--- title: Building a search interface for local indexes --- > Agent instructions: > **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown. > > - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version. > - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt). To allow users to search your website using [locally stored indexes](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/setting-up-search-on-your-website/using-locally-stored-search-indexes.md), you need to build pages with a search interface. Use the API from the **CMS.Search** namespace (provided as part of the _Kentico.Xperience.Libraries_ NuGet package). 1. Prepare a [SearchParameters](#preparing-the-searchparameters-object) object with the required search inputs and parameters. 2. Call the **SearchHelper.Search** method. ```csharp title="Example" // Prepares variables required to perform the search operation IEnumerable searchIndexes = new List { "ProductIndex", "ArticleIndex" }; int pageNumber = 1; int pageSize = 10; UserInfo searchUser = MembershipContext.AuthenticatedUser; string cultureCode = "en-us"; /* Indicates whether the search service uses site default language version of pages as a replacement for pages that are not translated into the language specified by 'cultureCode' */ bool combineWithDefaultCulture = true; // Prepares a 'SearchParameters' object to search through indexes of the 'Pages' type SearchParameters searchParameters = SearchParameters.PrepareForPages("search query", searchIndexes, pageNumber, pageSize, searchUser, cultureCode, combineWithDefaultCulture); // Searches the specified indexes SearchResult searchResult = SearchHelper.Search(searchParameters); ``` The _Search_ method returns a **SearchResult** object representing the set of results. The result's **Items** property contains a collection of **SearchResultItem** objects, representing individual search results. Every _SearchResultItem_ provides the following data: - Properties corresponding to general search result fields (such as the title, image or content extract), which contain data based on the [field mapping](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/setting-up-search-on-your-website/using-locally-stored-search-indexes/mapping-fields-for-search-results.md) of the indexed object type. - Properties related to the relevance score and positioning of the result item for the given search. - The **Data** property, which you can use to access any object-specific values of the searched items. The _Data_property is of an abstract _BaseInfo_ type, and its run-time type depends on the searched Xperience object. For example: - If the search indexes pages, the run-time type of a search result item's _Data_property is of the _TreeNode_ class. If you [generated classes for your page types](https://docs.kentico.com/13/developing-websites/generating-classes-for-xperience-objects.md), the run-time type is of the generated class. - If the search indexes pages representing products, the run-time type of a search result item's _Data_ property is of the _SKUTreeNode_ class. - If the search indexes users, the run-time type of a search result item's _Data_property is of the _UserInfo_ class. ## Preparing the SearchParameters object Search is performed by passing a **SearchParameters** object to the _SearchHelper.Search_ method. The object contains all information required by the system to complete the search operation. Since the _SearchParameters_ object is complex and requires a large amount of contextual information, the system provides the **SearchParameters.PrepareForPages** method to facilitate its creation. The method takes the following parameters: | Parameter | Type | Description | | ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | searchText
—OR—
searchPattern | string
—OR—
SearchPattern | The query text. See [Smart search syntax](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/setting-up-search-on-your-website/using-locally-stored-search-indexes/smart-search-syntax.md) for a reference of supported syntax.
You can specify the search query using query text or a _SearchPattern_ object. The object consists of the following:
_SearchText_ – the search query to search for in the given indexes.
_SupportedSearchSyntax_ – an object of the **SearchOptionsEnum** type that sets the level of supported Lucene syntax for the search query.
_SearchOptionsEnum_ allows the following options:
_NoneSearch_ – the search does not recognize any Lucene query syntax. The system processes all text entered by users as a part of the search expression.
_BasicSearch_ – the search recognizes all query syntax, _except for field search_.
_FullSearch_ – the search processes all search query syntax, including field search. | | searchIndexNames | IEnumerable | Code names of the indexes to search. | | pageNumber | int | The page number of paginated results to retrieve starting from 1. | | pageSize | int | The number of results on each page. | | user | IUserInfo | The user for whom to filter the search results. For example, filters out pages the user is not authorized to view. | | cultureName | string | Culture code of the culture to search in. If _null_, searches in all cultures. | | combineWithDefaultCulture | bool | Indicates whether the search service uses site default language version of pages as a replacement for pages that are not translated into the language specified by _cultureName_. | > **Info:** **Number of processed search results** > > Every search request has a maximum number of processed and returned search results. The purpose of the limit is to avoid processing large numbers of results with low relevance. The limit is determined by the **NumberOfProcessedResults** property of the **SearchParameters** object that you use to perform the search. > > By default, the _SearchParameters.PrepareForPages_ method sets the _NumberOfProcessedResults_ property to **100**. If you use large search indexes that regularly produce more results, you can either set a higher value for the property before calling _SearchHelper.Search_, or implement search filters to help narrow down the search. > **Tip:** **Searching according to page permissions** > > To filter out search results for pages that users are not allowed to access, set the **CheckPermissions** property to _true_ for the used **SearchParameters** object. The search results then contain pages according to the [read permissions](https://docs.kentico.com/13/managing-users/configuring-permissions/configuring-page-permissions/page-level-permissions-acls.md) of individual users. ## Example – Building a search interface The following search example uses an index that covers pages (_TreeNode_ objects) and products (_SKUTreeNode_ objects). The example does not use pagination when displaying search result items. 1. Open your live site (MVC) project in Visual Studio. 2. Create a new model class for working with search queries and search result items. ```csharp using System.Collections.Generic; using CMS.Search; ``` ```csharp public class SearchResultModel { public string Query { get; set; } public IEnumerable Items { get; set; } } ``` 3. Create a controller with an action that searches and provides search results. ```csharp using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Web.Mvc; using CMS.Membership; using CMS.Search; ``` ```csharp // Adds the smart search indexes that will be used to perform searches public static readonly string[] searchIndexes = new string[] { "MVCSite.Index" }; // Sets the limit of items per page of search results private const int PAGE_SIZE = 10; /// /// Performs a search and displays its result. /// [ValidateInput(false)] public ActionResult SearchIndex(string searchText) { // Displays the search page without any search results if the query is empty if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(searchText)) { // Creates a model representing empty search results SearchResultModel emptyModel = new SearchResultModel { Items = new List(), Query = String.Empty }; return View(emptyModel); } // Searches the specified index and gets the matching results SearchParameters searchParameters = SearchParameters.PrepareForPages(searchText, searchIndexes, 1, PAGE_SIZE, MembershipContext.AuthenticatedUser, "en-us", true); SearchResult searchResult = SearchHelper.Search(searchParameters); // Creates a model with the search result items SearchResultModel model = new SearchResultModel { Items = searchResult.Items, Query = searchText }; return View(model); } ``` 4. Add a search input field to one of your site's views. For example: ```csharp @using (Html.BeginForm("SearchIndex", "Search", FormMethod.Get)) { } ``` 5. Create a view that displays the search result items provided by your search controller. For example: ```csharp @model SearchResultModel @using CMS.Search; @if (!Model.Items.Any()) { if (!String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Model.Query)) {

No results found for "@Model.Query"

} } else {

Results for "@Model.Query"

foreach (SearchResultItem item in Model.Items) {
@item.Title
@Html.Kentico().ResolveUrls(item.Content)
} } ``` Your visitors can now search on your website through the created search field. The system searches through the specified indexes and displays the results.