Introduction

A search plugin for Episerver CMS and Commerce

Looking for .NET 6+ support?

A version supporting .NET 6+ is available. Contact Kristian Borg for details.

Features

Typed search
Wildcard search
File search
Range search (numerics and dates)
Fuzzy search
Simple querystring search
Facets
Filtering
Best Bets
More Like This
Tracking/stats
Boosting
Synonyms
Pagination
Related hits (did you mean?)
Autosuggest
Commerce support
Highlighting (excerpts)
Date decay
Custom scoring
Stemming
Index custom types
Basic authentication support
Custom http client message handler

Planned features

Caching
Compound word token filter
Utilize aliases for better downtime management

Version convention

Major version reflects Episerver version
Minor version reflects Elasticsearch version

Requirements

.NET 4.7.2+
Episerver CMS [11, 12>
Episerver Commerce [11.5,14>
Elasticsearch [5.6, 9>
Ingest Attachment Processor Plugin

Usage

First of all you need to create your index. Go to the administration page via the embedded menu Search Engine -> Administration and status, then click the Create indices button.

This will create one index per language on your site. If you have the Commerce addon installed, additional indices for catalog content will also be created.

A separate index will be created for each active language on your site. If you add more languages later, this process needs to be repeated.

Configuration

You can configure your setup programmatically with the singleton Epinova.ElasticSearch.Core.Conventions.Indexing. Only do this once per appdomain, typically in an initializable module or Application_Start().

A sample configuration class:

public static class SearchConfig
{
    public static void Init()
    {
        Epinova.ElasticSearch.Core.Conventions.Indexing.Instance
            .ExcludeType<ErrorPage>()
            .ExcludeType<StartPage>()
            .ExcludeRoot(42)
            .IncludeFileType("pdf")
            .IncludeFileType("docx")
            .ForType<ArticlePage>().IncludeProperty(x => x.Changed)
            .ForType<ArticlePage>().IncludeField(x => x.GetFoo())
            .ForType<ArticlePage>().IncludeField("TenYearsAgo", x => DateTime.Now.AddYears(-10))
            .ForType<ArticlePage>().EnableSuggestions(x => x.Title)
            .ForType<TagPage>().EnableSuggestions()
            .ForType<ArticlePage>().EnableHighlighting(x => x.MyField)
            .ForType<ArticlePage>().StemField(x => x.MyField);
    }
}

Explanation of the different options:

ExcludeType: This type will not be indexed. Base classes and interfaces are also supported. The same can be achieved by decorating your type with ExcludeFromSearchAttribute

ExcludeRoot: This node and its children will not be indexed. Typically a node-id in the Episerver page-tree.

IncludeFileType: Defines the extension for file types that should be indexed. See also the <files> node in the configuration.

ForType: Starting point for indexing rules of a particular type. Does nothing in itself, but provides access to the following options:

IncludeField: Defines custom properties to be indexed. For example an extension method that fetches external data or performs complex aggregations.

EnableSuggestions: Offer autosuggest data from this type, either from all properties or selected ones via a lambda expression.

IncludeProperty: Same effect as decorating a property with [Searchable]. Can be used if you don't control the source of the model.

EnableHighlighting: Add additional fields to be highlighted.

StemField: Defines that a property should be analyzed in the current language. Properties named MainIntro, MainBody and Description will always be analyzed.

What will be indexed?

The module tries to follow the same conventions as Episerver, meaning that all properties of type string and XhtmlString will be indexed unless explicitly decorated with [Searchable(false)]. Additional properties can be indexed by decorating them with [Searchable] or with the conventions above. Decorate ContentArea with [Searchable] to index contents.

Examples

The simplest search

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .GetResults();

Typed search

SearchResult result = service
   .Search<ArticlePage>("bacon")
   .GetResults();

Search in selected properties

SearchResult result = service
   .Search<ArticlePage>("bacon")
   .InField(x => x.MainIntro)
   .InField(x => x.MainBody)
   .InField(x => x.MyCustomMethod())
   .GetResults();

Autosuggest

Searches for indexed words starting with phrase:

string[] suggestions = service.GetSuggestions("baco");

Fuzzy search

With default length AUTO (recommended):

SearchResult result = service
   .Search<ArticlePage>("bacon")
   .Fuzzy()
   .GetResults();

With specific length:

SearchResult result = service
   .Search<ArticlePage>("bacon")
   .Fuzzy(4)
   .GetResults();

Wildcard search

Use with care as this does not support features such as stemming.

