Nested queries

12 min

Nested queries in Optimizely Search & Navigation let you query an object and filter it on a collection marked as "nested." They are useful in solutions with Optimizely Commerce Connect and Optimizely Search & Navigation to manage search queries in large catalog structures.

Add fields as nested types

Note Nested queries are allowed on complex types only. If you want to query a value type or a string collection, use the Match or Exist filter.

You define a nested field as a list of complex types (IEnumerable<TListItem> where TListItem:class) that lets you query the parent object using filters matching individual items in the list (that is, query for Teams having a Player with the first name Cristiano and the last name Ronaldo).

To add fields as nested, use one of these conventions, depending on your requirements:

Example: Nested property on a class, for example Team.

client.Conventions.NestedConventions.ForType<Team>().Add(team => team.Players);

Example: Nested property on an interface, for example, IPlayers (marks implementations of this interface as nested).

client.Conventions.NestedConventions.ForInstancesOf<IPlayers>().Add(team => team.Players);

Example: Nested method or extension on a class, for example ForeignPlayers() on Team.

// mark method or extension as indexed
client.Conventions.ForInstancesOf<Team>().IncludeField(team => team.ForeignPlayers()); 

client.Conventions.NestedConventions.ForType<Team>().Add(team => team.ForeignPlayers());

Query on a nested property

Assume you have the following types (Team and Player).

public class Team {
  public Team(string name) {
    TeamName = name;
    Players = new List<Player>();
  }
  public string TeamName {
    get;
    set;
  }
  public List<Player> Players {
    get;
    set;
  }
}

public class Player {
  public string FirstName {
    get;
    set;
  }
  public string LastName {
    get;
    set;
  }
  public int Salary {
    get;
    set;
  }
}

To query on a nested object property, use the nested InField() extension (for example, query for players having first name Cristiano):

result = client.Search<Team>()
  .For("Cristiano")
  .InField(x => x.Players, x => x.FirstName)
  .GetResult();

Or by a native property and a nested object property (for example, query for team name or player first or last name):

result = client.Search<Team>()
  .For("Cristiano")
  .InField(x => x.Name)
  .InField(x => x.Players, x => x.FirstName)
  .InField(x => x.Players, x => x.LastName)
  .GetResult();

Filter on nested properties

To filter on nested object properties, use the nested Filter() extension (filter for teams with a player with first name Cristiano and last name Ronaldo).

result = client.Search<Team>()
 .Filter(x => x.Players, p => p.FirstName.Match("Cristiano") & p.LastName.Match("Ronaldo"))
 .GetResult();

Or the MatchItem() extension.

result = client.Search<Team>()
 .Filter(x => x.Players.MatchItem(p => p.FirstName.Match("Cristiano") & p.LastName.Match("Ronaldo")))
 .GetResult();

Sort by nested properties

To sort by nested properties, use the OrderBy() extension and sort by specifying the nested object property to sort on and an optional filter to filter out objects in the list (that is, order teams by player's last name for players with first name Cristiano).

result = client.Search<Team>()
 .OrderBy(x => x.Players, p => p.LastName, p => p.FirstName.Match("Cristiano"))
 .GetResult();

result = client.Search<Team>()
 .OrderByDescending(x => x.Players, p => p.LastName, p => p.FirstName.Match("Cristiano"))
 .GetResult();

For int/DateTime, specify a SortMode (Min/Max/Avg/Sum) to determine how to treat multiple sort values. For example, to sort by maximum player salary on a team,

result = client.Search<Team>()
 .OrderByDescending(x => x.Players, p => p.Salary, SortMode.Max)
 .GetResult();

Create facets on nested properties

To create facets on nested object properties, use the TermsFacetFor/HistogramFacetFor/DateHistogramFacetFor-extensions by specifying a nested field and a property on the nested object (facet for the players' first names).

result = client.Search<Team>()
 .TermsFacetFor(x => x.Players, x => x.FirstName)
 .GetResult();

Or, use an optional filter to filter out nested objects (facet for first names for players with the last name Ronaldo).

result = client.Search<Team>()
 .TermsFacetFor(x => x.Players, x => x.FirstName, x => x.LastName.Match("Ronaldo"))
 .GetResult();

and fetch the result.

facet = result.TermsFacetFor(x => x.Players, x => x.FirstName);

Use a custom facet name to create multiple facets on the same nested field and property.

result = client.Search<Team>()
  .TermsFacetFor(x => x.Players, 
                 x => x.FirstName, 
                 x => x.LastName.Match("Ronaldo"), 
                 x => x.Name = "PlayersWithLastNameRonaldo")
  .TermsFacetFor(x => x.Players, 
                 x => x.FirstName, 
                 x => x.LastName.Match("Doe"), 
                 x => x.Name = "PlayersWithLastNameDoe")
  .GetResult();

and fetch the result.

facet = result.Facets["PlayersWithLastNameRonaldo"] as TermsFacet;
facet = result.Facets["PlayersWithLastNameDoe"] as TermsFacet;