Guides / Sending and managing data / Send and update your data

Feb. 24, 2021

Incremental Updates

Putting an objectID in each record

In order to perform incremental updates after the initial indexing you will need declare a unique ID for each record. This ID should map to a “key” that you store on your side (for example, a SKU or PID).

The unique ID needs to be stored in the objectID attribute and can be leveraged to perform updates or deletions. If you don’t specify a custom objectID on creation, Algolia will generate it for you.

Initializing the client and index

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// composer autoload
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

// if you are not using composer
// require_once 'path/to/algolia/folder/autoload.php';

$client = Algolia\AlgoliaSearch\SearchClient::create(
  'YourApplicationID',
  'YourAdminAPIKey'
);

$index = $client->initIndex('your_index_name');

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// For the default version
const algoliasearch = require('algoliasearch');

// For the default version
import algoliasearch from 'algoliasearch';

// For the search only version
import algoliasearch from 'algoliasearch/lite';

const client = algoliasearch('YourApplicationID', 'YourAdminAPIKey');
const index = client.initIndex('your_index_name');

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from algoliasearch.search_client import SearchClient

client = SearchClient.create('YourApplicationID', 'YourAdminAPIKey')
index = client.init_index('your_index_name')

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import AlgoliaSearchClient

let client = SearchClient(appID: "YourApplicationID", apiKey: "YourAdminAPIKey")
let index = client.index(withName: "your_index_name")

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SearchClient client = 
DefaultSearchClient.create("YourApplicationID", "YourAdminAPIKey");

SearchIndex<Contact> index = client.initIndex("your_index_name", Contact.class);

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val client = ClientSearch(
  applicationID = ApplicationID("latency"),
  apiKey = APIKey("YourAdminAPIKey")
)
val indexName = IndexName("your_index_name")

client.initIndex(indexName)

Add records

Objects can be added using the following method:

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$index->saveObjects(
  [
    [
      'objectID' => 'myID1',
      'firstname' => 'Jimmie',
      'lastname'  => 'Barninger'
    ],
    [
      'objectID' => 'myID2',
      'firstname' => 'Warren',
      'lastname'  => 'Speach'
    ]
  ]
);

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res = index.save_objects([{
  firstname: 'Jimmie',
  lastname:  'Barninger',
  objectID:  'myID1'
}, {
  firstname: 'Warren',
  lastname:  'Speach',
  objectID:  'myID2'
}])

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const objects = [{
  objectID: 'myID1',
  firstname: 'Jimmie',
  lastname: 'Barninger'
}, {
  objectID: 'myID2',
  firstname: 'Warren',
  lastname: 'Speach'
}];

index.saveObjects(objects).then(({ objectIDs }) => {
  console.log(objectIDs);
});

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res = index.save_objects([
    {"objectID": "myID1", "firstname": "Jimmie", "lastname": "Barninger"},
    {"objectID": "myID2", "firstname": "Warren", "lastname": "Speach"}
])

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struct Contact: Encodable {
  let objectID: ObjectID
  let firstname: String
  let lastname: String
}

let contacts: [Contact] = [
  .init(objectID: "myID1", firstname: "Jimmie", lastname: "Barninger"),
  .init(objectID: "myID2", firstname: "Warren", lastname: "Speach"),
]

try index.saveObjects(contacts) { result in
  if case .success(let response) = result {
    print("Response: \(response)")
  }
}

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List<JSONObject> array = new ArrayList<JSONObject>();

array.add(
  new JSONObject().put("objectID", "myID1")
    .put("firstname", "Jimmie").put("lastname", "Barninger")
);
array.add(
  new JSONObject().put("objectID", "myID2")
    .put("firstname", "Warren").put("lastname", "Speach")
);

index.addObjectsAsync(new JSONArray(array), null);

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List<Contact> contacts = new List<Contact>
{
    new Contact { ObjectID = "myID1", Firstname = "Jimmie", Lastname = "Barninger" },
    new Contact { ObjectID = "myID2", Firstname = "Warren", Lastname = "Speach" }
};

index.SaveObjects(contacts);

// Asynchronous
await index.SaveObjectsAsync(contacts);

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List<Contact> contacts = Arrays.asList(
new Contact().setObjectID("myID1").setFirstName("Jimmie").setLastName("Barninger"),
new Contact().setObjectID("myID2").setFirstName("Warren").setLastName("Speach"));

// Sync version
index.saveObjects(contacts);

// Async version
index.saveObjectsAsync(contacts);

