Record search overview

Record search allows a user to perform a keyword search against specific attribute values assigned to records.

The resulting records that have matching attribute values are returned, along with any valid refinement values.

Because record search returns a navigation page, it is important to remember that the record search parameter acts as a record filter in the same way that an attribute value does, even though it is not a specific value.

Example of record search

For example, consider the following records:
Rec ID Attribute value (BikeType) Name of attribute Description of attribute
1 Road Bikes (Value 2) Road-450 can do double-duty for racing or long-range mileage...
2 Road Bikes (Value 2) Road-550-W its speed comes at the sake of comfort...
3 Touring Bikes (Value 3) Touring-1000 combines comfort and performance...
4 Mountain Bikes (Value 1) Mountain-500 this mountain bike has serious racing performance...
When the user performs a record search on the Description attribute using the keyword comfort, the following objects are returned:
  • 2 records (records 2 and 3)
  • 2 refinement attribute values (Road Bikes and Touring Bikes)
When performing a record search on the Description attribute using the keyword racing, these objects are returned:
  • 2 records (records 1 and 4)
  • 2 refinement attribute values (Road Bikes and Mountain Bikes)
Note: In addition to basic record search, other features affect the behavior of record search, such as spelling support, relevance ranking of results, wildcard syntax, multiple attribute record searches, and attribute group record searches. These are discussed in detail in their respective sections.

Features for controlling record search

The following statements describe various aspects of record search behavior and how you can control it:
  • To configure run-time record search behavior, you must create one or more search interfaces. For more information, see the section on search interfaces.

  • There are no Dgraph configuration flags necessary to enable record searching. If an attribute was properly enabled for record searching, it will automatically be available for record searching.

  • Multiple Dgraph configuration flags are available to manage different controls for record search, such as spelling support and relevance ranking. See the specific feature sections for details.