptions, names) and the last update comment. Results update as you type.
Advanced Search
Access by clicking the button on the right side of the search bar. This opens a panel with every searchable field for the current entity type.
Searchable Fields
| Entity | Fields |
|---|---|
| Bulletins | Title, description, sources, labels, locations, events, publish date, documentation date, status, assigned user, reviewer, access roles |
| Actors | Name, nickname, description, nationality, ethnography, sex, age, labels, sources, status, assigned user |
| Incidents | Title, description, locations, labels, potential violations, claimed violations, status |
Operators
- AND (default): Multiple values in the same field must all match
- OR ("Any" checkbox): Any of the selected values will match
- Exclude: Negate a field to exclude matching results
Date Searching
For date fields, you can specify:
- Exact date
- Date range (from/to)
- Within: A time window around the chosen date (e.g., within 7 days)
Location Searching
Locations support hierarchical search. Selecting a parent location (e.g., a governorate) will also match items tagged with child locations (districts, subdistricts).
Complex Search
"Refine/Extend Search" allows building multi-step queries by combining search queries with logical operators.
- Run an initial search
- Click "Refine/Extend Search"
- Set new search parameters
- Choose how to combine with previous results:
- AND: Narrow results (must match both queries)
- OR: Broaden results (match either query)
- Repeat to build arbitrarily complex queries
This is useful for queries that can't be expressed in a single search, such as "Bulletins from Damascus OR Aleppo that mention detention AND are assigned to me."
Long-Running Searches
Searches over large datasets can take longer than the server allows for an interactive request. Rather than failing, these continue in the background.
When this happens:
- A message appears saying the search is continuing in the background
- The search is re-run by a background worker without the interactive time limit
- A notification arrives when the results are ready
- Opening the notification returns you to the list with the results applied
Results stay available for 24 hours, after which the notification link expires. Very large result sets are capped, and the notification shows a + after the count when this happens.
Administrators can adjust the threshold, see Configuration.
Saved Searches
Save current search parameters for quick reuse:
- Run any search (simple or complex)
- Click "Save Search"
- Name the search
- Access saved searches from the search bar dropdown
Saved searches store the full query, including complex multi-step queries.