Implement Real-Time Search and Automatic Index Updating with PHP and Xunsearch

Search functionality is crucial for websites and applications, but traditional database search cannot meet real‑time efficiency requirements.

1. Environment Preparation

Before starting, ensure a PHP environment (version 5.4 or higher) and the Xunsearch server are available.

2. Install Xunsearch

Unzip the downloaded Xunsearch server package and run ./xunsearchd to start the server.

3. Set Up Index and Search Example

Create a PHP file named search.php, include the Xunsearch library, instantiate the XS object, configure the search object, retrieve the query keyword, perform the search, and loop through the results to output titles and contents.

require_once '/path/to/sdk/php/lib/XS.php';
$xs = new XS('/path/to/xunsearch/app.ini');
$search = $xs->search;
$search->setFuzzy();
$search->setLimit(10);
$search->setScwsMulti(3);
$search->addWeight('title', 10);
$search->addWeight('content', 5);
$keyword = $_GET['q'];
$result = $search->search($keyword);
foreach ($result as $item) {
    echo $item->title . '<br>';
    echo $item->content . '<br><br>';
}

4. Automatic Index Updating

Create a PHP file named update.php, include the Xunsearch library, instantiate the XS object, connect to a MySQL database, fetch data, and update the Xunsearch index for each record, finally flushing the index.

require_once '/path/to/sdk/php/lib/XS.php';
$xs = new XS('/path/to/xunsearch/app.ini');
$index = $xs->index;
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test', 'username', 'password');
$pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM articles');
$stmt->execute();
$data = $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
foreach ($data as $item) {
    $doc = new XSDocument();
    $doc->setFields($item);
    $index->update($doc);
}
$index->flushIndex();

Conclusion

The guide shows how to leverage PHP and Xunsearch to add efficient real‑time search capabilities to a website or application and keep the search index automatically up‑to‑date.