Customizing search

This topic describes how to customize and extend the search in Optimizely Commerce by, for instance, adding index fields and creating new search indexers for specific purposes. See also Creating a search provider.

Classes in this topic are available in the following namespaces: 

• EPiServer.DataAnnotations
• Mediachase.Search
• Mediachase.Search.Extensions
• Mediachase.Search.Extensions.Indexers

Adding index fields

The process of adding a new field can differ depending on the provider and where the data comes from. Here, we explain the steps for adding a field to the catalog index using Lucene provider.

When using Lucene, if you want to make a field searchable, decorate the property on the Catalog content model with the [Searchable] attribute.

To add a field programmatically if data comes from an external data source or needs to be computed, create a new class that inherits the existing CatalogIndexer.

public class MyCatalogIndexer : Mediachase.Search.Extensions.Indexers.CatalogIndexBuilder
  {
    /// <summary>
    /// Called when catalog entry is indexed. Override this method to add some extra fields.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="document">The document.</param>
    /// <param name="entry">The entry.</param>
    /// <param name="language"></param>
    protected override void OnCatalogEntryIndex(ref SearchDocument document, 
    CatalogEntryDto.CatalogEntryRow entry, string language)
      {
        // Example, add all apple products as featured
        if(entry.Name.Contains("apple")) document.Add(new SearchField("featured", true));
        base.OnCatalogEntryIndex(ref document, entry, language);
      }
  }

/// <summary>
/// Search Index Builder Interface.
/// </summary>
public interface ISearchIndexBuilder
  {
    /// <summary>
    /// An event handler for progress message events.
    /// </summary>
    event SearchIndexHandler SearchIndexMessage;

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the manager.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>The manager.</value>
    SearchManager Manager { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the build indexer.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>The build indexer.</value>
    IndexBuilder Indexer { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Builds the index.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="rebuild">if set to <c>true</c> the full rebuild will be done, if not. The last build date will be used.</param>
    void BuildIndex(bool rebuild);

    /// <summary>
    /// Updates the specified items in the index.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="itemIds">The ids of the items to update.</param>
    /// <returns>True if successful; otherwise, false.</returns>        
    bool UpdateIndex(IEnumerable<int> itemIds);
  }