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https://github.com/zopyx/zopyx.typesense

Typesense integration for Plone 6
https://github.com/zopyx/zopyx.typesense

fulltext-search plone typesense

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Typesense integration for Plone 6

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# zopyx.typesense



## What is zopyx.typesense



`zopyx.typesense` in an add-on for Plone 6 that provides an integration with

the search engine [Typesense](https://typesense.org/). The functionality is

similar with `collective.solr`.



![Typesense Features](https://github.com/zopyx/zopyx.typesense/raw/master/docs/typesense-features.png)



The reasons for using Typesense are



- very easy to install (single binary or via Docker)

- multi-field text indexes

- auto-generated (but highly customizable) search UI

- optional facted search for refining fulltext queries

- minimal invasive into Plone (does not replace the ZCatalog)

- very fast search

- extensible and customizable

- scalable (through a Typesense cluster)

- federated search over multiple collections (aka Plone sites)

- open-source

- on-premise or Typesense cloud (commercial offering)



Click [here](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/594239/150671828-f6a4c993-6afa-440b-af76-66de5ff94fe5.mp4) for an intro video.



### zopyx.typesense is not



- a replacement of the ZCatalog/portal_catalog (document changes are pushed to

  Typesense as an independent entity completely decoupled from Plone's

  portal_catalog)

- a drop-in replacement of the Plone search. `zopyx.typesense` comes with its own

  configurable auto-generated search UI



## Requirements



- Plone 6 (tested)

- Plone 5.2 (untested, supposed to work for Dexterity-only sites, under Python 3)



## Architecture



Typesense runs as dedicated service either on-premise or somewhere in the cloud.



![Architecture](https://github.com/zopyx/zopyx.typesense/raw/master/docs/Typesense.png



### Indexing

`zopyx.typesense` pushes content changes (new documents, updated documents, deleted documents) through

Plone lifecycle hooks into Typesense.



### Searching

The search interaction between browser and Typesense happens directly *without*

Plone being in-between.  When you open the `@@typesense-search` view, the

search configuration (as defined through the search template `search.pt` and an

associated `app.js` file) is loaded from Plone for auto-generating the search

UI (search input, faceted search) within the browser. The search query is

directly send to Typesense and the results are directly shown within the

browser as soon as they are available.  Plone is *not* involved in the search.

No additional filtering (e.g. regarding access control) happens through Plone.



## Installation



Add `zopyx.typesense` to your buildout, re-run buildout and install it within Plone.



For Typesense installation, please check the installation docs of Typesense

(either for installation through Docker or through the standalone binary).



There is no public release at this time. You need to install `zopyx.typesense`

using `mr.developer` as source checkout from Github.

  

## Configuration



The `Typesense settings` within the Plone controlpanel:



![Typesense settings](https://github.com/zopyx/zopyx.typesense/raw/master/docs/typesense-settings.png)



- `Name of Typesense collection` - must be a unique name for the document pool

  of your Plone site

- `API Key` - the administrative API key (as configured in Typesense) 

- `Search API Key` - the search API key (as configured in Typesense) 

- `URL of Typesense node X` - the URL(s) of the Typesense node or Typesense

  cluster

- `Collection schema` - the schema of the Typesense collecton (see Typesense

  docs)



The `Typesense administration` within the Plone controlpanel:



![Typesense administration](https://github.com/zopyx/zopyx.typesense/raw/master/docs/typesense-administration.png)



## Example setup



For a typical Plone dev setup which Plone running on localhost, you want to run

Typesense (for dev purpose) on the same machine using Docker:



```

docker run -p 8108:8108 -v /tmp/data:/data typesense/typesense:0.22.1 --data-dir /data --api-key=some_api_key --search-only-api-key=some_search_api_key --enable-cors

```



This command will store the Typesense data files under `/tmp/data` and open a

connection on port `8108`.  You need to specify two api keys: one for admin

access and one for search api.



