The SmartSearch bundles requirements that customers place on the search function of an online presence: An intuitive, high-performance search solution that can be used on extensive websites and delivers relevant results. It offers both high result quality and optimum search convenience, thus retaining customers on the website.
At the same time, it provides editors with a web interface through the integrated SmartSearch cockpit that can be used without IT knowledge. Editors from specialist and marketing departments are thus enabled to control and monitor search results on the web interface. For this purpose, the cockpit provides statistics, filters and analysis functions and allows the indexing of various data types (for example XML, audio, video, media) from different data sources. With the help of individualized result lists, editors can prioritize and weight search results in the back end and display selected content for predefined search queries.
The functionalities of the SmartSearch are realized by an architecture made up of a range of different components (see figure Architecture).
These components are:
The individual components always interact according to the following schema:
The communication to the outside is protected by HTTPS, between the components it is done via HTTP.
To use the SmartSearch, the following technical requirements must be met:
The SmartSearch cockpit is a component of the SmartSearch.
It enables the backend-side administration of the data collected by the SmartSearch and offers a simple, web-based interface for this purpose.
This is divided into the areas Configuration
, Analysis
, Data
and System
, which can be reached via the menu.
The button with the globe icon also provides a language switcher for German and English.
By default, the SmartSearch cockpit is accessible via the following URL:
The first start of the cockpit must be done with the master admin.
It is created automatically with the data from the application.yml
at the initial start of the SmartSearch server.
If the user and group management is implemented via an LDAP server, the credentials may differ. |
After valid login, the user is automatically redirected to the dashboard of the cockpit. Re-authentication is only required after an explicit logout or after the session has expired.
The Configuration
area is divided into the submenus Prepared Search
, Stopwords
and Synonyms
.
These allow the configuration of the output of the data collected by the SmartSearch.
The following subsections describe the submenus and the functions provided by them.
The customer-side gathering of the required data is done by the so-called data generators, which are a part of the Data
area.
For their management, the SmartSearch provides the Prepared Searches.
These allow optimizing the search results by prioritizing individual data.
The creation and administration of the Prepared Searches is done in the interface of the same name, which can be called via the menu entry →
.
The area shows a list of all already existing Prepared Searches and is initially empty.
In cloud mode, the list also displays the accessibility of each Prepared Search. |
New Prepared Search
For the creation of a new Prepared Search there is a separate view, which can be called by clicking on the button General
, Facets
and Preview
.
The first thing to do within the tab General
is to specify a name for the new Prepared Search.
In cloud mode, the additional checkbox publicly accessible
is located next to the input field for the name.
With it the accessibility of a Prepared Search can be defined.
Activating the checkbox enables the Prepared Search to be queried via the internet (API gateway).
Otherwise the Prepared Search is only accessible as it is the cockpit.
The following selection of any number of data generators in the selection list of the same name shows their available fields.
The initially activated checkbox Verbose
shows or hides all technical fields.
The button provided together with the checkbox enables the emphasis of the selected fields.
The list of field names per data generator is cached. When creating a new data generator and running it for the first time, it may take several minutes for the field names to appear in the list. |
The selected fields can be transferred via button to the list of fields relevant for a search, which by default contains the fields content
, link
and title
.
A previously defined emphasis is automatically assigned to each of these fields.
The list provides the following configuration options per field:
Search: In order for the associated field to be taken into account by the search, this checkbox must be activated.
Deactivating the |
electricity
, for example, also finds the match eco-electricity provider
.
The search word must have a length of three up to twenty characters.
Emphasis: The emphasis offers the possibility to set a prioritization for matches of the selected fields and thus to influence the search result.
The button with the trash can icon available for each field allows deleting the corresponding field from the list.
The tab additionally contains the following general configuration options:
page
it is also possible to split the search results into multiple pages.
ASC
for an ascending or DESC
for a descending sorting.
Must Match: For searching multiple terms, the entry of this text input field determines how they are to be linked:
0
corresponds to an OR reference between the search terms used.
100%
corresponds to an AND reference between the search terms used.
absolute value
defines the number of terms that must be contained within a search hit.
For example, the value 2
for five given search terms means that two of the five terms must be contained within a search result.
Furthermore, the values 2
and 50%
are equivalent to each other for four search terms.
Facets provide the possibility to restrict result lists according to fields that are included in a document.
Since facets always refer to the data generators selected in the tab General
, the tab Facets
is initially empty.