[SOLVED] Solr dismax Query Over Multiple Fields

Solr dismax Query Over Multiple Fields

I am trying to do a solr dismax query over multiple fields, and am a little confused with the syntax.

My core contains a whole load of podcast episodes. The fields in the index are EPISODE_ID, EPISODE_TITLE, EPISODE_DESC, and EPISODE_KEYWORDS.

Now, when I do a query I would like to search for the query term in the EPISODE_TITLE, EPISODE_DESC, and EPISODE_KEYWORDS fields, with different boosts for the different fields.

So when I search for 'jedi', the query I've built looks like this:

http://localhost:8983/solr/episode_core/select?
    &defType=dismax&q=jedi&fl=EPISODE_ID,EPISODE_TITLE,EPISODE_DESC,EPISODE_KEYWORDS
    &qf=EPISODE_TITLE^3.0+EPISODE_DESC^2.0+EPISODE_KEYWORDS

However, this doesn't seem to work - it returns zero records.

When I put a default field like below, it now works, but this is kind of crap because it means I'm not getting results from searching all of the 3 fields:

http://localhost:8983/solr/episode_core/select?&df=EPISODE_DESC
    &defType=dismax&q=jedi&fl=EPISODE_ID,EPISODE_TITLE,EPISODE_DESC,EPISODE_KEYWORDS
    &qf=EPISODE_TITLE^3.0+EPISODE_DESC^2.0+EPISODE_KEYWORDS

Is there something I am missing here? I thought that you could search over multiple fields, and I thought that the 'qf' parameter would mean you didn't need to supply the default field parameter?

All help much appreciated...

Solution

Your idea is correct. If you've defined qf (query fields) for Dismax, there shouldn't be any need to specify a df (default field).

Can you be more specific about what isn't working?

Also, read up on Configuration Invariants in solrconfig.xml as it is possible your configuration could be sending some different parameters than you've specified in the URL.

(E.g. if you're seeing a specific error message asking you to provide a df)