Searcher

Searcher is a pure SQL implementation which lets you find by pre-defined labels, as well as wildcard matching queries. It should be used as a lo-fi precursor to a proper full-text search platform, such as the built-in one to PostgreSQL.

The idea of this gem came from Joost Schuur.

This gem is used in Chapter 10 of Rails 3 in Action and was crafted specifically for it. YMMV.

Installation

This gem is only compatible with versions of Active Record that are greater than or equal to 3.0. You are using Active Record 3, right?

Add this gem to your Gemfile (You are using Bundler, right?):

gem 'searcher'

Usage

To define labels for your field, use the searcher method inside your model like this:

class Ticket < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_and_belongs_to_many :tags
  
  searcher do
    label :tag, :from => :tags, :field => "name"
    label :state, :from => :state, :field => "name"
  end
end

To query for these labels, use the search class method on your model:

Ticket.search("tag:v3.0.0 state:open")

Boom! There's all your tickets that have the tag v3.0.0 and are marked (state-wise) as being open.

Caveats

Currently Searcher works only with has_and_belongs_to_many and belongs_to associations, as that is all that is needed in the book.