Extending Data Indexing in Hawksearch V4

In this article you will find:

1 Goal
2 Prerequisite
3 Register Custom Search Service
4 Setup search service
5 Add External Data to the Index
6 Expected results

Goal

This article provides information on how to extend the indexing logic for Hawksearch V4

Prerequisite

Installed Connector - Installing the Connector

Make sure you have created at least one content item (e.g. News)
Open Administration → Search indexes and create a new index CustomTestIndex
Open it and make sure that News items or the content item you have created is selected
Create a page and add the Hawksearch box and Hawksearch results widgets
Select from the widget designer of both widgets to search in your CustomTestIndex

Register Custom Search Service

In order to use your custom search service instead of the built-in one you need to register it in the backend.

Please refer to this documentation - Register custom search service

Setup search service

In order to add external data to the index you need to create a custom search service class which inherits the HawkseachService class and overrides the CreateIndex and UpdateIndex methods. Please refer to the code snippet below.

Add External Data to the Index

Add additional Fields to the index

The string type of the field in the code bellow is used as an example.

using Hawksearch.Search;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Telerik.Sitefinity.Services.Search;

namespace SitefinityWebApp.Search
{
    public class CustomSearchService : HawksearchService
    {
        public override void CreateIndex(string sitefinityIndexName, IEnumerable<IFieldDefinition> fieldDefinitions)
        {
            var newFieldDefinition = Telerik.Sitefinity.Abstractions.ObjectFactory.Resolve<IFieldDefinition>();

            newFieldDefinition.Name = "your-custom-field-name";
            newFieldDefinition.Type = typeof(string);

            var definitions = fieldDefinitions.ToList();
            definitions.Add(newFieldDefinition);

            base.CreateIndex(sitefinityIndexName, definitions);
        }
    }
}

2. Add additional Fields to search Document

using Hawksearch.Search;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Telerik.Sitefinity.Services.Search.Data;
using Telerik.Sitefinity.Services.Search.Model;
using Telerik.Sitefinity.Services.Search.Publishing;

namespace SitefinityWebApp.Search
{
    public class CustomSearchService : HawksearchService
    {
        public override void UpdateIndex(string name, IEnumerable<IDocument> documents)
        {
            var documentList = new List<IDocument>();

            foreach (var document in documents)
            {
                var fields = new List<IField>();
                fields.AddRange(document.Fields);

                var newField = new Field
                {
                    Name = "your-custom-field-name",
                    Value = "your-custom-field-value"
                };

                fields.Add(newField);

                var modifiedDocument = new Document(fields, document.IdentityField.Name);

                documentList.Add(modifiedDocument);
            }

            base.UpdateIndex(name, documentList);
        }
    }
}

Once you implement the code in Visual Studio , build your solution and you will also have to reindex the index you are using from Administrator → Search Indexes → Action → Reindex

Expected results

Now if you Inspect your frontend page you should be able to find your custom field added to your document in the XHR search → results → document fields

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