http-api

http-api

A demonstration that exposes Lucene search as an HTTP API.

Overview

A common use case for Lucene is supporting search on websites. A user types in a search phrase on a web page, the browser makes an HTTP request to a server, and the server engages Lucene and a Lucene index. The lucene-playground/http-api project implements a runnable Java program that embeds Lucene embedded into a web server.

Instructions

Follow these instructions to build and run a Lucene demo program:

1. Use Java 21
2. Build and run the program:

   • ./gradlew run

   • It should look something like the following.

   • $ ./gradlew run
     
     ... omitted ...
     
     11:19:47 [main] INFO dgroomes.TimeZoneSearchSystem - Indexing 605 known time zones.
     11:19:47 [main] INFO dgroomes.TimeZoneSearchSystem - Indexing done.
     11:19:47 [main] INFO dgroomes.Runner - The Lucene search server is serving traffic on port 8080
     

3. Make some search requests

   • curl -X GET http://localhost:8080?keyword=Europe

   • Try some of your own searches. Use Lucene syntax.
   • Altogether, it might look something like this:

     Search found 65 hits for keyword 'Europe'.
     
     Facet results:
     	dim=observes_daylight_savings_time path=[] value=65 childCount=2
     	  true (54)
     	  false (11)
     
     	dim=time_zone_display_name path=[] value=65 childCount=12
     	  Central European Standard Time (31)
     	  Eastern European Standard Time (16)
     	  ...omitted...
     
     	dim=offset path=[] value=65 childCount=5
     	  PT1H (32)
     	  PT2H (16)
     	  ...omitted...
     
     Hits:
     	Middle Europe Time (MET) offset=PT1H observesDST=true
     	Greenwich Mean Time (Europe/Belfast) offset=PT0S observesDST=true
     	Greenwich Mean Time (Europe/Dublin) offset=PT0S observesDST=true
     	Greenwich Mean Time (Europe/Guernsey) offset=PT0S observesDST=true
     	Greenwich Mean Time (Europe/Isle_of_Man) offset=PT0S observesDST=true
     	Greenwich Mean Time (Europe/Jersey) offset=PT0S observesDST=true
     	Western European Standard Time (Europe/Lisbon) offset=PT0S observesDST=true
     	Greenwich Mean Time (Europe/London) offset=PT0S observesDST=true
     	Central European Standard Time (Europe/Amsterdam) offset=PT1H observesDST=true
     	...omitted...
     
     
     $ curl -X GET http://localhost:8080?keyword=Isla
     No search results found for keyword 'Isla'
     
     $ curl -X GET http://localhost:8080?keyword=Isla*
     Search found 16 hits for keyword 'Isla*'.
     
     Facet results:
         dim=observes_daylight_savings_time path=[] value=16 childCount=2
           false (13)
           true (3)
     
         dim=time_zone_display_name path=[] value=16 childCount=12
           Marshall Islands Time (3)
           Easter Island Standard Time (2)
           ...omitted...
     
         dim=offset path=[] value=16 childCount=9
           PT12H (5)
           PT11H (3)
           ...omitted...
     
     
     Hits:
         Cook Islands Standard Time (Pacific/Rarotonga) offset=PT-10H observesDST=false
         Easter Island Standard Time (Chile/EasterIsland) offset=PT-6H observesDST=true
         Easter Island Standard Time (Pacific/Easter) offset=PT-6H observesDST=true
     

4. Stop the server
   • Stop the server process with Ctrl + C.

Wish List

General clean-ups, TODOs and things I wish to implement for this project:

• IN PROGRESS Facet search. Define facets on maybe "observes daylight savings time" and one other dimension?
  • DONE (that was harder than I thought, and I've made this subproject more complex than I planned but I did learn some good stuff) Index (and "facet" index?) "observes daylight savings time".
  • DONE "Search result-side" facet implementation. Facets present at the search-side but also at the search result-side (even without specifying them in the search). I have to implement the search result-side first
  • "Search-side" facet implementation. Maybe a query param?
  • Related document changes / finishing touches.