SearchResult result = service
   .WildcardSearch<ArticlePage>("*bacon*")
   .GetResults();

SearchResult result = service
   .WildcardSearch<ArticlePage>("me?t")
   .GetResults();

Simple querystring search

SearchResult result = service
   .SimpleQuerystringSearch<ArticlePage>("(bacon | ham) melt -cheese")
   .GetResults();

With limited operators:

SearchResult result = service
   .SimpleQuerystringSearch<ArticlePage>("\"bacon melt\" sandwi*",
      defaultOperator: Operator.And,
      allowedOperators:
         SimpleQuerystringOperators.Prefix |
         SimpleQuerystringOperators.Phrase);
    )
   .GetResults();

See https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-simple-query-string-query.html for syntax.

Geo-point datatype

Using properties of the type Epinova.ElasticSearch.Core.Models.Properties.GeoPoint allows you to perform geo-based filtering.

Example model:

public class OfficePage : StandardPage
{
    [Display]
    public virtual double Lat { get; set; }

    [Display]
    public virtual double Lon { get; set; }

    // Helper property, you could always roll an editor for this
    public GeoPoint Location => new GeoPoint(Lat, Lon);
}

Filtering options

Bounding box

Find points inside a square area based on its top-left and bottom-right corners.

var topLeft = (59.9277542, 10.7190847);
var bottomRight = (59.8881646, 10.7983952);

SearchResult result = service
   .Get<OfficePage>()
   .FilterGeoBoundingBox(x => x.Location, , topLeft, bottomRight)
   .GetResults();

Distance

Find points inside a circle given a center point and the distance of the radius.

var center = (59.9277542, 10.7190847);
var radius = "10km";

SearchResult result = service
   .Get<OfficePage>()
   .FilterGeoDistance(x => x.Location, radius, center)
   .GetResults();

Polygons

Find points inside a polygon with an arbitrary amount of points. The polygon points can for example be the outlines of a city, country or other types of areas.

var polygons = new[]
{
    (59.9702837, 10.6149134),
    (59.9459601, 11.0231964),
    (59.7789455, 10.604809)
};

SearchResult result = service
   .Get<OfficePage>()
   .FilterGeoPolygon(x => x.Location, polygons)
   .GetResults();

More Like This

Find content similar to the document-id provided

SearchResult result = service
   .MoreLikeThis("42")
   .GetResults();

Commerce:

SearchResult result = service
   .MoreLikeThis("123__CatalogContent")
   .GetResults();

Optional parameters:

minimumTermFrequency The minimum term frequency below which the terms will be ignored from the input document. Defaults to 1.
maxQueryTerms The maximum number of query terms that will be selected. Increasing this value gives greater accuracy at the expense of query execution speed. Defaults to 25.
minimumDocFrequency The minimum document frequency below which the terms will be ignored from the input document. Defaults to 3.
minimumWordLength The minimum word length below which the terms will be ignored. Defaults to 3.

Gadget:

Exclusion

Excluding type per query

If you don't want to exclude a type globally, you can do it only in the context of a query:

SearchResult result = service
   .Search<ArticlePage>("bacon")
   .Exclude<SaladPage>()
   .GetResults();

Excluding entire sections/nodes per query

Exclude a node at query-time:

SearchResult result = service
   .Search<ArticlePage>("bacon")
   .Exclude(42)
   .Exclude(contentInstance)
   .Exclude(contentReference)
   .GetResults();

Language

The query uses CurrentCulture as default. This can be overridden:

SearchResult result = service
   .Search<ArticlePage>("bacon")
   .Language(CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en"))
   .GetResults();

Pagination

Use the methods From() and Size() for pagination, or the aliases Skip() and Take():

SearchResult result = service
   .Search<CoursePage>("foo")
   .From(10)
   .Size(20)
   .GetResults();

Facets

Setup query

var query = service
   .Search<CoursePage>("foo")
   .FacetsFor(x => x.DepartmentID);

Don't use post_filter when generating facets

Facets will be created from the currently applied filters and not the entire result.

var query = service
   .Search<CoursePage>("foo")
   .FacetsFor(x => x.DepartmentID, usePostFilter: false);

Apply chosen filters, ie. from a Querystring

One value:

string selectedFilter = Request.Querstring["filter"];
query = query.Filter(p => p.DepartmentID, selectedFilter);

One value, by extension method:

string selectedFilter = Request.Querstring["filter"];
query = query.Filter(p => p.GetDepartmentID(), selectedFilter);

