Lucene - Overview
Lucene is a simple yet powerful Java-based Search library. It can be used in any application to add search capability to it. Lucene is an open-source project. It is scalable. This high-performance library is used to index and search virtually any kind of text. Lucene library provides the core operations which are required by any search application. Indexing and Searching.
How Search Application works?
A Search application performs all or a few of the following operations −
| Step |
Title |
Description |
| 1 |
Acquire Raw Content |
The first step of any search application is to collect the target contents on which search application is to be conducted. |
| 2 |
Build the document |
The next step is to build the document(s) from the raw content, which the search application can understand and interpret easily. |
| 3 |
Analyze the document |
Before the indexing process starts, the document is to be analyzed as to which part of the text is a candidate to be indexed. This process is where the document is analyzed. |
| 4 |
Indexing the document |
Once documents are built and analyzed, the next step is to index them so that this document can be retrieved based on certain keys instead of the entire content of the document. Indexing process is similar to indexes at the end of a book where common words are shown with their page numbers so that these words can be tracked quickly instead of searching the complete book. |
| 5 |
User Interface for Search |
Once a database of indexes is ready then the application can make any search. To facilitate a user to make a search, the application must provide a user a mean or a user interface where a user can enter text and start the search process. |
| 6 |
Build Query |
Once a user makes a request to search a text, the application should prepare a Query object using that text which can be used to inquire index database to get the relevant details. |
| 7 |
Search Query |
Using a query object, the index database is then checked to get the relevant details and the content documents. |
| 8 |
Render Results |
Once the result is received, the application should decide on how to show the results to the user using User Interface. How much information is to be shown at first look and so on. |
Apart from these basic operations, a search application can also provide administration user interface and help administrators of the application to control the level of search based on the user profiles. Analytics of search results is another important and advanced aspect of any search application.
Lucene's Role in Search Application
Lucene plays role in steps 2 to step 7 mentioned above and provides classes to do the required operations. In a nutshell, Lucene is the heart of any search application and provides vital operations pertaining to indexing and searching. Acquiring contents and displaying the results is left for the application part to handle.
In the next chapter, we will perform a simple Search application using Lucene Search library.
