How to integrate your Silverstripe site with Elastic App Search - presented 01/10/2021 at StripeCon EU

1. Could You Make It More Like
Integrating Silverstripe with Elastic App Search
?

2. Andrew Paxley (né Aitken-Fincham)
● Joined as a Junior Support
Developer in 2015
● Co-helmed the short-lived
Silverstripe UK office
● Now Principal Developer in the
Application Support Team
● @andrewandante

3. Agenda
● What’s the problem?
● Elastic + Silverstripe Ltd
● Elastic + Silverstripe
Framework
● What’s next?

4. Problem: Our search is no good!

5. Lol where’s my
document?
Where the
#*!&^ are my
documents?

6. SOLUTION: ELASTIC APP SEARCH!!

7. Steps
- Index site content
- Search that content
- ???
- PROFIT!!!
- Also autocomplete
- Styling
- Subsites
- And some other bits and pieces

8. Step 0: Setup Infrastructure
(Gentlemen, start your engines)

9. Silverstripe Ltd: Elastic Partner

11. Step 1: Add fuel to the Engine

12. Module: Silverstripe Search Service
- Define indexes

13. Module: Silverstripe Search Service
- Define indexes
- Configure

14. Module: Silverstripe Search Service
- Define indexes
- Configure
- Full reindex

15. Tweaks

16. Tweaks
- Add extension to DMS
Document

17. Tweaks
- Add extension to DMS
Document
- Reindex Pages when
Elements are published

18. Tweaks
- Add extension to DMS
Document
- Reindex Pages when
Elements are published
- Use env var for index
variant

19. Tweaks
- Add extension to DMS
Document
- Reindex Pages when
Elements are published
- Use env var for index
variant
- Turn off html crawler

20. Tweaks
- Add extension to DMS
Document
- Reindex Pages when
Elements are published
- Use env var for index
variant
- Turn off html crawler
- Add content type via
extension

21. Step 2: Go find the things

22. Module: SilverStripe Elastic AppSearch
- Run query through
a sanitiser

23. - Add result fields
Module: SilverStripe Elastic AppSearch
- Run query through
a sanitiser

24. - Add result fields
Module: SilverStripe Elastic AppSearch
- Run query through
a sanitiser
- Add facets

25. - Add result fields
Module: SilverStripe Elastic AppSearch
- Run query through
a sanitiser
- Add facets
- Add filters

26. - Add result fields
Module: SilverStripe Elastic AppSearch
- Run query through
a sanitiser
- Add facets
- Add filters
- Multisearch

27. Module: SilverStripe Elastic AppSearch
- Fancy filter for
Document Library

28. Module: SilverStripe Elastic AppSearch
- Fancy sort for
Document Library
- Fancy filter for
Document Library

29. Module: SilverStripe Elastic AppSearch
- Templating!
- Fancy sort for
Document Library
- Fancy filter for
Document Library

30. Step 3: Autocomplete through the Proxy

31. Module: SilverStripe Elastic Proxy (sort of)
- React-based search
header

32. Module: SilverStripe Elastic Proxy (sort of)
- React-based search
header
- Return suggested
queries

33. Module: SilverStripe Elastic Proxy (sort of)
- React-based search
header
- Return suggested
queries
- .htaccess redirect

34. Module: SilverStripe Elastic Proxy (sort of)
- Pull credentials
from ENV

35. Module: SilverStripe Elastic Proxy (sort of)
- Pull credentials
from ENV
- Sanity check
endpoints

36. Module: SilverStripe Elastic Proxy (sort of)
- Pull credentials
from ENV
- Sanity check
endpoints
- Hard-code final
endpoint

37. Step 4: Ahh crap, Subsites

38. Problem?
- Filter by subsite
ID?
- query_suggestion
endpoint doesn’t
accept filters

39. Step 4.1: Make more copies!

40. Re-jig the config, re-work the module
- Add subsite ID to
index definitions
- Copy class
definitions with
yaml syntax magic
- Add hooks into the
core module

41. Step 5: Profit!!!

42. ….. Did it work though?
- Fixed bugs for small search
terms and special
characters
- Switched to AND searches
over OR searches
- Filtering fixes
- Ability for customer to
adjust field weights and
reorder results
- Improved visibility about
index status

43. CMS Area for Visibility

44. Step 6: Aftermath

45. Now what?
- Currently in UAT
- Built-in Solr/Elastic
toggle
- Adjustments to be
made on the fly by the
client
- Training and
documentation

46. Potential new features
- Spellcheck*
- Hook into analytics
tracking*
- Better admin in the
CMS
- Dependency-tracking
- Fluent?

47. Potential new features
- Spellcheck*
- Hook into analytics
tracking*
- Better admin in the
CMS
- Dependency-tracking
- Fluent?

48. Shout Outs!
Matt Peel (madmatt), Aaron Carlino (unclecheese), Stephen Makrogianni (StephenMakrogianni),
Chris Penny (chrispenny), Ingo Schommer (chillu)

49. Thanks!