Helper methods

Helper methods extend or combine API operations to make using the Search API easier.

Browse for records

Required ACL: browse

Retrieves all records from an index.

This helper method iterates over the paginated API response from the Browse API operation.

You can use this, for example, to retrieve all records from your index.

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def browse_objects(
  index_name: String,
  browse_params: BrowseParamsObject,
  request_options: Hash,
  &block: Proc
)

Parameters

Browse for rules

Required ACL: settings

Retrieves all rules from an index.

This helper method iterates over the paginated API response from the Search for rules API operation. You can use this, for example, to retrieve all rules from your index.

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def browse_rules(
  index_name: String,
  search_rules_params: SearchRulesParams,
  request_options: Hash ,
  &block: Proc
)

Parameters

Browse for synonyms

Required ACL: settings

Retrieves all synonyms from an index.

This helper method iterates over the paginated API response from the Search for synonyms API operation. You can use this, for example, to retrieve all synonyms from your index.

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def browse_synonyms(
  index_name: String,
  search_synonyms_params: SearchSynonymsParams,
  request_options: Hash,
)

Parameters

Delete records

Required ACL: deleteObject

Deletes records from an index using their object IDs.

This helper function creates batch write requests with deleteObject actions and sends these requests in batches of 1,000.

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def delete_objects(
  index_name: String,
  object_ids: Array[String],
  wait_for_tasks: bool,
  request_options: Hash,
)

Parameters

Examples

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require "algolia"

client = Algolia::SearchClient.create("ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID", "ALGOLIA_API_KEY")

response = client.delete_objects("ALGOLIA_INDEX_NAME", ["1", "2"])

Create secured API keys

Creates a secured API key without any calls to Algolia’s servers.

This helper method takes a parent API key and adds restrictions to it, which can’t be changed at query time.

Secured API keys are forms of hash-based message authentication codes (HMAC).

This helper performs these steps to create a secured API key:

1. Compute a SHA-256 HMAC with the parent API key as secret, and a URL-encoded list of query parameters as message. These query parameters will be applied with every use of the API key and can’t be changed by users.

2. Concatenate the SHA-256 HMAC with the list of query parameters to a single string.

3. Encode the whole string in base64.

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def generate_secured_api_key(
  parent_api_key: String,
  restrictions: Hash = {}
)

Parameters

restrictions ➔ restrictions

Get secured API key remaining validity

Retrieves the time in seconds until the secured API key expires.

This helper method returns the amount of seconds left until the secured API key expires, as defined by its validUntil property. If the key already expired, this method returns a negative number, indicating the number of seconds since the key expired.

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def get_secured_api_key_remaining_validity(
  secured_api_key: String
)

Parameters

Check if index exists

Required ACL: settings

Checks whether an index exists.

This helper method makes a request to the Retrieve index settings endpoint, and returns true if that request returns a success response.

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def index_exists?(
  index_name: String,
)

Parameters

Examples

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require "algolia"

client = Algolia::SearchClient.create("ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID", "ALGOLIA_API_KEY")

response = client.index_exists("ALGOLIA_INDEX_NAME")

Update attributes of records

Required ACL: addObject

Adds or updates attributes of records

This helper method creates batch write requests with partialUpdateObject or partialUpdateObjectNoCreate actions (depending on whether the createIfNotExists option is true or false) and sends these requests in batches of 1,000.

The underlying method is subject to indexing rate limits.

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def partial_update_objects(
  index_name: String,
  objects: Array[Hash],
  create_if_not_exists: bool,
  wait_for_tasks: bool,
  request_options: Hash,
)

Parameters

Examples

With createIfNotExists true:

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require "algolia"

client = Algolia::SearchClient.create("ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID", "ALGOLIA_API_KEY")

response = client.partial_update_objects(
  "ALGOLIA_INDEX_NAME",
  [{objectID: "1", name: "Adam"}, {objectID: "2", name: "Benoit"}],
  true
)

With createIfNotExists false:

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require "algolia"

client = Algolia::SearchClient.create("ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID", "ALGOLIA_API_KEY")

response = client.partial_update_objects(
  "ALGOLIA_INDEX_NAME",
  [{objectID: "3", name: "Cyril"}, {objectID: "4", name: "David"}],
  false
)

Replace all records

Required ACL: addObject

Replaces all records in an index with new ones.

This helper lets you replace all records in an index without interrupting the ability to search.

