Enabling content-based retrieval

Enable content-based retrieval (CBR) for classes and properties to allow full-text searches. This setting applies to both Content Search Services (CSS) and Elasticsearch or OpenSearch indexing.

About this task

Before you can perform full-text searches on objects or properties, you must enable content-based retrieval (CBR) for the classes and properties you want to search. Enabling CBR allows the search service to index the content and make it searchable. For example, you can search the content of Document objects if you set the Document class to be CBR-enabled.

Important: Content is not indexed unless you enable CBR on the associated classes. You can index object content for Document and Annotation classes only. You can index property values for all supported CBR-enabled object classes. To designate property values for indexing, you must enable CBR on both the property definition and the object class.

You can configure the following object classes for CBR:

  • Document
  • Folder
  • Custom Object
  • Annotation (located in the Classes > Other Classes folder)

You can enable content-based retrieval for a class and also for a class property:

What to do next

After enabling CBR for properties, you can verify that indexing is working correctly by creating test documents and running content search queries. For more information, see Verifying IBM Content Search Services indexing.

Enabling CBR for a class

Enable CBR for a class to allow full-text searches for objects in the class. This setting applies to both Content Search Services (CSS) and Elasticsearch or OpenSearch indexing.

Procedure

Complete the following steps to enable CBR for a class.

  1. In Administration Console for Content Platform Engine, access the class for which you want to enable CBR:
    1. In the domain navigation pane, click the object store.
    2. In the object store navigation pane, expand the Data Design > Classes folder and subfolders until you find the class.
    3. Click the class.
  2. In the details pane, click the General tab.
  3. Select or clear the CBR enabled field.
    Note: If the object class is Annotation, scroll to the Is CBR Enabled field and set its value to True or False.
  4. Save your changes.
  5. Reindex the class to implement the change.
    You can optionally change the CBR-enabled status of multiple classes and submit one reindex job for all the classes. For more information, see Reindexing a class.

What to do next

After enabling CBR for a class, you can optionally enable CBR for specific properties within that class to make property text searchable. For more information, see Enabling CBR for a property.

Enabling CBR for a property

Enable CBR for a string or string list property to allow full-text searches of property text. This setting applies to both Content Search Services (CSS) and Elasticsearch or OpenSearch indexing.

Before you begin

For a CBR-enabled property to be indexed, the class of the property must also be CBR-enabled. Make sure that you complete Enabling CBR for a class before you enable CBR for a property.

Procedure

Complete the following steps to enable CBR for a class property.

  1. In Administration Console for Content Platform Engine, access the class that contains the property for which you want to enable CBR:
    1. In the domain navigation pane, click the object store.
    2. In the object store navigation pane, click the name of the object store.
    3. Expand the Data Design > Classes folder and subfolders until you find the class.
    4. Click the class. A tab opens for the class in the details pane.
  2. In the details pane, click the Properties tab.
  3. In the Property Definitions field, select the name of the property.
    A tab opens for the property.
  4. Set Is CBR enabled to true.
    Tip: As an alternative to enabling CBR for a property, you can create a database index. Consider the following guidelines:
    • If you need full-text search capabilities such as searching for synonyms, word variants, or partial words (for example, 'like %foo'), enable CBR.
    • For overall system performance or convenience, you might not want to create a database index. Some analysis and work is required to configure database indexes properly. For more information, see Guidelines for creating database indexes.
    • For query performance, create a database index if possible. For more information, see Creating database indexes for class properties.
  5. Save your changes.
  6. Reindex the class to implement the change.
    You can optionally enable CBR for multiple properties and submit one reindex job for all the classes. For more information, see Reindexing a class.

What to do next

After enabling CBR for properties, you can verify that indexing is working correctly by creating test documents and running content search queries. For more information, see Verifying IBM Content Search Services indexing.