proceeded implementing query improvements:

query methods are now uniform and with one central function

src/main/resources/static/main.js

@@ -105,6 +105,11 @@ function filter(filterString) {
     fetchQuery(fetchURL);
 }
 
+function getFilterQuery() {
+    let filterString = filterButton.value.toUpperCase();
+    return "?type=" + filterString;
+}
+
 function search(searchString) {
     updateSections();
     let fetchURL = new URL(apiEndpoint + "/search", baseURL);
@@ -113,6 +118,11 @@ function search(searchString) {
     fetchQuery(fetchURL);
 }
 
+function getSearchQuery() {
+    let searchString = searchBar.value;
+    return "?search=" + (searchString.length === 0 ? "%" : searchString);
+}
+
 function sort(sortString) {
     let query = sortString.toLowerCase().split(" ");
     if (query[1] === "a-z" || query[1] === "↑" || query[1] === "oldest-newest") {
@@ -128,9 +138,26 @@ function sort(sortString) {
     fetchQuery(fetchURL);
 }
 
+function getSortQuery() {
+    let sortString = sortButton.value.toLowerCase().split(" ");
+    if (sortString[1] === "a-z" || sortString[1] === "↑" || sortString[1] === "oldest-newest") {
+        sortString[1] = "asc";
+    } else {
+        sortString[1] = "desc";
+    }
+    return "?sort=" + sortString[0] + "&direction=" + sortString[1];
+}
+
 // creates query for the whole toolbar, so that searching, sorting and filtering are always combined
 function createQuery() {
-
+    updateSections();
+    let queryURL = new URL(apiEndpoint + "/search", baseURL);
+    queryURL.append(getSearchQuery());
+    queryURL.append(getFilterQuery());
+    queryURL.append(getSortQuery());
+    queryURL.append("&size=" + defaultPagingValue);
+    console.log(queryURL); // TODO: remove
+    fetchQuery(queryURL);
 }
 
 export function vote(entryID, up) {