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type Contact struct {
    ObjectID  string `json:"objectID"`
    Firstname string `json:"firstname"`
    Lastname  string `json:"lastname"`
}

contacts := []Contact{
    {ObjectID: "myID1", Firstname: "Jimmie", Lastname: "Barninger"},
    {ObjectID: "myID2", Firstname: "Ray", Lastname: "Charles"},
}

res, err := index.SaveObjects(contacts)

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// With JsonObject
val json = listOf(
    json {
        "objectID" to ObjectID("myID1")
        "firstname" to "Jimmie"
        "lastname" to "Barninger"
    },
    json {
        "objectID" to ObjectID("myID2")
        "firstname" to "Warren"
        "lastname" to "Speach"
    }
)

index.saveObjects(json)

// With serializable class
@Serializable
data class Contact(
    val firstname: String,
    val lastname: String,
    override val objectID: ObjectID
) : Indexable

val contacts = listOf(
    Contact("Jimmie", "Barninger", ObjectID("myID")),
    Contact("Jimmie", "Barninger", ObjectID("myID"))
)

index.saveObjects(Contact.serializer(), contacts)

Notice that an objectID is specified for each record.

Additional methods for importing data

There are many ways to push data to Algolia, the full extent of which bare covered in our importing with the API tutorial.

Updating records

There are two ways to update a record in Algolia.

By replacing the old record

To replace the content of an object that is already indexed in Algolia, you will need to save the new version of the object:

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$res = $index->saveObjects(
  [
    [
      'objectID'  => 'myID1',
      'firstname' => 'Jimmie',
      'lastname'  => 'Barninger'
    ],
    [
      'objectID'  => 'myID2',
      'firstname' => 'Warren',
      'lastname'  => 'Speach'
    ]
  ]
);

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res = index.save_objects([{
  firstname: 'Jimmie',
  lastname:  'Barninger',
  objectID:  'myID1'
}, {
  firstname: 'Warren',
  lastname:  'Speach',
  objectID:  'myID2'
}])

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const objects = [{
  firstname: 'Jimmie',
  lastname: 'Barninger',
  objectID: 'myID1'
}, {
  firstname: 'Warren',
  lastname: 'Speach',
  objectID: 'myID2'
}];

index.saveObjects(objects).then(({ objectIDs }) => {
  console.log(objectIDs);
});

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res = index.save_objects([
    {'firstname': 'Jimmie', 'lastname': 'Barninger', 'objectID': 'myID1'},
    {'firstname': 'Warren', 'lastname': 'Speach', 'objectID': 'myID2'}
])

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struct Contact: Encodable {
  let objectID: ObjectID
  let firstname: String
  let lastname: String
}

let contacts: [Contact] = [
  .init(objectID: "myID1", firstname: "Jimmie", lastname: "Barninger"),
  .init(objectID: "myID2", firstname: "Warren", lastname: "Speach"),
]

let replacements = contacts.map {($0.objectID, $0) }

index.replaceObjects(replacements: replacements) { result in
  if case .success(let response) = result {
    print("Response: \(response)")
  }
}

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List<JSONObject> array = new ArrayList<JSONObject>();
array.add(
  new JSONObject()
    .put("firstname", "Jimmie")
    .put("lastname", "Barninger")
    .put("objectID", "myID")
);
array.add(
  new JSONObject()
    .put("firstname", "Warren")
    .put("lastname", "Speach")
    .put("objectID", "myID2")
);

index.saveObjectsAsync(new JSONArray(array), null);

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List<Contact> contacts = new List<Contact>
{
    new Contact { ObjectID = "myID1", Firstname = "Jimmie", Lastname = "Barninger" },
    new Contact { ObjectID = "myID2", Firstname = "Warren", Lastname = "Speach" }
};

index.SaveObjects(contacts);

// Asynchronous
await index.SaveObjectsAsync(contacts);

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// Sync version
index.saveObjects(Arrays.asList(
    new Contact()
    .setFirstName("Jimmie")
    .setLastName("Barninger")
    .setObjectID("myID"),

    new Contact()
    .setFirstName("Warren")
    .setLastName("Speach")
    .setObjectID("myID2")
));

// Async version
index.saveObjectsAsync(Arrays.asList(
    new Contact()
    .setFirstName("Jimmie")
    .setLastName("Barninger")
    .setObjectID("myID"),

    new Contact()
    .setFirstName("Warren")
    .setLastName("Speach")
    .setObjectID("myID2")
));

