Information about the content specified for smart search indexes is stored in physical index files on the local disk. The index files are located in the ~/App_Data/CMSModules/SmartSearch/<Index code name> folder within your web project directory.

 

Documents, forums and other objects in Kentico CMS are reflected in the index file as index documents. The data structure of the index documents is much more suitable for being searched through, resulting in significantly higher search performance compared to linear SQL search.

 

The index documents contain the same fields as the corresponding Kentico CMS objects, based on the search settings of individual object types. Depending on these settings, the Index writer creates representations of objects in the index files. When an object included in the index is created, removed or has one of its fields modified, the system automatically schedules an Indexing task, which update the corresponding index document. The Index searcher searches through the index file and returns the relevant results.

 

Example

 

The following model scenario explains the life cycle of a document in a search index file:

 

1.A user creates a new document.

 

2.Upon the document's creation, the system logs a new indexing task in the database.

 

3.The Smart search either runs the indexing task immediately or processes it later using a scheduled task.

 

4.When executed, the indexing task adds the new document to the appropriate search indexes. The system indexes the document's content based on the search field settings defined for the given document type.

 

5.A user arrives on the website and sends a search request via a Smart search web part.

 

6.The web part searches through the assigned indexes and returns results based on the found data.