Configure Content Sources Linked to a Search Client

Adding and installing a search client are essential but certainly not sufficient to set up a search. The Edit function completes the trinity. In Edit, the Content Sources is arguably the most important tab. It is here that you can connect content sources and search clients and configure almost everything that goes onto the search results page, including facets, URLs, icons, and how data from content sources is used.

Content Sources provides many options for working with the content sources connected to a search client. This article explains the content fields (object properties) screen.

Get to Content Sources

1. For instances hosting more than a search client, an instance manager needs to configure content sources for each search client individually. FromSearch Clients, open a search client for configuration.
2. Go to Content Sources.
3. You will not find any content fields if your search client is new and you're editing for the first time. To view the content fields, click on a content source and then a content type (object). In the next image, content type "Case" in content source "Anjali 45" has been opened.

Content Fields and Columns

Here is a description of each field and column.

Summary

The first column. The checked fields appear in result summaries. For instance, if you check Description, then the value stored in "Description" will be in summary whenever a document from Anjali 45 > Case is on the search results page. It's possible to return only one or multiple fields in search results summaries. In the default setup, multiple values appear one after another until the maximum summary length is reached. This behavior can be changed fromSet Default Preferences.

Searchable

The data in a content source cannot be looked up from the search box unless you explicitly make it searchable. A quick way to make the data in a content field findable is to check the field in the Searchable column. In the image, both X and Y can be looked up but if anyone tries to find a case by its ID, they will fail because the case ID field has not been made searchable.

Facets

Facets are the clickable menus generally seen on the left of search results. They allow users to narrow the scope of a search. For instance, someone clicking the value "Dostoevsky" in the facet "Author" will find documents written by Dostoevsky. Tags and time fields generally make great facets. To see any field as a facet, check it in the Facets column.

Immediately after checking, a dialog with two dropdowns will open. Select how many facet values are to be visible on a search client in Number of Values.

From the second dropdown, select facet sorting. Four sorting schemes are available: 

• Alphabetical (A-Z). Display all the facets alphabetically.
• Alphabetical (Z-A). Display all the facets in reverse alphabetical order.
• Count (desc). Display the facet value with the most results for a query at the top. This is the default setting.
• Count (asc). Display the facet value with the least results for a query at the top.

Sorting is applied to all the facet values, not just the visible ones.

Title

The checked fields appear in the result titles on a search results page. As with Summary, it is possible to check multiple fields to assemble a Title.

Metadata

The supplementary information sometimes accompanying search results is Metadata. It has a uniform appearance: {{field name}}: {{field value}}. If you check Created Date in the Metadata column, you will see "Created Data: 2021-01-01" (some date) below summary on each result from Anjali 14 > Case.

Autocomplete

SearchUnify throws suggestions when you are typing in the search box. You can decide which fields those suggestions will come from. For instance, if you check Title in Autocomplete, then someone looking for a case from its title will get a suggestion.

Exclude

Exclude is connected with Facets. When a field is picked as a facet, a button for that field appears in Exclude.

CAPTION: When X is selected as a facet, the Exclude button appears for X.

Click the button and enter all the facet values that you want to hide. If there are three values in Tags: Python, JavaScript, and C++ and you enter Python in Exclude Bucket Values, then there will remain visible only two tags on the search client: JavaScript and C++.

Search Efficiency

• Autocomplete. Turn on autocomplete for this field.