Custom sorting component with ReactiveList

[NemanjaTck]

Issue Type:
Question

Platform:
Web

Description:
I am currently trying to build complex sorting component and since there is not enough documentation on it I have to ask here. I will split the question in two parts.

1. Using the default sortOptions of the ReactiveList result component, there is a problem with result relevance. To be more precise, if I set default value to the sort and then try typing something in the search component, the results will still be sorted by default sort value instead by relevance. Is there a way to avoid this with the default sortOptions provided by Reactive Search? So to have ie. SingleDropdownList component to change the current sorting of the elements in the ReactiveList?

2. I tried to create and put CustomSort inside ReactiveComponent. The code for it is

<ReactiveComponent
  key="componentSort"
  componentId="ComponentSort"
>
  <CustomSort sortData={sortOptions} />
</ReactiveComponent>

CustomSort component has setQuery which gets triggered on button click (there are multiple sortOptions).

setValue(value) {
  this.props.setQuery({
    "query": {
      "match_all": {}
    },
    "sort": {
      value: {"order": "desc"}
    }
  });
}

Query is completely the same as the one being sent by default sortOptions (when checked in dev tools). However query does not update Reactive List component (ReactiveList has custom sort component in react). Should I have defaultQuery even if I do not want to set default sort? Is this the proper way to set up the custom sort?

Great project btw. Much more customizations available compared to SearchKit.

Screenshots: N/A

Reactivesearch version: 2.6.12

Browser: All

[divyanshu013]

You could always use the defaultQuery prop its perfectly fine and return { match_all: {}} if you don't want to apply anything. The query from defaultQuery is combined with the query formed so sorting would also work fine. Could you try if using defaultQuery solves the issue?

[NemanjaTck]

I added defaultQuery, however it doesn't help. If I remove sortOptions from the ReactiveList props, my custom component CustomSort doesn't even send the sort part of the query.
Is it supposed to be like this? I am attaching the screenshot of the query from dev tools.

I tested the query using different match instead of match_all and the query works. It just looks like the sorting can not be applied from ReactiveComponent?

[divyanshu013]

Not sure about using from ReactiveComponent but I usually create a component to set the sort query in state and pass that to ReactiveList using defaultQuery prop.

@NemanjaTck Would love to hear whether you got this working and see an example. I am having the same issue.

[siddharthlatest]

Quick thoughts: Setting sort via ReactiveComponent wouldn't work transitively (i.e. its sort key getting applied to ReactiveList). The reasoning is that since ReactiveList is the result component where sort should be applied, it should be the one setting the sort key. (If sorts could be transitively applied, then there would be a conflict when multiple input components had sort on them.) The sort key context for each component is applied locally to that component itself.

Here's how (I think) it can work with sortOptions:

sortOptions={[
    {
      label: "Best Match",
      dataField: "_score",
      sortBy: "desc"
    },
    {
      label: "Asc",
      dataField: "my_field",
      sortBy: "asc"
    }
]}

When you set dataField key to _score, it equals to scoring by relevance of the search. You can keep a React dropdown list component, which on value change will update the sortOptions prop via a state variable.

P.S. If anyone wants to submit a codesandbox demo showing this, will be happy to add it to the docs / playground.

@siddharthlatest This is brilliant, thank you so much. I will try and get around to making a sandbox as an example for other people.

[Arvind6353]

Hi @siddharthlatest . Do you have the sample sandbox demo for custom sort like above ?

[kud]

+1 for the independent component for sorting.

[gbentim]

It'd be nice if sortBy could take the dataField, so we could sort by relevance by default, without the filter dropdown that comes with the sortOptions.

E.g,
sortBy="={{dataField: "_score" ,order: "desc"}}

Also, I'm surprised that displaying results by score relevance isn't default in an ES framework

[siddharthlatest]

@gbentim Not setting a dataField would sort by score the way you are thinking.

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[egonzal93]

Hello everyone stay safe. I need to custom render the sortOptions object and use a component library to render a nice looking combo box. Unfortunately if you specify the sortOptions on the ReactiveList is renders an ugly looking select dropdown on a fix location. Is there a way to do this? I searched for a documentation and there is none.

[kud]

To be fair, I removed the display of the sort options, and did a ReactiveComponent by my self with custom queries.