After installing `zopyx.typesense` in Plone, you would specify both API keys in

the Typesense control panel within Plone along with `http://localhost:8108` as

URL for Typesense node 1.



## Search UI



![Typesense search](https://github.com/zopyx/zopyx.typesense/raw/master/docs/typesense-search.png)



The search UI is auto-generated from a minimal HTML template which defines the

basic layout together with the widgets to be used [see

here](src/zopyx/typesense/browser/search.pt).



The integration of the template with the Typesense UI generator is impleted

through some lines of Javascript code in

[src/zopyx/typesense/browser/static/app.js](src/zopyx/typesense/browser/static/app.js).



## Views



- `@@typesense-search` renders the main (auto-generated) search form. This view can be applied on

  any folder level. This view applied on a folder implies a filter by subpath (only indexed content

  with the given folder will be searched).



- `@@typesense-settings`  renders the Plone control panel of Typesense



- `@@typesense-settings`  renders the Plone control panel of Typesense



- `@@typesense-admin` renders the administration control panel for Typesense



- `@@typesense-indexed-content` applied on any arbitrary content object will

  display all data indexed for the given content object



## Indexing integration



`zopyx.typesense` integrates into Plone using the lifecycle event for content

being added, updated, deleted (plus workflow changes). By default,

`zopyx.typesense` indexes all metadata of all content objects (basically Dublin

Core) plus the textual content of a content objects (title, description and the

content of all `RichText` fields).  Similar to Plone's `SearchableText` index,

all textual content is being indexed within Typesense in the `text` field.



It is possible to override the indexing behavior per-content-type using an

indexing adapter implementing `ITypesenseIndexDataProvider`. See [here for an

example](https://github.com/zopyx/zopyx.typesense/blob/master/tree/master/src/zopyx/typesense/adapters).



### Indexing binary content and office formats



The indexer for the `File` content-type has optional support for indexing

binary content or office formats using Apache [TIKA](https://tika.apache.org/).

The server URL of the (optional) Tika server must be configured through the

`Typesense` control panel. The most simple approach for running Tika is by

using Docker:



```

docker run -d -p 9998:9998 apache/tika

```



Configure Tika within the Typesense control panel as `http://localhost:9998`.

Ensure that the configuration regarding host, IP address and port numbers fit

your security requirements (usually, you don't want expose an internal service

on public IP addresses, but localhost only). 



## Bulk reindexing

The Typesense admin control panel contains a button `Reindex all` which will 



- create a new collection whose name is defined as -

- submit all Dexterity content objects for reindexing

- alias the new collection with the official name of the configured collection



This means that an existing Typesense collection remains online until the

complete reindexing process has finished. The Typesense collection with the

fresh index content replaces then the old collection in an atomic operation.

There should be no impact on the availability of the search functionality

during reindexing.



## Custom search views



The default Typesense search view `@@typesense-search` should work for most

common usecases of a Plone site with the default content types. If you need

something different, you have two options:



- customize `search.pt` and `app.js` according to your own need (e.g. using

  `z3c.jbot`)

- create your search view(s) with your own search template and the related JS

  configuration



## Transactions and eventual consistency



All indexing/unindexing operations happen asyncronously to Plone and outside

Plone's transaction system.  So, content changes might be available in

Typesense with a short delay. 



## Cavecats and known issues



- `zopyx.typesense` does not integrate (by-design) with Plone's security and

  access model.  The main purpose of `zopyx.typesense` is to act as a search

  engine for public sites.  So it is recommended at this time to index only

  public content.



## Resources



- [Typesense website](https://typesense.org)

- [Typesense API](https://typesense.org/docs/0.22.2/api)

- [InstantSearch.js](https://www.algolia.com/doc/api-reference/widgets/js)



## Author



Andreas Jung | [email protected] | www.zopyx.com



Paid service for `zopyx.typesense` is available on request.