It combines batch, copy, and move requests:

1. Copy settings, synonyms, and rules to a temporary index.
2. Add the records from the objects parameter to the temporary index.
3. Move the temporary index to the original index to replace it.

If you use an API key with indexes restrictions, you need to allow access to the index INDEX_NAME_tmp_* (replace INDEX_NAME with the name of your original index).

The underlying methods are subject to indexing rate limits.

The response from this method contains the API responses from the individual requests:

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class ReplaceAllObjectsResponse
  attr_accessor :copy_operation_response
  attr_accessor :batch_responses
  attr_accessor :move_operation_response

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def replace_all_objects(
  index_name: String,
  objects: Array[Hash],
  batch_size: Integer,
  request_options: Hash,
)

Parameters

Examples

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require "algolia"

client = Algolia::SearchClient.create("ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID", "ALGOLIA_API_KEY")

response = client.replace_all_objects(
  "ALGOLIA_INDEX_NAME",
  [
    {objectID: "1", name: "Adam"},
    {objectID: "2", name: "Benoit"},
    {objectID: "3", name: "Cyril"},
    {objectID: "4", name: "David"},
    {objectID: "5", name: "Eva"},
    {objectID: "6", name: "Fiona"},
    {objectID: "7", name: "Gael"},
    {objectID: "8", name: "Hugo"},
    {objectID: "9", name: "Igor"},
    {objectID: "10", name: "Julia"}
  ],
  3
)

Save records

Required ACL: addObject

Adds records to an index.

This helper method creates batch write requests with addObject actions and sends these requests in batches in 1,000.

The underlying method is subject to indexing rate limits.

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def save_objects(
  index_name: String,
  objects: Array[Hash],
  wait_for_tasks: bool,
)

Parameters

Examples

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require "algolia"

client = Algolia::SearchClient.create("ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID", "ALGOLIA_API_KEY")

response = client.save_objects(
  "ALGOLIA_INDEX_NAME",
  [{objectID: "1", name: "Adam"}, {objectID: "2", name: "Benoit"}]
)

Wait for API keys

Waits for an API key operation to be finished.

When you add, update, or delete API keys, it might take a while before the change is applied.

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def wait_for_api_key(
  operation: String,
  key: String,
  api_key: Hash = {}
  max_retries: Integer = 50,
  timeout: -> (retry_count) { [retry_count*200, 5000].min },
  request_options: Hash = {}
)

Parameters

Examples

Wait until an API key is added:

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require "algolia"

client = Algolia::SearchClient.create("ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID", "ALGOLIA_API_KEY")

response = client.wait_for_api_key("api-key-add-operation-test-ruby", "add")

Wait until an API key is updated:

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require "algolia"

client = Algolia::SearchClient.create("ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID", "ALGOLIA_API_KEY")

response = client.wait_for_api_key("api-key-add-operation-test-ruby", "add")

Wait until an API key is deleted:

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require "algolia"

client = Algolia::SearchClient.create("ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID", "ALGOLIA_API_KEY")

response = client.wait_for_api_key("api-key-add-operation-test-ruby", "add")

Wait for application-level tasks

Waits for an application-level task to complete.

While indexing operations are index-level tasks, some tasks, such as working with dictionaries, are application-level tasks. They’re asynchronous: when you make a request, Algolia adds the task to a queue and runs it depending on the server load. The response includes a task_id property that you can use to wait until the task is complete.

This helper method polls the Check application task status API operation and stops if the task’s status is published.

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def wait_for_app_task(
  task_id: String,
  max_retries: Integer,
  timeout: -> (Integer) -> Integer,
  request_options: Hash,
)

Parameters

Examples

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require "algolia"

client = Algolia::SearchClient.create("ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID", "ALGOLIA_API_KEY")

response = client.wait_for_app_task(123)

Wait for index operations

Waits for an indexing task to complete.

Indexing operations are asynchronous. When you make a request for an indexing operation, such as, adding or updating records, Algolia adds a task to a queue and returns a task_id property with the response. The task itself runs separately, depending on the server load.

This helper method polls the Check task status API operation and stops if the task’s status is published.

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def wait_for_task(
  index_name: String,
  task_id: String,
    max_retries: Integer,
    timeout: (Integer) -> Integer
    request_options: Hash,
)

Parameters

Examples

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require "algolia"

client = Algolia::SearchClient.create("ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID", "ALGOLIA_API_KEY")

response = client.wait_for_task("ALGOLIA_INDEX_NAME", 123)