REST Search

Constellio search service settings

Based on the Apache Solr service, Constellio's search web service allows developers to perform search queries programmatically.

Search parameters are sent to the search engine using parameters in the service URL.

Here is the URL of the service http://<host>:<port>/constellio/select

Here is an example :http://<host>/constellio/select?token=254de7d9-89d2-42f7--63&serviceKey=38fhhdf_df3493f&fq=schema_s:document*&q=québec&indent=true&rows=10&wt=json 

Setting: DefType (recommended)

Indicates the search type. Always use this one:

defType=edismax

The qf parameter indicates the search fields and allows you to “boost” a particular field if the “^” criterion is used. In this example we search on the default search field (content_txt_fr and we “boost” the documents which contain the keywords searched in their title):

qf=content_txt_fr title_t_fr^20.0

Setting: FL (recommended)

Allows you to indicate the fields to display.

fl=<fields1>,<fields2>

Leave blank to display all fields.

Attention ! In production, only ask the server for the fields displayed to the user. Some (content_*) contain a lot of data and slow down the search. Instead, use highlighting (hl parameter, lower) to return only the relevant extract of the content.

Setting: Rows (recommended)

Number of results to return.

rows=15

Default: 10

It is suggested not to return more than twenty results.

Setting: Start (recommended)

Default: 0

Allows you to specify the starting position in the results.

Useful for pagination. The numFound field in the response header allows you to obtain the total number of results obtained.

Setting: Q (recommended)

In order to specify the search terms and expressions, we use the 'q' parameter as follows:

q=test

Using Solr syntax allows you to apply selection criteria to search expressions. For example, we have:

At least one word:

q=(pamela OR Thursday OR documentation)

All the words :

q=(pamela AND Thursday AND documentation)

Exact expression:

q="documentation given to pamela on Thursday"

We can also use a few operators to spice up the results obtained:

• Phrase: “table of contents”
• “Wildcard”/frimes: One character: p?mela
• Prefix: pam*
• Suffix: *mela
• Blurry: pabela~
• Negation: -Friday

Setting: Q.OP

Specifies the default Boolean operator (AND | OR). Use “AND”:

q.op=AND

Setting: FQ

Allows you to add filters to the search.

fq=<field name>:<value>

Example (to return documents only):

fq=schema_s:document*

Several “fq” parameters can be specified. The filters will add up.

Setting: Sort

This setting allows you to sort search results in ascending/decreasing order. According to the following formula:

sort=<field name> <ASC | DESC>

Sorting varies depending on the type of fields. Use the *_sort_s or _da (date) fields preferably.

Setting: Indent

indent=<true|false>
Useful for formatting code and making it more readable.

Setting : HL

Allows you to highlight.

Enabling highlighting:

hl=true

Choice of field(s) for highlighting. “parsedContent_t_fr” allows you to highlight the content extracted from the document. A must-have.

hl.fl=parsedContent_t_fr

Excerpt size in characters

hl.fragsize=150

Number of extracts:

hl.snippets=2

Setting: SPELLCHECK

Advance. Allows you to enable spell check for the user's query.

Activation: qt=/spell&spellcheck=on

The suggestion is activated if necessary, and is offered at the end of the response.

Setting : FACET

Advance. Allows you to construct facets on the search.

Activation:

facet=true

Minimum number of results to display a facet (default 0)

facet.mincount=1

Choice of fields for the facet:

*Choose only “*_s” type fields.

facet.field=<fields1>

facet.field=<fields2>

Answer

Important fields

Identifier: id

Content type: schema_s

Modified date: modifiedOn_dt

Collection: collection_s

Title: title_*

Content: content_*

Version: version _s

Field types

Here are the main types of fields available:

*_s: Exact string (sensitive to case and accents)

*_ss: String, but with multiple values

*da: date

*_t_fr: Fields analyzed in French. Not sensitive to case and accents, but ignores certain characters (separators, suffixes for plural, etc.)

*_sort_s: Perfect for sorting

See also

Official Solr documentation about queries