Indexes
An index is a data structure optimized for data retrieval – which means that it’s much faster to query an index than it is to search through a database directly. You can create the following types of indexes in DynamicWeb:
- Product indexes
- Content indexes
- User indexes
- File indexes
- Sql indexes
Each of these is used to index a particular type of content on a solution - you can read about creating indexes here.
Once an index has been created you can open the index overview from either the navigation tree or the repository overview. This screen is the gateway to many of the daily tasks associated with an indexa and covered below.
Building an index
An index needs to be periodically rebuilt to stay up to date. You can manually build an index by opening the overview screen and clicking the 'Build'-button for one of the instances.
Typically, however, indexes are rebuilt automatically - in one of both of these ways:
- On a fixed schedule by using a scheduled task add-in called Build repository index
- As part of an integration activity where products are imported
- Whenever e.g. a product is saved in PIM if Autobuild index on product update is set on the channel
Browsing an index
Once an index has been built, you can browse it from the backend - this is typically used for debugging purposes.
To browse an index:
- Open an index overview screen and use the context menu to select Browse index...
- You will see a list of all index documents - and you can use the action menu to change which columns you see...
- ...or click one of the index documents to browse the index document fields:
