Sorting Results in a Search Blueprint

Add a sort configuration to search blueprints to control the order of search results:

Open the Global Menu (), click the Applications tab, and select Blueprints.
Create a blueprint or open an existing one.
Click the Configuration tab and enter JSON into the Sort Configuration text area.

important

Avoid using both the Sort widget and a search blueprint to configure sorting on a search page. Liferay cannot guarantee consistent behavior.
The examples below are simple. A robust sort configuration must consider all scenarios. For example, if a search result document does not contain the sort field, use the missing parameter to configure the sort behavior.

See Elasticsearch’s sorting documentation for more details.

Example 1: Sorting by Title

A sort configuration is a JSON object with a sorts array defining the fields to sort by, either in ascending (asc) or descending (desc) order.

{
   "sorts": [
      {
         "localized_title_${context.language_id}_sortable": "asc"
      }
   ]
}

tip

A search document can contain similarly named field variations, especially for localized text fields like title. Use a localized and sortable keyword variation of the field such as localized_title_en_US_sortable. Check each entity’s document to find its available fields. For example, title_sortable is a common field, but the same entity may also contain localized_title_en_US_sortable.
Instead of entering the language ID directly, use the ${context.language_id} variable to auto-populate the four-letter language code (e.g., en_US) with the current language.
To see a document’s fields, click Preview in the blueprint’s toolbar, execute a search, and expand the fields for their results.

Example 2: Sorting by a Structure Field

Web Content Structure fields are indexed as nested fields in the search engine document.

When viewing the document, nested properties appear under ddmFieldArray:

"ddmFieldArray" : [
          {
            "ddmFieldName" : "ddm__keyword__30805__department_en_US",
            "ddmValueFieldName" : "ddmFieldValueKeyword_en_US",
            "ddmFieldValueKeyword_en_US" : "true",
            "ddmFieldValueKeyword_en_US_String_sortable" : "true"
          }
]

To view the document with its nested fields,

Enable fetching the document _source by going to the blueprint’s Configuration tab and entering this JSON into the Advanced Configuration box:
```
{
   "source": {
      "fetchSource": true
   }
}
```
Click Preview in the toolbar, search for the result with the nested field, and expand its fields.

For a nested field, the sort configuration’s field declaration is more complicated:

{
   "sorts": [
      {
         "ddmFieldArray.ddmFieldValueKeyword_${context.language_id}_String_sortable": {
            "nested": {
               "nested_path": "ddmFieldArray",
               "nested_filter": {
                  "term": {
                     "ddmFieldArray.ddmFieldName": {
                        "value": "ddm__keyword__30805__department_${context.language_id}"
                     }
                  }
               }
            },
            "order": "asc"
         }
      }
   ]
}

Example 3: Sorting by an Objects Field

Object entry fields are indexed as nested fields in the search engine document.

When viewing the document, an object’s nested properties appear under nestedFieldArray:

"nestedFieldArray" : [
            {
              "fieldName": "total",
              "valueFieldName": "value_integer",
              "value_integer": "8"
            }
]

To view the document with its nested fields,

Enable fetching the document _source by going to the blueprint’s Configuration tab and entering this JSON into the Advanced Configuration box:
```
{
   "source": {
      "fetchSource": true
   }
}
```
Click Preview in the toolbar, search for the result with the nested field, and expand its fields.

This example sorts by an object integer field:

{
   "sorts": [
      {
         "nestedFieldArray.value_integer": {
            "nested": {
               "nested_path": "nestedFieldArray",
               "nested_filter": {
                  "term": {
                     "nestedFieldArray.fieldName": "total"
                  }
               }
            },
            "order": "desc"
         }
      }
   ]
}