Algoliax

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This package let you easily integrate Algolia to your elixir application. It can be used with built in elixir struct or with ecto schemas.

Installation

The package can be installed by adding algoliax to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:algoliax, "~> 0.2.0"}
  ]
end

The docs can be found at https://hexdocs.pm/algoliax.

Configuration

Algoliax needs only :api_key and :application_id config. These configs can either be on config files or using environment variables ALGOLIA_API_KEY and ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID.

config :algoliax,
  api_key: "<API_KEY>",
  application_id: "<APPLICATION_ID>",
  batch_size: 500

Usage

defmodule People do
  use Algoliax,
    index_name: :algoliax_people,
    attributes_for_faceting: ["age"],
    searchable_attributes: ["full_name"],
    custom_ranking: ["desc(updated_at)"],
    object_id: :reference

  defstruct reference: nil, last_name: nil, first_name: nil, age: nil

  attributes([:first_name, :last_name, :age])

  attribute(:updated_at, DateTime.utc_now() |> DateTime.to_unix())

  attribute :full_name do
    Map.get(model, :first_name, "") <> " " <> Map.get(model, :last_name, "")
  end

  attribute :nickname do
    Map.get(model, :first_name, "") |> String.downcase()
  end
end

By default all object are indexed, but it's possible to change this behaviour by overriding the function to_be_indexed?

defmodule People do
  ...

  @impl Algoliax
  def to_be_indexed?(model) do
    model.age > 20
  end
end
# This object will be indexed
people1 = %People{reference: 10, last_name: "Doe", first_name: "John", age: 13}

# This object will not be indexed
people2 = %People{reference: 87, last_name: "Fred", first_name: "Al", age: 70}

Index name at runtime

It's possible to define an index name at runtime, useful if index_name depends on environment or comes from an environment variable.

To do this just define a function with an arity of 0 that will be used as index_name

defmodule People do
  use Algoliax,
    index_name: :algoliax_people,
    attributes_for_faceting: ["age"],
    searchable_attributes: ["full_name"],
    custom_ranking: ["desc(updated_at)"],
    object_id: :reference

  def algoliax_people do
    System.get_env("PEOPLE_INDEX_NAME")
  end
end

Index functions

# Get people index settings
People.get_settings()

# Delete index
People.delete_index()

# Configure index
People.configure_index()

Object functions

# Save object
People.save_object(people1)

# Save multiple objects
People.save_objects([people1, people2])

# Save multiple objects, and ensure object that they can't be indexed anymore are deleted from the index
People.save_objects([people1, people2], force_delete: true)

# Get object
People.get_object(people1)

# Delete object
People.delete_object(people1)

Search functions

# search in index
People.search("john")

# search facet
People.search_facet("age")

Ecto specific

First you will need to add the Repo to the algoliax config:

use Algoliax,
  index_name: :algoliax_people,
  attributes_for_faceting: ["age"],
  searchable_attributes: ["full_name"],
  custom_ranking: ["desc(updated_at)"],
  object_id: :reference
  repo: MyApp.Repo

If using Agoliax with an Ecto schema it is possible to use reindex functions. Reindex will go through all entries in the corresponding table (or part if query is provided). Algoliax will save_objects by batch of 500. batch_size can be configured

config :algoliax,
  batch_size: 250

⚠️ Important: Algoliax use by default the id column to order and go through the table. (cf Custom order column)

import Ecto.Query

# Reindex all
People.reindex()

# Reindex all people with age greater than 20
query = from(p in People, where: p.age > 20)
People.reindex(query)

# Reindex can also `force_delete`
query = from(p in People, where: p.age > 20)
People.reindex(query, force_delete: true)
People.reindex(force_delete: true)

# Reindex atomicly (create a temporary index and move it to initial index)
People.reindex_atomic()
Custom cursor column

If you don't have an id column, you can change it by setting the cursor_field option either in the global settings or in schema specific settings.

Make sure this column ensure a consistent order even when new records are created.

Using the global config:

config :algoliax,
  batch_size: 250,
  cursor_field: :reference

Schema specific:

defmodulePeople do
  use Algoliax,
    index_name: :algoliax_people,
    attributes_for_faceting: ["age"],
    searchable_attributes: ["full_name"],
    custom_ranking: ["desc(updated_at)"],
    object_id: :reference,
    repo: MyApp.Repo,
    cursor_field: :inserted_at
end
Preloads (reindex and reindex_atomic)

Sometimes indexed attributes depend on association. To allow reindexing functions to work, you can add preloads to your schema settings.

Associations need to be defined in your Ecto Schema as well

defmodulePeople do
  use Algoliax,
    index_name: :algoliax_people,
    attributes_for_faceting: ["age"],
    searchable_attributes: ["full_name"],
    custom_ranking: ["desc(updated_at)"],
    object_id: :reference,
    preloads: [:animals]

  attribute(:animals) do
    Enum.map(model.animals, fn a ->
      a.kind
    end)
  end

  schema "peoples" do
    field(:reference, Ecto.UUID)
    field(:last_name)
    field(:first_name)
    field(:age, :integer)
    field(:gender, :string)
    has_many(:animals, Animal)

    timestamps()
  end
end