Search

Entity search

Elgg core provides flexible elgg_search(), which prepares custom search clauses and utilizes elgg_get_entities() to fetch the results.

In addition to all parameters accepted by elgg_get_entities(), elgg_search() accepts the following:

• query Search query
• fields An array of names by property type to search in (see example below)
• sort An array containing sorting options, including property, property_type and direction
• type Entity type to search
• subtype Optional entity subtype to search
• search_type Custom search type (required if no type is provided)

• partial_match Allow partial matches

  By default partial matches are allowed, meaning that elgg will be matched when searching for el Exact matches may be helpful when you want to match tag values, e.g. when you want to find all objects that are red and not darkred

• tokenize Break down search query into tokens

  By default search queries are tokenized, meaning that we will match elgg has been released when searching for elgg released

// List all users who list United States as their address or mention it in their description
$options = [
    'type' => 'user',
    'query' => 'us',
    'fields' => [
        'metadata' => ['description'],
        'annotations' => ['location'],
    ],
    'sort' => [
        'property' => 'zipcode',
        'property_type' => 'annotation',
        'direction' => 'asc',
    ]
];

echo elgg_list_entities($options, 'elgg_search');

Search fields

You can customize search fields for each entity type/subtype, using search:fields hook:

// Let's remove search in location and add address field instead
elgg_register_plugin_hook_handler('search:fields', 'user', 'my_plugin_search_user_fields');

function my_plugin_search_user_fields(\Elgg\Hook $hook) {
    $fields = $hook->getValue();
    $location_key = array_search('location', $fields['annotations']);
    if ($location_key) {
        unset($fields[$location_key]['annotations']);
    }

    $fields['metadata'][] = 'address';

    return $fields;
}

Searchable types

To register an entity type for search, use elgg_register_entity_type(), or do so when defining an entity type in elgg-plugin.php. To combine search results or filter how search results are presented in the search plugin, use 'search:config', 'type_subtype_pairs' hook.

// Let's add places and place reviews as public facing entities
elgg_register_entity_type('object', 'place');
elgg_register_entity_type('object', 'place_review');

// Now let's include place reviews in the search results for places
elgg_register_plugin_hook_handler('search:options', 'object:place', 'my_plugin_place_search_options');
elgg_register_plugin_hook_handler('search:config', 'type_subtype_pairs', 'my_plugin_place_search_config');

// Add place review to search options as a subtype
function my_plugin_place_search_options(\Elgg\Hook $hook) {

    $params = $hook->getParams();
    if (isset($params['subtypes'])) {
        $subtypes = (array) $params['subtypes'];
    } else {
        $subtypes = (array) elgg_extract('subtype', $params);
    }

    if (!in_array('place', $subtypes)) {
        return;
    }

    unset($params["subtype"]);

    $subtypes[] = 'place_review';
    $params['subtypes'] = $subtypes;

    return $params;
}

// Remove place reviews as a separate entry in search sections
function my_plugin_place_search_config(\Elgg\Hook $hook) {

    $types = $hook->getValue();

    if (empty($types['object'])) {
        return;
    }

    foreach ($types['object'] as $key => $subtype) {
        if ($subtype == 'place_review') {
            unset($types['object'][$key]);
        }
    }

    return $types;
}

Custom search types

Elgg core only supports entity search. You can implement custom searches, e.g. using search query as a location and listing entities by proximity to that location.

// Let's added proximity search type
elgg_register_plugin_hook_handler('search:config', 'search_types', function (\Elgg\Hook $hook) {
    $search_types = $hook->getValue();
    $search_types[] = 'promimity';

    return $search_types;
});

// Let's add search options that will look for entities that have geo coordinates and order them by proximity to the query location
elgg_register_plugin_hook_handler('search:options', 'proximity', function (\Elgg\Hook $hook) {

    $query = $hook->getParam('query');
    $options = $hook->getValue();

    // Let's presume we have a geocoding API
    $coords = geocode($query);

    // We are not using standard 'selects' options here, because counting queries do not use custom selects
    $options['wheres']['proximity'] = function (QueryBuilder $qb, $alias) use ($lat, $long) {
        $dblat = $qb->joinMetadataTable($alias, 'guid', 'geo:lat');
        $dblong = $qb->joinMetadataTable($alias, 'guid', 'geo:long');

        $qb->addSelect("(((acos(sin(($lat*pi()/180))
                    *sin(($dblat.value*pi()/180)) + cos(($lat*pi()/180))
                    *cos(($dblat.value*pi()/180))
                    *cos((($long-$dblong.value)*pi()/180)))))*180/pi())
                    *60*1.1515*1.60934
                    AS proximity");

        $qb->orderBy('proximity', 'asc');

        return $qb->merge([
            $qb->compare("$dblat.value", 'is not null'),
            $qb->compare("$dblong.value", 'is not null'),
        ]);
    };

    return $options;
});

Autocomplete and livesearch endpoint

Core provides a JSON endpoint for searching users and groups. These endpoints are used by input/autocomplete and input/userpicker views.

// Get JSON results of a group search for 'class'
$json = file_get_contents('http://example.com/livesearch/groups?view=json&q=class');

You can add custom search types, by adding a corresponding resource view:

// Let's add an endpoint that will search for users that are not members of a group
// and render a userpicker for our invite form
echo elgg_view('input/userpicker', [
    'handler' => 'livesearch/non_members',
    'options' => [
        // this will be sent as URL query elements
        'group_guid' => $group_guid,
    ],
]);

// To enable /livesearch/non_members endpoint, we need to add a view
// in /views/json/resources/livesearch/non_members.php

$limit = get_input('limit', elgg_get_config('default_limit'));
$query = get_input('term', get_input('q'));
$input_name = get_input('name');

// We have passed this value to our input view, and we want to make sure
// external scripts are not using it to mine data on group members
// so let's validate the HMAC that was generated by the userpicker input
$group_guid = (int) get_input('group_guid');

$data = [
    'group_guid' => $group_guid,
];

// let's sort by key, in case we have more elements
ksort($data);

$hmac = elgg_build_hmac($data);
if (!$hmac->matchesToken(get_input('mac'))) {
     // request does not originate from our input view
     throw new \Elgg\Exceptions\Http\EntityPermissionsException();
}

elgg_set_http_header("Content-Type: application/json;charset=utf-8");

$options = [
    'query' => $query,
    'type' => 'user',
    'limit' => $limit,
    'sort' => 'name',
    'order' => 'ASC',
    'fields' => [
        'metadata' => ['name', 'username'],
    ],
    'item_view' => 'search/entity',
    'input_name' => $input_name,
    'wheres' => function (QueryBuilder $qb) use ($group_guid) {
        $subquery = $qb->subquery('entity_relationships', 'er');
        $subquery->select('1')
            ->where($qb->compare('er.guid_one', '=', 'e.guid'))
            ->andWhere($qb->compare('er.relationship', '=', 'member', ELGG_VALUE_STRING))
            ->andWhere($qb->compare('er.guid_two', '=', $group_guid, ELGG_VALUE_INTEGER));

        return "NOT EXISTS ({$subquery->getSQL()})";
    }
];

echo elgg_list_entities($options, 'elgg_search');