Search Service Registration

The search framework must know about your entity and how to handle it during a search request. To register model entities with Liferay’s search framework, SearchRegistrars use the search framework’s registry to define certain things about your model entity’s ModelSearchDefinition: the default fields used to retrieve documents from the search engine, and the optional search services registered for your entity (for example, the ModelIndexWriterContributor for you entity). Registration occurs as soon as the Component is activated (during portal startup or deployment of the bundle).

A Registrar is required so the container knows about your implementation.

1. First, declare the class a component and create the class declaration:

   @Component(immediate = true, service = {})
   public class FooEntrySearchRegistrar {
   

2. Next write the activate method, annotated with the OSGi annotation @Activate. On activation of this component, call the ModelSearchRegistrarHelper.register method and use the call to build out a ModelSearchDefinition:

   @Activate
   protected void activate(BundleContext bundleContext) {
   	_serviceRegistration = modelSearchRegistrarHelper.register(
   		FooEntry.class, bundleContext,
   		modelSearchDefinition -> {
   			modelSearchDefinition.setDefaultSelectedFieldNames(
                   Field.ASSET_TAG_NAMES, Field.COMPANY_ID, 
                   Field.ENTRY_CLASS_NAME, Field.ENTRY_CLASS_PK,
   				Field.GROUP_ID, Field.MODIFIED_DATE, Field.SCOPE_GROUP_ID,
   				Field.UID);
   			modelSearchDefinition.setDefaultSelectedLocalizedFieldNames(
   				Field.CONTENT, Field.TITLE);
   			modelSearchDefinition.setModelIndexWriteContributor(
   				modelIndexWriterContributor);
   			modelSearchDefinition.setModelSummaryContributor(
   				modelSummaryContributor);
   			modelSearchDefinition.setModelVisibilityContributor(
   				modelVisibilityContributor);
   		});
   }
   

   On activation of the Component, a chain of search and indexing classes is registered for the Foo entity. In addition, set the default selected field names used to retrieve results documents from the search engine. Then set the contributors used to build a model search definition.

   In addition to the ModelSearchDefinition setter methods used in the above code, there’s another to be aware of:

   To select all locales all the time when searching for your model entity, pass true to setSelectAllLocales:

   modelSearchDefinition.setSelectAllLocales(true);
   

   Technically, there’s another setter in ModelSearchDefinition that takes a boolean, setSearchResultPermissionFilterSuppressed. However, this is intended for internal consumption.

3. Write a corresponding deactivate method:

   @Deactivate
   protected void deactivate() {
   	_serviceRegistration.unregister();
   }
   

4. Get references to the services needed in the class. For the search services you’re providing, specify them by entering the FQCN of your model entity in the reference target’s indexer.class.name property:

   @Reference(
   	target = "(indexer.class.name=com.liferay.foo.model.FooEntry)"
   )
   protected ModelIndexerWriterContributor<FooEntry>
   	modelIndexWriterContributor;
   
   @Reference
   protected ModelSearchRegistrarHelper modelSearchRegistrarHelper;
   
   @Reference(
   	target = "(indexer.class.name=com.liferay.foo.model.FooEntry)"
   )
   protected ModelSummaryContributor modelSummaryContributor;
   
   @Reference(
   	target = "(indexer.class.name=com.liferay.foo.model.FooEntry)"
   )
   protected ModelVisibilityContributor modelVisibilityContributor;
   
   private ServiceRegistration<?> _serviceRegistration;
   

It’s quite possible you’ll want to write this class after first getting all the search and indexing logic into place. How can you register a ModelIndexerWriterContributor if you haven’t written one yet?