A couple of nice features when using OracleTextSearch
- by kyle.hatlestad
If you have your UCM/URM instance configured to use the Oracle 11g database as the search engine, you can be using OracleTextSearch as the search definition. OracleTextSearch uses the advanced features of Oracle Text for indexing and searching. This includes the ability to specify metadata fields to be optimized for the search index, fast rebuilding, and index optimization.
If you are on 10g of UCM, then you'll need to load the OracleTextSearch component that is available in the CS10gR35UpdateBundle component on the support site (patch #6907073). If you are on 11g, no component is needed. Then you specify the search indexer name with the configuration flag of SearchIndexerEngineName=OracleTextSearch. Please see the docs for other configuration settings and setup instructions.
So I thought I would highlight a couple of other unique features available with OracleTextSearch. The first is the Drill Down feature.
This feature allows you to specify specific metadata fields that will break down the results of that field based on the total results. So in the above graphic, you can see how it broke down the extensions and gives a count for each. Then you just need to click on that link to then drill into that result. This setting is perfect for option list fields and ones with a distinct set of values possible. By default, it will use the fields Type, Security Group, and Account (if enabled). But you can also specify your own fields. In 10g, you can use the following configuration entry:
DrillDownFields=xWebsiteObjectType,dExtension,dSecurityGroup,dDocType
And in 11g, you can specify it through the Configuration Manager applet. Simply click on the Advanced Search Design, highlight the field to filter, click Edit, and check 'Is a filter category'.
The other feature you get with OracleTextSearch are search snippets. These snippets show the occurrence of the search term in context of their usage. This is very similar to how Google displays its results.
If you are on 10g, this is enabled by default. If you are on 11g, you need to turn on the feature. The following configuration entry will enable it:
OracleTextDisableSearchSnippet=false
Once enabled, you can add the snippets to your search results. Go to Change View -> Customize and add a new search result view. In the Available Fields in the Special section, select Snippet and move it to the Main or Additional Information.
If you want to include the snippets with the Classic results, you can add the idoc variable of <$srfDocSnippet$> to display them.
One caveat is that this can effect search performance on large collections. So plan the infrastructure accordingly.
