Using Filtered search

This section gives an overview on the application of filtered search capability in Alfresco Share along with its configuration details. It also describes how to define your own custom filters.

Filtered search within Alfresco is a powerful search feature that allows users to filter and customize their results by applying multiple filters to their search results in a navigational way. Filtered search breaks up search results into multiple categories, typically showing counts for each, and allows the user to drill down or further restrict their search results based on those filters.

Important: Filtered search uses the Solr 4 search subsystem and is enabled in Alfresco One 5.0, by default. For more information on migrating from your existing search subsystem to Solr 4, see the Solr 4 migration documentation [1].

Configuring filtered search

You can configure filtered search either by using the configuration files [2] or by using the Share Search Manager [3].

Filtered search configuration file and default properties

There are a number of default filtered search configuration properties defined. The default filtered search properties are explained here.

The following example shows how the Alfresco default filters are defined:

#
# Alfresco default facets
# Note: If you have changed the filter's default value(s) via Share, then any
# subsequent changes of those default values won't be applied to the filter on
# server startup.
#

# Field-Facet-Qname => cm:content.mimetype
default.cm\:content.mimetype.filterID=filter_mimetype
default.cm\:content.mimetype.displayName=faceted-search.facet-menu.facet.formats
default.cm\:content.mimetype.displayControl=alfresco/search/FacetFilters
default.cm\:content.mimetype.maxFilters=5
default.cm\:content.mimetype.hitThreshold=1
default.cm\:content.mimetype.minFilterValueLength=4
default.cm\:content.mimetype.sortBy=DESCENDING
default.cm\:content.mimetype.scope=ALL
default.cm\:content.mimetype.scopedSites=
default.cm\:content.mimetype.isEnabled=true

# Field-Facet-Qname => cm:creator
default.cm\:creator.filterID=filter_creator
default.cm\:creator.displayName=faceted-search.facet-menu.facet.creator
default.cm\:creator.displayControl=alfresco/search/FacetFilters
default.cm\:creator.maxFilters=5
default.cm\:creator.hitThreshold=1
default.cm\:creator.minFilterValueLength=4
default.cm\:creator.sortBy=ALPHABETICALLY
default.cm\:creator.scope=ALL
default.cm\:creator.scopedSites=
default.cm\:creator.isEnabled=true

# Field-Facet-Qname => cm:modifier
default.cm\:modifier.filterID=filter_modifier
default.cm\:modifier.displayName=faceted-search.facet-menu.facet.modifier
default.cm\:modifier.displayControl=alfresco/search/FacetFilters
default.cm\:modifier.maxFilters=5
default.cm\:modifier.hitThreshold=1
default.cm\:modifier.minFilterValueLength=4
default.cm\:modifier.sortBy=ALPHABETICALLY
default.cm\:modifier.scope=ALL
default.cm\:modifier.scopedSites=
default.cm\:modifier.isEnabled=true

# Field-Facet-Qname => cm:created
default.cm\:created.filterID=filter_created
default.cm\:created.displayName=faceted-search.facet-menu.facet.created
default.cm\:created.displayControl=alfresco/search/FacetFilters
default.cm\:created.maxFilters=5
default.cm\:created.hitThreshold=1
default.cm\:created.minFilterValueLength=4
default.cm\:created.sortBy=INDEX
default.cm\:created.scope=ALL
default.cm\:created.scopedSites=
default.cm\:created.isEnabled=true

# Field-Facet-Qname => cm:modified
default.cm\:modified.filterID=filter_modified
default.cm\:modified.displayName=faceted-search.facet-menu.facet.modified
default.cm\:modified.displayControl=alfresco/search/FacetFilters
default.cm\:modified.maxFilters=5
default.cm\:modified.hitThreshold=1
default.cm\:modified.minFilterValueLength=4
default.cm\:modified.sortBy=INDEX
default.cm\:modified.scope=ALL
default.cm\:modified.scopedSites=
default.cm\:modified.isEnabled=true

# Field-Facet-Qname => cm:content.size
default.cm\:content.size.filterID=filter_content_size
default.cm\:content.size.displayName=faceted-search.facet-menu.facet.size
default.cm\:content.size.displayControl=alfresco/search/FacetFilters
default.cm\:content.size.maxFilters=5
default.cm\:content.size.hitThreshold=1
default.cm\:content.size.minFilterValueLength=4
default.cm\:content.size.sortBy=INDEX
default.cm\:content.size.scope=ALL
default.cm\:content.size.scopedSites=
default.cm\:content.size.isEnabled=true

Filter property description

An example of a filter is cm:modified. It specifies the name of the filter field. It is the field on which you want to do a filtered search.

filterID

Specifies a unique name to identify the filter. Before adding a new filter, check the existing filters (via Search Manager [3]) to ensure that the filterID does not already exist.

displayName

Specifies the display name of the filter.

displayControl

Enables the user to decide the user interface control or how the filter is displayed on the Search page. The default option is Check box. displayControl is the full module name for an Aikau widget which is used for rendering the facet filters. By default, Alfresco provides alfresco/search/FacetFilters which is a basic rendering of the filters available for the facet.

maxFilters

Enables the user to select the maximum number of filters shown for search results. You can select to show more than one filter.

hitThreshold

Enables the user to select the minimum number of matches a filter result must have to be shown on the Search page.

minFilterValueLength

Specifies the minimum length of characters that a filter value must have to be displayed. This can be useful in hiding common short words.

sortBy

Enables the user to select the order in which the filter results must be shown on the Search page. The sortBy option is passed to the FacetFilters widget and defines how the filters should be sorted. This property has the following options:

Option	Description
ALPHABETICALLY	Specifies the filter value A-Z.
REVERSE_ALPHABETICALLY	Specifies the filter value Z-A.
ASCENDING	Specifies the number of filter results (low to high).
DESCENDING	Specifies the number of filter results (high to low).
INDEX	This is a special value reserved for results rendered by filter queries.

scope

Enables the user to select the sites where the filter will be available.

scopedSites

Displays a list of sites where the filter will be available.

isEnabled

Specifies if the filter is enabled for inclusion on the search results page. Disabled filters are not displayed. Only the filters you create via Share console can be deleted; default filters must be disabled to hide them.

Note: You cannot delete or modify any of the default filters, however you can disable them. To define your own custom filters, see Defining custom search filters [5].

Defining custom search filters using configuration file

This topic describes how you can define and create your own custom filters for being displayed on the search result page.

You can define custom filters in the solr-facets-config-custom.properties file. You can also use this file to override the default filter properties.

Navigate to the <classpathRoot>/alfresco/extension directory.
Create the solr-facets-config-custom.properties file.
Open the solr-facets-config-custom.properties file and specify your custom filter properties.
Here's an example of custom filter configuration:
```
custom.cm\:description.filterID=filter_newFilter
custom.cm\:description.displayName=faceted-search.facet-menu.facet.description
custom.cm\:description.displayControl=alfresco/search/FacetFilters
custom.cm\:description.maxFilters=3
custom.cm\:description.hitThreshold=1
custom.cm\:description.minFilterValueLength=2
custom.cm\:description.sortBy=DESCENDING
custom.cm\:description.scope=SCOPED_SITES
custom.cm\:description.scopedSites=
custom.cm\:description.isEnabled=true
```
Note: The values specified in the custom filters will overwrite the default filter's value. However, if you change the filter's default value(s) via Share, then any subsequent changes made to the filter values via the configuration files, won't be applied to the filter on server startup.