How to Use the Advanced Query Editor

Every module in BaseBuilders supports a simple query editor, but you can switch to the Advanced Query Editor for much finer control over exactly which records a query returns. This article uses Time Slips as the example, but the same advanced editor is available in every module — Projects, Invoices, and everywhere else you can run a query.

Switching Between Simple and Advanced

When building a query, you can toggle between the simple editor and the advanced editor. The advanced editor gives you access to logic and structure the simple editor doesn't expose, though you can always switch back to simple if that's all you need.

Matching All, Any, or None

At the top of a query block, you choose whether results must match all, any, or none of the criteria listed:

All — a record must satisfy every condition in the block. For example, Date = Last Month and Classification = Project returns only project time slips from last month.
Any — a record only needs to satisfy one of the conditions. Using Any with the same two conditions would return every project time slip regardless of date, plus every last-month time slip regardless of classification (admin, benefits, etc.) — a much broader result.
None — a record must satisfy none of the conditions, effectively excluding matches. For example, this can be used to pull everything except project time slips from last month.

Choosing the right match type for each block is what lets you shape a query from "cast a wide net" to "exclude specific results."

Extending and Constraining a Query

Beyond a single block of criteria, the advanced editor lets you add further blocks that either extend or constrain your results:

Extend Results adds an additional block of criteria connected as an "or" to your existing results — broadening what's returned.
Constrain Results adds an additional block of criteria that further narrows your existing results — every record must also satisfy this new block.

For example, you might build a first block that finds all Project time slips from last month (matching All), then add a Constrain block using Any to further narrow that set — for example, excluding a specific staff member's time by setting Project Staff Primary to that person and choosing None. The result: last month's project time, excluding anything belonging to that staff member.

You can chain multiple Extend or Constrain blocks together, combining All/Any/None logic at each level, to build queries as broad or as surgical as you need.

Text Match Conditions

For text-based fields like Phase Name or Project Name, the advanced editor offers several match types beyond a simple exact match:

Contains
Exactly Matches
Starts With
Ends With

Choosing the right match type here can significantly change what's returned — for example, "Contains" will catch partial matches within a longer name, while "Exactly Matches" requires the full value to match precisely.

Multi-Select Criteria

Some criteria fields support selecting multiple values at once, shown with an "x" next to the selected value that lets you remove it. This means a single condition — such as Project Staff Primary — can include several people or values at once, rather than requiring a separate condition for each one.

Best Practice

Think through All, Any, and None deliberately for each block before building out Extend or Constrain blocks — getting the base logic right at each level is what makes complex, multi-condition queries return exactly what you expect rather than too much or too little. Use Extend when you want to broaden a result set with an additional "or" condition, and Constrain when you want to narrow an existing result set further.

Summary

The Advanced Query Editor, available in every module, lets you combine criteria using All, Any, or None matching, then further shape results using Extend Results (broadens) and Constrain Results (narrows), with each added block able to use its own All/Any/None logic. Text fields support match types like Contains, Exactly Matches, Starts With, and Ends With, and many criteria fields support multi-select. Together, these tools let you build queries ranging from broad to highly precise, in any module in the system.