Collection-based auto-completion

Managed by | Updated 3 years ago.

Note
Warning: The use of collection-based auto-completion is not recommended and should be avoided unless other auto-completion options have been exhausted. Funnelback's built-in auto-completion system is designed for speed (and minimal system overhead when the request is processed). Using a standard query to produce query completion can result in significant load being placed on the server as a query can be fired for each user keystroke.

Occasionally Funnelback's auto-completion is too basic to service the needs of a user and it becomes necessary to use a standard Funnelback collection and padre-sw query to supply the auto-completion.

The following process can be used to deploy collection based auto-completion.

Setup process

1. Create an auto-completion profile on the collection used to deliver auto-completion suggestions

2. Add the following padre_opts.cfg. This is to optimise the query.

   -stem=0 -SM=off -bb=false -rmcf=[dummyvalue] -spelling=off -contextual_navigation=false -QL=0 -log=false -countgbits=63  -collapsing=false -show_qsyntax_tree=off
   

3. Add the following custom Freemarker template (qc.ftl) to the auto-completion profile:

   <#ftl encoding="utf-8" />
   <#import "/web/templates/modernui/funnelback_classic.ftl" as s/>
   <#import "/web/templates/modernui/funnelback.ftl" as fb/>
   <#escape x as x?jsonstring>
   <#if question.inputParameterMap["callback"]?exists>${question.inputParameterMap["callback"]}(</#if>[
   <@s.AfterSearchOnly>
   <#if response.resultPacket.resultsSummary.totalMatching != 0>
   <@s.Results>
   <#if s.result.class.simpleName != "TierBar">
   {
   "key" : "<#if question.inputParameterMap["partial_query"]?exists>${question.inputParameterMap["partial_query"]?json_string}</#if>",
   "disp" : "${s.result.title}",
   "disp_t" : "T",
   "wt" : "${s.result.score}",
   "cat" : "",
   "cat_t" : "1",
   "action" : "${s.result.clickTrackingUrl}",
   "action_t" : "U"
   }<#if (s.result.rank < response.resultPacket.resultsSummary.currEnd)>,</#if>
   </#if>
   </@s.Results>
   </#if>
   </@s.AfterSearchOnly>]
   <#if question.inputParameterMap["callback"]?exists>)</#if>
   </#escape>
   

4. Add the following code to the collection's pre process hook script (hook_pre_process.groovy):

   // Expand a partial query for collection_based auto-completion
   // reads the partial_query CGI parameter and creates a disjunctive query based on the suggestions returned from padre-qs
   // Imports required for access to the padre suggest service
   import java.io.File;
   import java.util.List;
   import com.funnelback.dataapi.connector.padre.PadreConnector;
   import com.funnelback.dataapi.connector.padre.suggest.Suggestion;
   import com.funnelback.dataapi.connector.padre.suggest.Suggestion.ActionType;
   import com.funnelback.dataapi.connector.padre.suggest.Suggestion.DisplayType;
   
   if(transaction.question.inputParameterMap['profile'].equals("auto-completion") || transaction.question.inputParameterMap['profile'].equals("auto-completion_preview")) {
     def logger = org.apache.log4j.Logger.getLogger("partial query expander")
     def q = transaction.question
   
     // set query completion to use qc form
     q.form = "qc"
     // Convert a partial query into a set of query terms
     // Maximum number of query terms to expand partial query to - read from collection.cfg partial_query_expansion_index parameter.
     // eg. partial_query=com might expand to query=[commerce commercial common computing]
     def partial_query_expansion_index = 5
     if ((q.collection.configuration.value(["partial_query_expansion_index"]) != null) && (q.collection.configuration.value(["partial_query_expansion_index"]).isInteger())) {
       partial_query_expansion_index = q.collection.configuration.value(["partial_query_expansion_index"])
     }
   
     if (q.inputParameterMap["partial_query"] != null) {
       //File searchHome = new File("/opt/funnelback") //14.2+
       File indexStem = new File(q.collection.configuration.value(["collection_root"]) + File.separator + "live" + File.separator + "idx","index")
       // NOTE: CONSTRUCTOR depends on the version of Funnelback being run
       List<Suggestion> suggestions = new PadreConnector(searchHome, indexStem, q.collection.id) //15.16+
       // List<Suggestion> suggestions = new PadreConnector(searchHome, indexStem) //15.0-15.14
       // List<Suggestion> suggestions = new PadreConnector(indexStem) //14.0 or earlier
           .suggest(q.inputParameterMap["partial_query"])
           .suggestionCount(partial_query_expansion_index)
           .fetch();
       // build the expanded query from the list of suggestions
       def expanded_query = ""
       suggestions.each {
           expanded_query += '"'+it.key+'" '
       }
       // set the number of suggestions to the value of the configured auto-completion.show
       q.additionalParameters["num_ranks"] = [q.inputParameterMap["show"]]
       // set the query to the expanded set of query terms ORed together
       if (expanded_query != "") {
           q.query = "["+expanded_query+"]"
       }
     }
   }   
   

5. Add the following options to the collection's collection.cfg:

   auto-completion.program=../s/search.html
   ui.modern.form.qc.content_type=application/javascript
   #Optional setting to adjust number of suggestions that the partial query is expanded to
   #partial_query_expansion_index=8