XF Search Engine

[Hornstar]

First thread here ^^

Anyway I was just testing out the search Engine here on XF. Comparing it to VB and hoping it is better.

I thought I would search for 'seo' as that was a topic of interest ^^

Unfortunately it came back with: "The search could not be completed because the search keywords were too short, too long, or too common."

I was wondering are there improvements yet to be made to the search engine here or is this just one of those things that can't be fixed?

What do you all think of the search functionality so far?

 

[Mike]

Change the value to whatever corresponds to the value in MySQL.

 

[moman]

One major issue with fulltext is that you're not going to get very far with searches that contain 2-letter words, words with symbols, or any of the predefined 2/3-letter stopwords. The reality these days, however, is that these stopwords should be searchable - you don't see Google giving you error messages

If xF were to address this (in some way or another), you'd be a step ahead of most other forum software out there.

I've done a small (yet clever, IMO) workaround for this problem on my forum. Let's take an example thread, entitled:

"wife cut me off"

On a default installation, a search for that would tell you that me and off are too common, and won't continue. You could instead just search for "wife cut", but what if that doesn't return the result you were looking for?

I use an automatic tagging system that tags all threads based on all the words in the title- no exceptions. If one does a search for a string that fulltext cannot process, I automatically send it to the tagging system, try to match as many tags as possible, and then return the most relevant results.

If you search for "wife cut me off" on my forum, you won't get any errors, and are instead taken directly to the results. For other searches, such as *ist, k-x, k-5 (camera model names), this system has proven to be invaluable, as none of these terms can be indexed by fulltext.

Just my 2 cents- in a nutshell, any string should be valid for searches!

Adam

 

[Deepmartini]

What is a sphinx search engine? Why would you use that? What's wrong with Xenforo's search engine?

 

[Paul B]

Sphinx is typically used for large databases/forums; somewhere around 1 million posts seems to be the cut off point.

 

[jacko]

Looks like there's a minimum word length setting in library/XenForo/Search/SourceHandler/MySqlFt.php (line 20). That should be pulled from an option I think.

that worked beautifully, thank you!

 

[jacko]

I had to repeat the edit after upgrading to RC1. Would be nice to see this in Xenforo Admin Control Panel instead.

 

[el canadiano]

What is a sphinx search engine? Why would you use that? What's wrong with Xenforo's search engine?

Consider it (speed-wise) to be Machine Code vs. C++. Essentially, Sphinx is a lot faster (and less resource-intensive) than any of the forum search engines, provided that your server supports it.

 

[Floris]

What is a sphinx search engine? Why would you use that? What's wrong with Xenforo's search engine?

The developers mentioned their built-in solution isn't up for par when it comes to larger boards, I have 750k boards and higher, and we can't even finish rebuilding the search index. The FT isn't supposed to be used for larger sites - so it seems. Very disappointing technology, very frustrating. Investing in alterantive configurations and third party solutions seems to be required.

The same with phpBB, vBulletin, IPB and now with XenForo as well. Search on the Internet is a continues failure in my experience.

It's been frustrating me for many years the 'a beer' for example as thread title on vB couldn't be found and errors, unless you customize it and lets it auto ignore the "a" - even though you KNOW there is just 1 thread with that title ..

It's no surprise to me now that a HUGE company like Google is required in order to achieve the most simple searches.

 

[Kier]

The developers mentioned their built-in solution isn't up for par when it comes to larger boards, I have 750k boards and higher, and we can't even finish rebuilding the search index. The FT isn't supposed to be used for larger sites - so it seems.

And yet Walter has rebuilt the search index on his 2.5m post forum and I've rebuilt the search index on my test import of http://forums.spacebattles.com with its 5.4m posts - it can be done, but the very nature of MySQL full text means that large installations need to have their hand held through the process.

 

[Floris]

And yet Walter has rebuilt the search index on his 2.5m post forum and I've rebuilt the search index on my test import of http://forums.spacebattles.com with its 5.4m posts - it can be done, but the very nature of MySQL full text means that large installations need to have their hand held through the process.

Are we going through this again Kier?

Walter has a hardware set up nobody else here on this forum can afford. What was it again?

Regarding the quite fast import: please consider that this was done with a server with a very good disk system (8x SAS RAID10) which is a major factor.

And I am sorry but the developer of the product mentioning his product doesn't fail, is like Toyota saying when they take turns they don't flip over ..

 

[TimWF]

I had to repeat the edit after upgrading to RC1. Would be nice to see this in Xenforo Admin Control Panel instead.

Thanks for the reminder, I need to post that suggestion.

Suggestion posted.

http://xenforo.com/community/thread...ext-minwordlength-setting-in-the-admin.11075/

 

[Onimua]

What I've done and usually works is use the wildcard during small searches, like: IPB*

That usually gets my some related posts, though not always perfect.

 

[Digital Doctor]

What I've done and usually works is use the wildcard during small searches, like: IPB*
That usually gets my some related posts, though not always perfect.

Good TIP.

I think you should be allowed 3 letter word searches for: [X] Search Titles Only

XenForo Community - Error
The search could not be completed because the search keywords were too short, too long, or too common.

Maybe for using words too short ... Onimua's tip might be displayed ? Or a LINK to the Help tab with Search Tips ? Maybe that will help put something useful on the Help Tab

 

[Grover]

Maybe for using words too short ... Onimua's tip might be displayed ? Or a LINK to the Help tab with Search Tips ? Maybe that will help put something useful on the Help Tab

I *like* this very much. Very enduser-friendly: good thinking!

 

[jacko]

Looks like there's a minimum word length setting in library/XenForo/Search/SourceHandler/MySqlFt.php (line 20). That should be pulled from an option I think.

Is there a chance this will be an admin CP option in Xenforo 1.1.0 ?

 

[Calamity James]

I got so angry with vB4's terrible searching that the default is now a Google SiteSearch, it tends to return better results, and I can monetise the results too!

I just hope once xF 1.1 lands it's good enough to use the built-in search

 

[Paul B]

Is there a chance this will be an admin CP option in Xenforo 1.1.0 ?

1.1.0 Beta 3 now has the option to set a minimum word length.

Search Minimum Word Length
This is the minimum length of a word that can be searched by the index. With the default search system, this should correspond with the MySQL full text minimum word length (normally 4).

 

[Dean]

1.1.0 Beta 3 now has the option to set a minimum word length.

Search Minimum Word Length
This is the minimum length of a word that can be searched by the index. With the default search system, this should correspond with the MySQL full text minimum word length (normally 4).

Awesome news!

Any thought to editing the title to indicate a change in status? Might make things clearer when people go through old threads..

 

[Marcus]

1.1.0 Beta 3 now has the option to set a minimum word length.

Search Minimum Word Length
This is the minimum length of a word that can be searched by the index. With the default search system, this should correspond with the MySQL full text minimum word length (normally 4).

That works great indeed.

 

[ChemicalKicks]

What am I missing?

I've added the following to mysql conf

[mysqld]
ft_min_word_len=3
I've updated the Search Minimum Word Length to 3 in ACP, I've restarted mysql and then rebuild the search cache.

When I search for any 3 letter word I get nothing though.