Laravel Scout MySQL Driver

Search Eloquent Models using MySQL FULLTEXT Indexes or WHERE LIKE '%:search%' statements.

1. Installation
2. Usage
3. Modes
4. Console Command
5. Configuration

Installation

Note: Any Models you plan to search using this driver must use a MySQL MyISAM or InnoDB table.

If you haven't already you should install Laravel Scout to your project and apply the Laravel\Scout\Searchable trait to any Eloquent models you would like to make searchable.

Install this package via Composer

composer require yab/laravel-scout-mysql-driver

Next if you are using laravel version 5.4, include the following ServiceProvider to the Providers array in config/app.php

        /*
         * Package Service Providers...
         */
        Yab\MySQLScout\Providers\MySQLScoutServiceProvider::class,

Append the default configuration to config/scout.php

    'mysql' => [
        'mode' => 'NATURAL_LANGUAGE',
        'model_directories' => [app_path()],
        'min_search_length' => 0,
        'min_fulltext_search_length' => 4,
        'min_fulltext_search_fallback' => 'LIKE',
        'query_expansion' => false
    ]

Set SCOUT_DRIVER=mysql in your .env file

Please note this Laravel Scout driver does not need to update any indexes when a Model is changed as this is handled natively by MySQL. Therefore you can safely disable queuing in config/scout.php.

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Queue Data Syncing
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | This option allows you to control if the operations that sync your data
    | with your search engines are queued. When this is set to "true" then
    | all automatic data syncing will get queued for better performance.
    |
    */

    'queue' => false,

In addition there is no need to use the php artisan scout:import command. However, if you plan to use this driver in either NATURAL_LANGUAGE or BOOLEAN mode you should first run the provided console command to create the needed FULLTEXT indexes.

Usage

Simply call the search() method on your Searchable models:

$beers = App\Drink::search('beer')->get();

Or With pagination:

$beers = App\Drink::search('beer')->paginate(15);

Simple constraints can be applied using the where() builder method (each additional WHERE will be applied using AND).

$beers = App\Drink::search('beer')->where('in_stock', 1)->get();

The following operators can be applied to the WHERE statements: <> != = <= < >= > (= will be used if no operator is specified)

$beers = App\Drink::search('beer')->where('abv >', 10)->get();

For more usage information see the Laravel Scout Documentation.

Modes

This driver can perform different types of search queries depending on the mode set in the scout.mysql.mode Laravel configuration value. Currently 4 different modes are supported NATURAL_LANGUAGE,BOOLEAN,LIKE and LIKE_EXPANDED.

NATURAL_LANGUAGE and BOOLEAN Modes

In NATURAL_LANGUAGE and BOOLEAN mode the driver will run MySQL WHERE MATCH() AGAINST() queries in the respective modes.

Both modes search queries will include all of Model's FULLTEXT compatible fields (CHAR,VARCHAR,TEXT) returned from the Model's toSearchableArray() method. It is required to have a FULLTEXT index for these fields. You can create this index using the provided console command.

For example running a search on a POST model with the following database structure:

column name	type
id	int(10) UN AI PK
content	VARCHAR(255)
meta	TEXT

would produce the following query in NATURAL_LANGUAGE mode:

select * from `posts` where MATCH(content,meta) AGAINST(? IN NATURAL LANGUAGE MODE)

and the following query in BOOLEAN mode:

select * from `posts` where MATCH(content,meta) AGAINST(? IN BOOLEAN MODE)

Operators for BOOLEAN mode should be passed as part of the search string.

For more information see the MySQL's Full-Text Search Functions documentation.

LIKE and LIKE_EXPANDED Modes

LIKE and LIKE_EXPANDED modes will run WHERE LIKE %?% queries that will include all of the Model's fields returned from toSearchableArray(). LIKE_EXPANDED mode will query each field using each individual word in the search string.

For example running a search on a Customer model with the following database structure:

column name	type
id	int(10) UN AI PK
first_name	VARCHAR(255)
last_name	VARCHAR(255)

would produce the following query in LIKE mode given the search string "John":

SELECT * FROM `customers` WHERE (`id` LIKE '%John%' OR `first_name` LIKE '%John%' OR `last_name` LIKE '%JOHN%')

and the following query in LIKE_EXPANDED mode given the search string "John Smith":

SELECT * FROM `customers` WHERE (`id` LIKE '%John%' OR `id` LIKE '%Smith%' OR `first_name` LIKE '%John%' OR `first_name` LIKE '%Smith%' OR `last_name` LIKE '%John%' OR `last_name` LIKE '%Smith%')

Console Command

The command php artisan scout:mysql-index {model?} is included to manage the FULLTEXT indexes needed for NATURAL_LANGUAGEand BOOLEAN modes.

If the model parameter is omitted the command will run with all Model's with the Laravel\Scout\Searchable trait and a MySQL connection within the directories defined in the scout.mysql.model_directories Laravel configuration value.

Creating Indexes

Pass the command a Model to create a FULLTEXT index for all of the Model's FULLTEXT compatible fields (CHAR,VARCHAR,TEXT) returned from the Model's toSearchableArray() method. The index name will be the result of the Model's searchableAs() method.

If an index already exists for the Model and the Model contains new searchable fields not in the existing index the index will be dropped and recreated.

php artisan scout:mysql-index App\\Post

Dropping index

Pass the -D or --drop options to drop an existing index for a Model.

php artisan scout:mysql-index App\\Post --drop

Configuration

Behavior can be changed by modifying the scout.mysql Laravel configuration values.

• scout.mysql.mode - The mode used to determine how the driver runs search queries. Acceptable values are NATURAL_LANGUAGE,BOOLEAN,LIKE and LIKE_EXPANDED.

• scout.mysql.model_directories - If no model parameter is provided to the included php artisan scout:mysql-index command the directories defined here will be searched for Model's with the Laravel\Scout\Searchable trait and a MySQL connection.

• scout.mysql.min_search_length - If the length of a search string is smaller then this value no search queries will run and an empty Collection will be returned.

• scout.mysql.min_fulltext_search_length - If using NATURAL_LANGUAGE or BOOLEAN modes and a search string's length is less than this value the driver will revert to a fallback mode. By default MySQL requires a search string length of at least 4 to to run FULLTEXT queries. For information on changing this see the MySQL's Fine-Tuning MySQL Full-Text Search documentation.

• scout.mysql.min_fulltext_search_fallback - The mode that will be used as a fallback when the search string's length is less than scout.mysql.min_fulltext_search_length in NATURAL_LANGUAGE or BOOLEAN modes. Acceptable values are LIKE and LIKE_EXPANDED.

• scout.mysql.query_expansion - If set to true MySQL query expansion will be used in search queries. Only applies if using NATURAL_LANGUAGE mode. For more information see MySQL's Full-Text Searches with Query Expansion documentation.