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Help with filtering products by brand in a Sanity.io structure

3 replies
Last updated: Jul 28, 2020
Hey all, can anybody see what is wrong with my structure, I can’t seem to filter the desk to show products by brand

S.list()
      .title('/product')
      .items([
        S.documentTypeListItem('product').title('All products').icon(AllIcon),
        S.listItem()
          .title('Products by brand')
          .child(
            // List out all brands
            S.documentTypeList('brand')
              .title('Products by brand')
              .child((brandId) => S.documentList()
                .schemaType('product')
                .title('Products')
                .filter(
                  '_type == "product" && $brandId in brands[]._ref'
                )
                .params({ brandId }))
          )
      ])
AI Update

Looking at your code, the structure itself is actually valid! Your filter syntax $brandId in brands[]._ref is correct GROQ, and the way you're chaining .child() should work. However, there are a few common issues that could prevent it from displaying products:

Most likely culprit: Schema field mismatch

Double-check your product schema. Your filter assumes brands is an array of references, like this:

{
  name: 'brands',
  type: 'array',
  of: [{type: 'reference', to: [{type: 'brand'}]}]
}

If your schema is actually different, you'll need to adjust:

  • If it's a single reference (not an array): Change your filter to:

    .filter('_type == "product" && brands._ref == $brandId')

  • If the field has a different name (like brand singular or brandRef): Update your filter to match that field name

Alternative filter approach

You could also try using the references() function, which checks all reference fields automatically:

.filter('_type == "product" && references($brandId)')

This is more forgiving and doesn't require you to specify the exact field path.

Other things to verify:

  1. Do you have data? Make sure you have products with brand references actually set
  2. Check for typos in field names between your schema and filter
  3. Try a simpler filter first to isolate the issue:
    .filter('_type == "product"')
    If this shows products, then you know the issue is specifically with the brand filtering logic

About .schemaType()

You might see suggestions to add .schemaType('product') - while this can be helpful for tooling and autocomplete, it's not strictly required for the filter to work. It won't fix a filtering issue, but it doesn't hurt to include it:

S.documentList()
  .schemaType('product')  // optional
  .title('Products')
  .filter('_type == "product" && $brandId in brands[]._ref')
  .params({ brandId })

The most common issue here is that the filter doesn't match your actual schema structure, so start by verifying your brands field configuration!

It’s already showing the brands but not the products inside each of these brands, correct? Have you tried replacing 
&& $brandId in brands[]._ref
with 
&& references($brandId)
?
It’s already showing the brands but not the products inside each of these brands, correct? Have you tried replacing 
&& $brandId in brands[]._ref
with 
&& references($brandId)
?
thank you

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