- 6 minutes to read

Search and Discovery

New .7.x

The Search and Discovery feature provides powerful, enterprise-grade search capabilities across your entire integration landscape. Whether you manage 10 integrations or 10,000+ entities, global search with autocomplete, fuzzy matching, and advanced filters helps you find exactly what you need in seconds.

  • Find entities in seconds – Locate specific integrations, systems, services, or resources instantly without manual graph navigation
  • Typo tolerance – Fuzzy matching finds results even when search terms are misspelled or partially entered
  • Advanced filters – Narrow results by entity type, domain, owner, compliance tags, and custom metadata
  • Saved searches – Reuse common queries for recurring analysis tasks (e.g., "Show all GDPR-regulated SAP integrations")
  • Enterprise scalability – Optimized for datasets with 10,000+ entities and sub-second response times
  • Keyboard-first design – Power users can search without touching the mouse

Target Users:

  • Integration Architects – Quickly locate specific integration patterns or dependencies
  • Operations Teams – Find systems by owner, status, or compliance tags during incident response
  • Compliance Officers – Search for all entities tagged with regulatory requirements (GDPR, HIPAA, SOX)
  • Business Stakeholders – Discover which integrations connect to critical business systems

What is Search and Discovery?

Search and Discovery is Mapify's intelligent search system that indexes all entities in your Repository Model and provides:

  1. Global search bar – Prominent search input accessible from any Mapify view
  2. Real-time autocomplete – Instant suggestions as you type, ranked by relevance
  3. Fuzzy matching – Finds results even with typos (e.g., "SAP Finanace" → "SAP Finance")
  4. Multi-entity search scope – Search across Integrations, Systems, Services, Resources, Domains, and Custom Metadata fields
  5. Advanced filter syntax – Use operators like type:, owner:, status:, tag: for precise queries
  6. Saved searches – Store frequently used queries for one-click re-execution
  7. Visual result highlighting – Search results highlighted in the graph with zoom-to-fit behavior

Search Scope

Entity Type Indexed Fields Example Query
Integrations Name, Description, Domain, Owner, Tags, Custom Metadata SAP to Salesforce
Systems Name, Description, SystemType, Version, Owner, Tags type:system ERP
Services Name, Description, ServiceType, Endpoint, Protocol OrderProcessing REST
Resources Name, Description, ResourceType, Connection String, Owner type:database Production
Domains Name, Description, Owner, Compliance Tags tag:GDPR Finance
Custom Metadata All custom field names and values CostCenter:12345

Fuzzy Search and Typo Tolerance

Fuzzy search uses Levenshtein distance algorithms to find approximate matches. This handles:

  • Typos: "Salesforse" → "Salesforce"
  • Spelling variations: "Authorize" vs "Authorise"
  • Case insensitivity: "sap finance" matches "SAP Finance"
  • Partial matches: "Order" matches "OrderProcessingService"
  • Word transposition: "Finance SAP" matches "SAP Finance"
Query Length Max Edit Distance Example
1–3 characters 0 (exact match only) "SAP" requires exact match
4–7 characters 1 character difference "Ordr" matches "Order"
8–12 characters 2 character differences "Salesfore" matches "Salesforce"
13+ characters 3 character differences "OrderProcesing" matches "OrderProcessing"

Configuration: Administrators can adjust fuzzy matching sensitivity in Mapify > Search > Fuzzy Tolerance.

Autocomplete Behavior and Ranking

Autocomplete suggestions appear as you type (minimum 2 characters) ranked by:

  1. Exact prefix match – Highest priority (e.g., "SAP" → "SAP Finance Integration" ranks #1)
  2. Word boundary match – Second priority (e.g., "Finance" → "SAP Finance Integration")
  3. Fuzzy match – Third priority (typo tolerance)
  4. Recently accessed – Boosts entities viewed in the last 7 days
  5. Entity type priority – Integrations > Systems > Services > Resources > Domains
  6. Custom metadata matches – Lower priority than core fields

Visual Indicators:

  • Recently accessed – Star icon for entities viewed in last 7 days
  • Active status – Green checkmark for healthy/active entities
  • Issues detected – Warning icon for entities with monitoring alerts
  • Restricted access – Lock icon for entities with read-only permissions

Advanced Filter Syntax

Power users can combine search terms with filter operators for precise queries. Use type:, owner:, status:, tag:, domain:, modified:, and more.

For the complete filter operator reference, date syntax, boolean operators, complex query examples, and search UI HTML components, see the dedicated Advanced Filters and Saved Searches page.

Quick examples:

tag:GDPR type:integration SAP modified:30d

owner:"Sales Team" status:active

(protocol:REST OR protocol:SOAP) domain:Production

Saved Searches

Saved searches store frequently used queries for one-click re-execution. Common use cases include compliance audits, team dashboards, incident response, and architecture reviews.

See Advanced Filters and Saved Searches for the full data structure, scheduling options, and saved search workflow.

Visual Highlighting

When a search returns results, matching entities are highlighted in the Mapify graph with:

  • Blue border (4px, #0066CC) + glow effect for immediate visibility
  • Size increase (115%) and icon badge for colorblind accessibility
  • Numbered badges (1, 2, 3…) showing result rank
  • Automatic zoom-to-fit to show all highlighted nodes in viewport
  • Keyboard navigation (Tab, Ctrl+↓, Esc) to cycle through results

For complete CSS examples, animation specs, WCAG compliance details, mobile behavior, and example scenarios, see Visual Highlighting.

Best Practices

  • Use autocomplete – Let autocomplete guide you to valid entity names and reduce typos
  • Leverage filters early – Start with type: or domain: to narrow search space before adding keywords
  • Save recurring queries – Create saved searches for weekly/monthly compliance checks
  • Use quotes for exact phrases – "Order Processing Service" (exact) vs Order Processing Service (fuzzy)
  • Combine keyboard shortcuts – Press Ctrl+K to focus search, arrow keys to navigate, Enter to select
  • Avoid overly broad queries – Searching just "Service" without filters may return thousands of results
  • Don't rely on fuzzy search alone – Use filters for precise compliance/audit queries

Troubleshooting

No Results Found

  1. Check spelling and try with fewer characters
  2. Verify you have permissions to view the entity
  3. Check active filters — remove status: or domain: filters that may be excluding results
  4. Try a partial search (e.g., "SAP" instead of "SAP Finance Integration Complete")

Slow Search Performance

  1. Use more specific filters — add type:, owner:, or domain: to reduce search space
  2. Avoid leading wildcard searches (*Order is slower than Order*)
  3. Clear browser cache — old cached search index may cause conflicts
  4. Contact your administrator — server-side indexing may need rebuilding

Autocomplete Not Working

  1. Type at least 2 characters — autocomplete requires a minimum of 2
  2. Verify JavaScript is enabled and there are no browser console errors
  3. Check network connectivity — server-side autocomplete requires server communication
  4. Clear cache: Mapify > Settings > Search > Clear Autocomplete Cache

Next Steps