Low level search is a new concept in Liferay DXP version 7.2: it’s a search that doesn’t go through the Search and Indexing Framework, which is infrastructure used for searching documents in the Liferay Index.
A common use case for a low level search is to query an index other than the Liferay DXP index. By default, Search Pages search the Liferay DXP index, but you can also search another index, as long as it’s in the same Elasticsearch cluster (this feature does not work with Solr).
Add the Low Level Search Options widget to a search page and configure it to direct the search to the alternate index. To search multiple indexes from the same page, you can add multiple Low Level Search Options widgets and configure each one with its own Index Name and Federated Search Key.
Searching alternate indexes is a low level operation that bypasses the Liferay DXP permission checking mechanisms, presenting whatever results the search engine returns. For this reason, only administrators can add and configure the Low Level Search Options widget.
To use the Low Level Search Options widget, add it to a Search Page:
-
Click the Add menu (
) on the page to open the Add Widgets menu.
-
Drag the Low Level Search Options widget (from the Search section), and drop it on the page.
It doesn’t do anything unless you configure it.
Configuring Low Level Search
There are several configuration options for the widget. Access them by clicking
the widget Options menu () →
Configuration, or by clicking the hypertext URL in the widget body:
Configure additional low level search options in this page.
Figure 1: The Low Level Options widget has several configuration options.
- Indexes:
- Enter the comma-separated names of the alternative indexes to search. Do not enter the standard Liferay index name.
- Fields to Return:
- Enter the names of the stored fields to be returned from the search engine in a comma-separated list. Leave it blank to return all stored fields.
- Contributors to Include:
- Enter the ids of registered search contributors to be included in this search
in a comma-separated list of each
SearchRequestContributor
’s Fully Qualified Class Name (e.g.,com.liferay.docs.request.contributor.MySearchRequestContributor
). If not set, all registered search contributors are applied. - Contributors to Exclude:
- Enter the ids of registered search contributors to be excluded from this search, in a comma-separated list. If not set, all registered search contributors are applied.
- Federated Search Key:
- Enter the key of an alternate search this widget is participating in. If not set, this widget participates in the default search. This value is usually the name of an application-defined index.
Example: Searching an Alternate Index
-
Whether testing on the default search page or creating a new Search Page, include the following widgets (removing extra widgets simplifies the exercise, but is not required for it to work):
- Low Level Search Options
- Custom Filter
- Search Bar
- Search Results
-
Configure all the widgets to participate in an alternate search, by opening the widget’s Options menu (
) and clicking Configuration. For each, enter liferay-0 in the Federated Search Key setting.
All the search widgets expected to react appropriately to the alternate search must be configured with the Federated Search Key. The following steps detail additional configuration.
-
Make an additional configuration in the Low Level Search Options widget, adding the index name of the alternate index:
Enter at least one index name in the Indexes setting. To follow this example, use liferay-0.
-
Configure the Custom Filter to use the search bar’s default query parameter (q) and add a query to the search:
Enter title under field name to add the title field to the query.
Choose a Filter Query Type (e.g., Match) for the field.
Since you’re overriding the default query to search an alternate index, there’s nothing in the query by default. Add any query clauses using the Custom Filter widget(s).
If you’re using liferay-0 in your Federated Search Key and Indexes settings, search for dynamic in the search bar. You’ll see results like this:
Figure 2: Configure the search page to search a different index.
Now you’re able to configure the out of the box search widgets to participate in searches against any Elasticsearch index in the cluster.