so I've been staring at this thread for the past few days

javascript filter array multiple conditions

And while it offers fantastic solutions if know the filter params, what happens when I don't know them both? I have no clue how to do that.

I have a very basic filter setup going...

// check for text search values to populate names 
    this.searchBar.addEventListener("keyup", e => {
      this.searchString = e.target.value.toLowerCase();
      this.new_table();
    });

// check for gender options 
    this.genderFilter.addEventListener("change", e => {
      this.genderOption = e.target.value;
      this.new_table();
    });

// Build out the filter
  new_table() {
    const searchText = this.searchString;

    let combinedFilter = this.response.filter(char => {
      const name = char.first_name.includes(searchText) || char.last_name.includes(searchText);
      const gender = this.genderOption;

      return name || char.gender == this.genderOption;
    });

    this.build_table(combinedFilter);
  }

// build_table is my function that takes the json data and converts it into html

This works fantastic for the OR situation, but if I change the return to &&, it requires both to be filled out to show any results.

I'm pretty new with JS but I am thinking a few ways to do it and I'm probably wrong on all.

1. Build out the search params and store them into an object (ie {firstname: name, gender: gender}) and then this way I can just leave blank if empty. I don't know how to actually return that, however. I tried a few different ways and I'm not even sure if that is possible.
2. Figure out a default value for each which likely works well with the dropdowns (gender) as I can do if (both) then male || female type of line but the search part will have an issue if blank.

I've searched this board and the web but I apparently suck at searching because I couldn't find anyone having a combined search+dropdown filter combo. It seems one or the other but never both.

Any help you can give would be amazing thank you!