README_SEARCH

== Installation

    After the search engine has been generated, there are still tasks to
    fully integrate the search engine into your site.

=== Inspect

    execute:

        script/generate search Search --inspect 

    This will report which of your models can be made searchable.  Feel
    free to run it many times.

=== Models 

    In each of your Models in which you want to have the content
    searched, and are ActiveRecord descendants, you need to add a
    require_dependency "search_system".  Then you are able to invoke the
    class method 'make_searchable' with an Array of field symbols.

    For example:
            
        require_dependency "search_system"
        class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
            make_searchable [ :title, :author, :content ]
        end 

=== Configuration

    A default configuration file 'search.yml' in installed in your
    application config directory.  It should work as-is, but if you want
    to move the simple search index file to a different location or
    rename it, feel free to do so.  Just be aware that the index file
    must be relative to RAILS_ROOT.  

    Yes, if you look at the index file it does appear that other
    backends could be available, but for now, there are no other search
    backends besides SimpleSearch. 

=== Index the data

    Once your Models class are updated with make_searchable you'll need
    to run script/indexer to crawl through your data and create the
    index that is used to search the data.

    Currently, this index is not automatically created and any new
    content that is added to the database will not get indexed.  You
    should have cron, or a scheduled task run the indexer periodically
    to keep your index in sync with your data.

=== Routes

    Add the following lines to your config/routes.rb to hook in search

        # allow for searching view the route
        map.connect 'search/:search_terms/:count', :controller => 'search', :action => 'index', :count => '-1' 

        # allow for Open Search RSS feeds searching
        map.connect 'rss/opensearch/description.xml', :controller => 'search', :action => 'description'
        map.connect 'rss/opensearch/:search_terms/:count', :controller => 'search', :action => 'rss', :count => '-1'  

    Remember to put these routes before the default route or you will
    get errors.

=== Layouts

    A 'very' basic layout/search.rhtml is installed that shows the basic
    results.  This should be customized for your site.  

=== Views

    Two new views have been added to your rails application.

    1. Search

       This view should be customized for your site so that the search
       results fit in well with your site.  The default _partial
       template that exists will render out a generic table showing all
       the fields and their values for the search results.  You should
       customize the index.rhtml file to integrate with your site, and
       you should create a _partial.rhtml for each Model that you could
       have search results for.

       That is, if you have an application with an Article Model, you
       should create a _article.rhtml file in this view to render out
       the results of your search that are of Article class.  

       The generic index.rhtml that is present will automatically use
       the appropriate _partial.rhtml file based upon the class name if
       it is present.

    2. Open Search

       This view is to return results in the format of OpenSearch RSS
       (http://opensearch.a9.com/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/).  This
       combined with the rss/opensearch Routes above and the
       description.rxml file found in this view should provide you with
       an OpenSearch-able site.  
      
       Again, you should create a _partial.rhtml file in this directory
       for each Model you have that can return search results.  
   
       Also, the description.xml file should be configure with your
       sites information.