Index a custom product attribute with Solr in Hybris

1. Overview

In Hybris, product list page, search page, product sorting and faceting are powered by Apache Solr.

In this article, I will show you how to index a custom product attribute with Solr and display it on the product list page.

We will index the unit attribute (no need to create a custom attribute) and display it on the PLP.

2.Implementation

1. First of all, create a custom FieldValueProvider, to convert Unit to a sample/indexable value.

package com.stackextend.training.core.search.solrfacetsearch.provider.impl;

// imports...

public class ProductUnitValueProvider implements FieldValueProvider, Serializable {

    private FieldNameProvider fieldNameProvider;
    private CommonI18NService commonI18NService;

    @Override
    public Collection<FieldValue> getFieldValues(final IndexConfig indexConfig, final IndexedProperty indexedProperty, final Object model) throws FieldValueProviderException
    {
        if (model instanceof ProductModel)
        {
            final ProductModel product = (ProductModel) model;
            final Collection<FieldValue> fieldValues = new ArrayList<FieldValue>();

            // case of the indexed property is localized
            if (indexedProperty.isLocalized())
            {
                // retrieve and iterate over all the configured languages
                final Collection<LanguageModel> languages = indexConfig.getLanguages();
                for (final LanguageModel language : languages)
                {
                    fieldValues.addAll(createFieldValue(product, language, indexedProperty));
                }
            }
            // case of the indexed property is not localized
            else
            {
                fieldValues.addAll(createFieldValue(product, null, indexedProperty));
            }
            return fieldValues;
        }

        throw new FieldValueProviderException("Error: item is not a Product type !");
    }

    protected List<FieldValue> createFieldValue(final ProductModel product, final LanguageModel language, final IndexedProperty indexedProperty)
    {
        final List<FieldValue> fieldValues = new ArrayList<FieldValue>();
        // get Unit name by language
        final String unitName = getUnitName(product, language);
        if (unitName != null)
        {
            // add Unit name value to the fieldValues list
            addFieldValues(fieldValues, indexedProperty, language, unitName);
        }
        return fieldValues;
    }

    protected void addFieldValues(final List<FieldValue> fieldValues, final IndexedProperty indexedProperty, final LanguageModel language, final Object value)
    {
        // generate all Solr fields based on different qualifiers
        final Collection<String> fieldNames = fieldNameProvider.getFieldNames(indexedProperty, language == null ? null : language.getIsocode());
        for (final String fieldName : fieldNames)
        {
            fieldValues.add(new FieldValue(fieldName, value));
        }
    }

    private String getUnitName(ProductModel product, LanguageModel language) {
        return product.getUnit().getName(commonI18NService.getLocaleForLanguage(language));
    }

    @Required
    public void setFieldNameProvider(final FieldNameProvider fieldNameProvider)
    {
        this.fieldNameProvider = fieldNameProvider;
    }

    @Required
    public void setCommonI18NService(final CommonI18NService commonI18NService)
    {
        this.commonI18NService = commonI18NService;
    }
}

Note that no special value provider is needed if you want just to index a basic attribute (boolean, int, String…), check this article.

2. Register the ProductUnitValueProvider as a Spring bean.

<!-- ...\trainingecore\resources\trainingecore-spring.xml -->

<bean id="productUnitValueProvider" 
	class="com.stackextend.training.core.search.solrfacetsearch.provider.impl.ProductUnitValueProvider" >
	<property name="fieldNameProvider" ref="solrFieldNameProvider"/>
	<property name="commonI18NService" ref="commonI18NService"/>
</bean>

3. Create a SolrIndexedProperty instance called unit and attach productUnitValueProvider bean to it, using an impex.

# .../traininginitialdata/import/coredata/stores/hybris/solr.impex

$solrIndexedType=...

INSERT_UPDATE SolrIndexedProperty	;solrIndexedType(identifier)[unique=true]	;name[unique=true]	;type(code)	;localized[default=false]	;fieldValueProvider		
									;$solrIndexedType							;unit              	;string		;true						;productUnitValueProvider

4. Add unit attribute to ProductData and run ant all to generate it.

<!-- ...\trainingfacades\resources\trainingfacades-beans.xml -->

<bean class="de.hybris.platform.commercefacades.product.data.ProductData">
	<property name="unit" type="String"/>
</bean>

5. Override SearchResultVariantProductPopulator, to populate unit values retrieved by Solr search.

package com.stackextend.training.facades.populators.CustomSearchResultVariantProductPopulator;

// imports...

public class CustomSearchResultVariantProductPopulator extends SearchResultVariantProductPopulator {

    @Override
    public void populate(SearchResultValueData source, ProductData target) {
	
        super.populate(source, target);

        // populate unit property values
        target.setUnit(this.<String> getValue(source, "unit"));
    }
}

6. Register the CustomSearchResultVariantProductPopulator as a Spring bean, with commerceSearchResultProductPopulator as an alias.

<!-- ...\trainingfacades\resources\trainingfacades-spring.xml -->

<alias name="customSearchResultProductPopulator" alias="commerceSearchResultProductPopulator"/>
<bean id="customSearchResultProductPopulator"
	  class="com.stackextend.training.facades.populators.CustomSearchResultVariantProductPopulator"
	  parent="variantCommerceSearchResultProductPopulator">
</bean>

7. Display the unit value where ever you want inside productListerItem.tag.

<!-- ...\trainingstorefront\web\webroot\WEB-INF\tags\desktop\product\productListerItem.tag -->

...

${product.unit}

...

8. Finally, run a full indexation to force Solr to index the unit attribute of all existing products.
Navigate to HMC -> System -> Facet Search -> Indexer operation wizard.

9. Navigate to the PLP, if everything goes well, you will be able to see units.