Multiple values:

string[] selectedFilters = Request.Querstring["filters"];
query = query.Filter(p => p.DepartmentID, selectedFilters);

Use AND operator to filter on all filters:

string[] selectedFilters = Request.Querstring["filters"];
query = query.Filter(p => p.DepartmentID, selectedFilters, Operator.And);

Fetch the results

SearchResult results = query.GetResults();

Retrieve facets

foreach (FacetEntry facet in results.Facets)
{
    // facet.Key = name of the property, ie. DepartmentID
    // facet.Count = number of unique values for this facet

    foreach (FacetHit hit in facet.Hits)
    {
        // hit.Key = facet value
        // hit.Count = number with this value
    }
}

Advanced filtering

Multiple filters can be grouped to form more complex queries.

In the below example, the following must be true to give a match:

Sizes is either "xs" or "xl"
ProductCategory is "pants"
Brand is either "levis" or "diesel"

query = query
    .FilterGroup(group => group
        .Or(page => page.Sizes(), new[] { "xs", "xl" }) 
        .And(page => page.ProductCategory, "pants") 
        .Or(page => page.Brand, new[] {"levis", "diesel"}) 
    );

Not-filter

To filter away certain values, use FilterMustNot

var query = service
   .Search<PageData>("foo")
   .FilterMustNot(x => x.Title, "bar");

ACL

To filter on the current users ACL, use FilterByACL

var query = service
   .Search<PageData>("foo")
   .FilterByACL();

EPiServer.Security.PrincipalInfo.Current will be used by default, but a custom PrincipalInfo can be supplied if needed.

Range

To search within a given range of values, use the Range function.
Supported types are DateTime, double, decimal and long (including implicit conversion of int, byte etc.)

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .Range(x => x.StartPublish, DateTime.Now.Date, DateTime.Now.Date.AddDays(2))
   .GetResults();

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .Range(x => x.MyNumber, 10, 20)
   .GetResults();

The less-than argument is optional.

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .Range(x => x.MyNumber, 10) // Returns anything above 10
   .GetResults();

To search for an interval inside another interval, your property must be of type Epinova.ElasticSearch.Core.Models.Properties.IntegerRange.
Currently int is the only supported type.

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .Range(x => x.MyRange, 10, 20)
   .GetResults();

public class ArticlePage : StandardPage
{
    [Display]
    public virtual int From { get; set; }

    [Display]
    public virtual int To { get; set; }

    public IntegerRange MyRange => new IntegerRange(From, To);
}

Dictionary properties

If a property is of type IDictionary<string, object> and marked [Searchable], it will be indexed as an object in Elasticsearch.
This is useful in scenarios where you have dynamic key-value data which must be indexed, like from PIM-systems.

Standard property approach:

public class ProductPage
{
    [Searchable]
    public IDictionary<string, object> Metadata { get; set; }
}

The data itself will not be returned, but you can query it and make facets:

SearchResult result = service
   .Search<ProductPage>("bacon")
   .InField(x => x.Metadata + ".SomeKey")
   .FacetsFor(x => x.Metadata + ".SomeKey")
   .GetResults();

Custom properties:

public static class SearchConfig
{
    public static void Init()
    {
        Epinova.ElasticSearch.Core.Conventions.Indexing.Instance
            .ForType<ProductPage>().IncludeField("Metadata", x => x.GetPimDataDictionary());
    }
}

This approach returns the data:

SearchResult result = service
   .Search<ProductPage>("bacon")
   .GetResults();

var hit = result.Hits.First();
var dict = hit.Custom["Metadata"] as IDictionary<string, object>

Boosting

Properties can be boosted by decorating them with the Boost attribute:

[Boost(13)]
public string Title { get; set; }

… or at query time:

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .Boost(x => x.MyProp, 3)
   .GetResults();

A type can be given either a positive or a negative boost:

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .Boost<ArticlePage>(2)
   .GetResults();

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .Boost(typeof(ArticlePage), 2)
   .GetResults();

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .Boost<ArticlePage>(-3)
   .GetResults();

You can also boost hits depending on their location in the page tree:

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .BoostByAncestor(new ContentReference(42), 2)
   .GetResults();

Date properties can be scored lower depending on their value, by using the Decay function. This way you can promote newer articles over older ones.

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .Decay(x => x.StartPublish, TimeSpan.FromDays(7))
   .GetResults();

Every time the date interval (2nd argument) occurs, 0.5 points will be subtracted from the score. In the example above, 0.5 points will be subtracted after 7 days, 1 points after 14 days, and so on.

