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When creating custom smart search indexes, you do not define the content on the Indexed content tab in the Smart search application. Instead, you must implement all functionality of the index by writing code. In the administration interface, you only need to specify the names of the assembly and class that contain the custom index logic.
To define a custom index, create a class that implements the ICustomSearchIndex interface (CMS.Search namespace).
To integrate the class into your application:
Create a new assembly (Class library) in your web project and include the index class there. When using this approach, you must add the appropriate references to both the assembly and the main Kentico project. You can find a sample search index in the CustomSearchIndex project located in your Kentico installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Kentico\<version>\CodeSamples\CustomSearchIndex).
OR
Define the custom index in App_Code and load the class via the API. This ensures that the system automatically compiles the index class and you do not need to use a separate assembly. The example below demonstrates this approach.
The following example shows how to create a custom index that searches the content of text files:
Open your web project in Visual Studio.
Add a new class into the App_Code folder (or CMSApp_AppCode -> Old_App_Code if the project is installed as a web application). For example, name the class TextFileIndex.cs.
Edit the class and make sure that the following using statements are present at the top of the code:
using System;
using CMS.Search;
using CMS.DataEngine;
using CMS.IO;
using CMS.Helpers;
using CMS.EventLog;
using CMS.Base;
using CMS;Make the class implement the ICustomSearchIndex interface.
public class TextFileIndex : ICustomSearchIndexDefine the Rebuild method inside the class:
You must always include the Rebuild method when writing custom indexed. The method fills the index with data, which determines what kind of searches the index provides. The system calls the method when building the index for the first time and on each subsequent rebuild.
/// <summary>
/// Fills the index with content.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="srchInfo">Info object representing the search index</param>
public void Rebuild(SearchIndexInfo srchInfo)
{
// Checks whether the index info object is defined
if (srchInfo != null)
{
// Gets an index writer object for the current index
IIndexWriter iw = srchInfo.Provider.GetWriter(true);
// Checks whether the writer is defined
if (iw != null)
{
try
{
// Gets an info object of the index settings
SearchIndexSettingsInfo sisi = srchInfo.IndexSettings.Items[SearchHelper.CUSTOM_INDEX_DATA];
// Gets the search path from the Index data field
string path = Convert.ToString(sisi.GetValue("CustomData"));
// Checks whether the path is defined
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(path))
{
// Gets all text files from the specified directory
string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(path, "*.txt");
// Loops through all files
foreach (string file in files)
{
// Gets the current file info
FileInfo fi = FileInfo.New(file);
// Gets the text content of the current file
string text = fi.OpenText().ReadToEnd();
// Checks that the file is not empty
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(text))
{
// Converts the text to lower case
text = text.ToLowerCSafe();
// Removes diacritics
text = TextHelper.RemoveDiacritics(text);
// Creates a new Lucene.Net search document for the current text file
SearchDocumentParameters documentParameters = new SearchDocumentParameters()
{
Index = srchInfo,
Type = SearchHelper.CUSTOM_SEARCH_INDEX,
Id = Guid.NewGuid().ToString(),
Created = fi.CreationTime
};
ISearchDocument doc = SearchHelper.CreateDocument(documentParameters);
// Adds a content field. This field is processed when the search looks for matching results.
doc.AddGeneralField(SearchFieldsConstants.CONTENT, text, SearchHelper.StoreContentField, true);
// Adds a title field. The value of this field is used for the search result title.
doc.AddGeneralField(SearchFieldsConstants.CUSTOM_TITLE, fi.Name, true, false);
// Adds a content field. The value of this field is used for the search result excerpt.
doc.AddGeneralField(SearchFieldsConstants.CUSTOM_CONTENT, TextHelper.LimitLength(text, 200), true, false);
// Adds a date field. The value of this field is used for the date in the search results.
doc.AddGeneralField(SearchFieldsConstants.CUSTOM_DATE, fi.CreationTime, true, false);
// Adds a url field. The value of this field is used for link urls in the search results.
doc.AddGeneralField(SearchFieldsConstants.CUSTOM_URL, file, true, false);
// Adds an image field. The value of this field is used for the images in the search results.
// Commented out, since the image file does not exist by default
// doc.AddGeneralField(SearchFieldsConstants.CUSTOM_IMAGEURL, "textfile.jpg", true, false);
// Adds the document to the index
iw.AddDocument(doc);
}
}
// Flushes the index buffer
iw.Flush();
// Optimizes the index
iw.Optimize();
}
}
// Logs any potential exceptions
catch (Exception ex)
{
EventLogProvider.LogException("CustomTextFileIndex", "Rebuild", ex);
}
// Always close the index writer
finally
{
iw.Close();
}
}
}
}You need to write the code of the Rebuild method according to the specific purpose of the index. Use the following general steps for all indexes:
Using data parameters for custom indexes
The SearchIndexInfo parameter of the Rebuild method allows you to access the data fields of the corresponding search index object. The sample code loads the content of the Index data field and uses it to define the path to the searched text files.
When writing your own custom indexes, you can use the Index data field as a string parameter for any required purpose. The parameter allows you to modify the behavior of the index directly from the administration interface without having to edit the index code.
Updating the content of custom indexes
By default, the only way to update the content of a custom index is to rebuild the whole index (i.e. using the implementation of the Rebuild method). You cannot use the Kentico search indexing tasks to update custom indexes.
With additional custom development, you can update indexes by calling the Update or Delete methods of the CMS.Search.SearchHelper class. Typically, you need to update the index from custom code outside of the index class whenever the indexed content changes. However, in this case you need to ensure that the API is never called concurrently – problems can occur if multiple processes attempt to update the same index at the same time.
For indexes defined in the App_Code folder, you need to ensure that the system loads the appropriate class when building the index. You can find additional information related to this topic in Loading custom classes from App_Code.
Add the RegisterCustomClass assembly attribute above the TextFileIndex class declaration (requires a reference to the CMS namespace).
[assembly: RegisterCustomClass("TextFileIndex", typeof(TextFileIndex))]This attribute registers custom classes and makes them available in the system. The attribute accepts two parameters:
Log in to the Kentico administration interface and open the Smart search application.
Click New Index. Fill in the following properties:
Click Save.
Switch to the Indexed content tab and enter the names of the assembly and class where the custom index is implemented:
Type any required parameters into the Index data field. In this example, you need to specify the file system path of the folder containing the text files that the index will search. You can create a new folder for this purpose, e.g. C:\SearchExample\ and add some text files into it.
Click Save.
Go to the General tab and Rebuild the index.
The index is now fully functional. To test the index, switch to the Search preview tab and try searching for any words from the text files created in the SearchExample folder.