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type Contact struct {
  ObjectID  string `json:"objectID"`
  Firstname string `json:"firstname"`
  Lastname  string `json:"lastname"`
}

contacts := []Contact{
  {ObjectID: "myID1", Firstname: "Jimmie", Lastname: "Barninger"},
  {ObjectID: "myID2", Firstname: "Ray", Lastname: "Charles"},
}

res, err := index.SaveObjects(contacts)

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// With JsonObject
val json = listOf(
    ObjectID("myID1") to json {
        "firstname" to "Jimmie"
        "lastname" to "Barninger"
    },
    ObjectID("myID1") to json {
        "firstname" to "Warren"
        "lastname" to "Speach"
    }
)

index.replaceObjects(json)

// With serializable class
@Serializable
data class Contact(
    val firstname: String,
    val lastname: String,
    override val objectID: ObjectID
) : Indexable

val contacts = listOf(
    Contact("Jimmie", "Barninger", ObjectID("myID")),
    Contact("Jimmie", "Barninger", ObjectID("myID"))
)

index.replaceObjects(Contact.serializer(), contacts)

Notice that the objectID in the new version of the object matches the initial objectID.

By updating only a subset of the record

In some cases you may only want to update a subset of the attributes of a record. To accomplish this, you will need to use the Partial update objects method:

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$index->partialUpdateObjects(
    [
        [
            'objectID'  => 'myID1',
            'firstname' => 'Jimmie'
        ],
        [
            'objectID'  => 'myID2',
            'firstname' => 'Warren'
        ]
    ]
);

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const objects = [{
  firstname: 'Jimmie',
  objectID: 'myID1'
}, {
  firstname: 'Warren',
  objectID: 'myID2'
}];

index.partialUpdateObjects(objects).then(({ objectIDs }) => {
  console.log(objectIDs);
});

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let updates: [(ObjectID, PartialUpdate)] = [
  ("myID1", .update(attribute: "firstname", value: "Jimmie")),
  ("myID2", .update(attribute: "firstname", value: "Warren"))
]

index.partialUpdateObjects(updates: updates) { result in
  if case .success(let response) = result {
    print("Response: \(response)")
  }
}

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List<JSONObject> array = new ArrayList<JSONObject>();

array.add(
  new JSONObject().put("firstname", "Jimmie").put("objectID", "myID")
);
array.add(
  new JSONObject().put("firstname", "Warren").put("objectID", "myID2")
);

index.partialUpdateObjectsAsync(new JSONArray(array), null);

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List<Contact> contacts = new List<Contact>
{
    new Contact { ObjectID = "myID1", Firstname = "Jimmie" },
    new Contact { ObjectID = "myID2", Firstname = "Warren" }
};

index.PartialUpdateObjects(contacts);

// Asynchronous
await index.PartialUpdateObjectsAsync(contacts);

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List<Contact> contacts = Arrays.asList(
  new Contact().setCity("San Francisco").setObjectID("MyID"),
  new Contact().setCity("Paris").setObjectID("MyID2")
);

// Sync version
index.partialUpdateObjects(contacts);

// Async version
index.partialUpdateObjectsAsync(contacts);

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objects := []map[string]string{
  {"objectID": "myID1", "lastname": "Barninger"},
  {"objectID": "myID2", "firstname": "Ray"},
}

res, err := index.PartialUpdateObjects(objects)

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val firstname = Attribute("firstname")
val partials = listOf(
    ObjectID("myID1") to Partial.Update(firstname, "Jimmie"),
    ObjectID("myID2") to Partial.Update(firstname, "Warren")
)

index.partialUpdateObjects(partials)

Notice that the objectID in the new version of the object matches the initial objectID.

Deleting records

To delete an object, you will need to delete the object using its objectID:

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$index->deleteObjects(["myID1", "myID2"]);

Notice that the objectID in the new version of the object matches the initial objectID.

Delete by query

In some cases you may need to delete all the records that match a certain search query. To accomplish this, you will need to leverage the Delete by method. Don’t forget that any attributes you’re querying to delete by will need to be included in your searchable attributes settings.

Building Search UI

Building Search UI

Building Search UI

Building Search UI

Building Search UI

Building Search UI

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Index settings and search parameters

A full reference of API Endpoints

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Incremental Updates

On this page

Putting an objectID in each record

Initializing the client and index

Add records

Additional methods for importing data

Updating records

By replacing the old record

By updating only a subset of the record

Deleting records

Delete by query

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