Best bets

Use .UseBestBets() on your query to score selected content higher than normal.

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .UseBestBets()
   .GetResults();

Best bets can be administered via the embedded menu Search Engine -> Best Bets.

Tracking

Simple statistics can be collected using the .Track() function. This will track the number of times a term is queried and whether it returned any hits.

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .Track()
   .GetResults();

Note: If your connection string is not named EPiServerDB you must supply its name in the trackingConnectionStringName-configuration See Installation

Stemming

Stemming is by default applied to all properties of type XhtmlString, or those named MainIntro or MainBody.
The language is based on the content language. Other properties of type string can be stemmed by decorating them with the Stem-attribute:

[Stem]
public string Title { get; set; }

Listing contents

To list contents of a certain type without any scoring or analysis, use the Get function. This can be used in conjunction with SortBy for simple listings.

SearchResult result = service
   .StartFrom(somePageLink)
   .Get<ArticlePage>()
   .GetResults();

Sorting

Sorting is normally performed by Elasticsearch based on the score of each match. Manual sorting should only be used in scenarios where scoring is not relevant, e.g. when using the previously mentioned Get function.

SearchResult result = service
   .Get<ArticlePage>()
   .SortBy(p => p.StartPublish)
   .ThenBy(p => p.Foo)
   .ThenBy(p => p.Bar)
   .GetResults();

Geo-points

When sorting on a GeoPoint, there is one more mandatory argument; compareTo. Items will be compared to these coordinates, and the resulting distances will be used as the sort values.

Scripted sorting

For absolute control you can use a script to sort documents. Note that this might affect performance.

Example sorting based on a certain timestamp:

var timestamp = new DateTimeOffset(new DateTime(2019, 1, 1)).ToUnixTimeMilliseconds();
var script = $"doc['StartPublish'].date.getMillis() > {timestamp} ? 0 : 1";

SearchResult result = service
   .Get<ArticlePage>()
   .SortByScript(script, true, "number")
   .GetResults();

See https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/painless/current/index.html for scripting syntax.

«Did You Mean»

A shingle filter is included that can suggest similar words found in the index when searching for misspelled words.
Any suggestions found will be included in the DidYouMean property of the search result:

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("alloi")
   .GetResults();

string[] didYouMean = result.DidYouMean; // [ "alloy", "all" ]

Any properties that should act as a source for suggestions must be marked with [DidYouMeanSource].

public class StandardPage : SitePageData
{
    [DidYouMeanSource]
    public virtual XhtmlString MainBody { get; set; }
}

Episerver specifics

GetContentResults

The results returned by GetResults() does not have any knowledge of Episerver. Use the function GetContentResults() in an Episerver context.
This will automatically apply the filters FilterAccess, FilterPublished and FilterTemplate.

IEnumerable<IContent> content = service
   .Search<CoursePage>(text)
   .GetContentResults();

Search in edit-mode

If you want to use any of the included providers when searching in edit mode, go to CMS -> Admin -> Config -> Tool settings -> Search Configuration.
Tick the providers and drag them to the top of the list.

Synonyms

Synonyms can be administered from the menu Search Engine -> Synonyms.

Re-indexing content

Content will be automatically re-indexed when performing common operations such as publishing, moving and deletion.

To do an initial indexing of all contents, run the scheduled task «Elasticsearch: Index CMS content»

Re-indexing can also be triggered manually on individual content via the Tools-menu:

… or via the context menu in the page tree:

Episerver Commerce specifics

GetCatalogResults

The results returned by GetResults() does not have any knowledge of Episerver. Use the function GetCatalogResults() in an Episerver Commerce context. This will automatically choose the correct index and apply the filters FilterAccess, FilterPublished and FilterTemplate.

IEnumerable<ProductContent> content = service
   .Search<ProductContent>(text)
   .GetCatalogResults();

Re-indexing content

Content will be automatically re-indexed when performing common operations such as publishing, moving and deletion.

To do an initial indexing of all contents, run the scheduled task «Elasticsearch: Index Commerce content»

N-gram / Tri-gram tokenizer

You can switch between normal and tri-gram tokenizer (hardcoded to min=3, max=3, tokens=digit,char, per Elastic recommendations) via the menu Search Engine -> Administration and status.

Highlighting / Excerpt

Use the Highlight() function to get an excerpt of 150 characters from where the match occurred in the text.

