Index externally hosted content

[arshabhirai]

We have a number of pages in our docs that are hosted externally; unfortunately, Flare's search engine does not index those content. I would especially like to index the API references so that users can search for specific objects, constructs, properties, etc. I was wondering if there is a way to make it work? Maybe the Elastic search? I have also noticed that Flare gives a string error when your search texts that contain certain elements, for example:

Code: Select all

console()

I am also looking at other options such as Swiftype or Alogolia (preferred by the company, but not sure if it will work with Flare). Any suggestions would be great!

[NorthEast]

I'd suggest checking Flare's help; e.g.
https://help.madcapsoftware.com/flare20 ... Engine.htm

Flare's built in search control can use MadCap Search or Elasticsearch (or Google). Pretty sure Elasticsearch can index external files, and MadCap search can do this if you use HTML5 server based output.

You could use different search engines, they just wouldn't be integrated with MadCap's search control in the skin, so you'd need to create the control yourself.

[arshabhirai]

I'd suggest checking Flare's help; e.g.
https://help.madcapsoftware.com/flare20 ... Engine.htm

Flare's built in search control can use MadCap Search or Elasticsearch (or Google). Pretty sure Elasticsearch can index external files, and MadCap search can do this if you use HTML5 server based output.

You could use different search engines, they just wouldn't be integrated with MadCap's search control in the skin, so you'd need to create the control yourself.

Thanks for your prompt response, Dave. It looks like the direction we are heading is Algolia. I haven't looked in detail, but it will be a tricky one to integrate. I will keep this post updated.
Also, if anyone's interested, Algolia offers a free service for tech docs, but it's only available for open source projects. https://community.algolia.com/docsearch/

[arshrai]

I created this post sometime back. For some reason, I was not able to log in using my old id. Anyhow, I recently integrated Algolia DocSearch with Flare. For anyone interested, you can find detailed instructions in this post: https://bit.ly/2vh2YWV