SearchResult result = service
   .Search("bacon")
   .Highlight()
   .GetContentResults();

Highlighting is by default enabled on properties named MainIntro, MainBody, Attachment and Description.
Default marker is <mark>

You can customize this behaviour with the following configuration options:

Indexing.Instance.ForType<ArticlePage>().EnableHighlighting(x => x.MyField);
Indexing.Instance.SetHighlightFragmentSize(42);
Indexing.Instance.SetHighlightTag("blink");

The results can be found in the Highlight property of each hit.

Custom types (non-Episerver content)

Use the Bulk function to index custom content.

Example:

var obj1 = new ComplexType { StringProperty = "this is myobj 1" };
var obj2 = new ComplexType { StringProperty = "this is myobj 2" };
var obj3 = new ComplexType { StringProperty = "this is myobj 3" };

ICoreIndexer indexer = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<ICoreIndexer>(); // Can also be injected

BulkBatchResult bulk = indexer.Bulk(new[]
{
    new BulkOperation(obj1, "no"),
    new BulkOperation(obj2, "no"),
    new BulkOperation(obj3, "no")
});

var results = _service
    .Search<ComplexType>("myobj")
    .InField(x => x.StringProperty)
    .GetCustomResults();

Custom index

If you prefer a custom index to avoid e.g. collisions, this must be supplied when indexing and searching:

var obj1 = new ComplexType { StringProperty = "this is myobj 1" };
var obj2 = new ComplexType { StringProperty = "this is myobj 2" };
var obj3 = new ComplexType { StringProperty = "this is myobj 3" };

ICoreIndexer indexer = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<ICoreIndexer>(); // Can also be injected

string indexName = "my-uber-custom-name-no";

BulkBatchResult bulk = indexer.Bulk(new[]
{
    new BulkOperation(obj1, "no", index: indexName),
    new BulkOperation(obj2, "no", index: indexName),
    new BulkOperation(obj3, "no", index: indexName)
});


var results = _service
    .UseIndex(indexName)
    .Search<ComplexType>("myobj")
    .InField(x => x.StringProperty)
    .GetCustomResults();

Set custom http client message handler

Epinova.ElasticSearch uses standard HttpClient to call elasticsearch. Sometimes it's neccassary to handle messages sent differently. For example signing request for cloud services.

If you want several HttpMessageHandlers, we recommend chaining them before setting.

For Example:

MessageHandler.Instance.SetMessageHandler(new AWSHandler());

Important

GetCustomResults returns strongly typed objects as opposed to GetContentResults, which only returns IDs.

Custom objects do not require an Id property (or corresponding argument in the BulkOperation ctor), but this is recommended if you want control over versioning and updates/deletions.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 374 Commits
.azuredevops		.azuredevops
assets		assets
lib/MSBuildCommunityTasks		lib/MSBuildCommunityTasks
src		src
tests		tests
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.gitignore		.gitignore
Directory.Build.props		Directory.Build.props
Epinova.ElasticSearch.sln		Epinova.ElasticSearch.sln
LICENSE		LICENSE
azure-pipelines.yml		azure-pipelines.yml
changelog.md		changelog.md
cover.txt		cover.txt
nuget.config		nuget.config
readme.md		readme.md
setup.md		setup.md

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Epinova/Epinova.Elasticsearch

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Introduction

Looking for .NET 6+ support?

Features

Planned features

Version convention

Requirements

Usage

Configuration

What will be indexed?

Examples

The simplest search

Typed search

Search in selected properties

Autosuggest

Fuzzy search

Wildcard search

Simple querystring search

Geo-point datatype

Filtering options

Bounding box

Distance

Polygons

More Like This

Exclusion

Excluding type per query

Excluding entire sections/nodes per query

Language

Pagination

Facets

Setup query

Don't use post_filter when generating facets

Apply chosen filters, ie. from a Querystring

Fetch the results

Retrieve facets

Advanced filtering

Not-filter

ACL

Range

Dictionary properties

Boosting

Best bets

Tracking

Stemming

Listing contents

Sorting

Geo-points

Scripted sorting

«Did You Mean»

Episerver specifics

GetContentResults

Search in edit-mode

Synonyms

Re-indexing content

Episerver Commerce specifics

GetCatalogResults

Re-indexing content

N-gram / Tri-gram tokenizer

Highlighting / Excerpt

Custom types (non-Episerver content)

Custom index

Set custom http client message handler

Important

See also

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