Make Computed index field searchable

Question

I'm using Sitecore 9 update 1 and SXA 1.7, I created a computed index field but it's not searchable, when I search by its value the item that has the index field don't return, I'm using SXA search box and search results components.

Here is the configuration :

 <fields hint="raw:AddComputedIndexField">
          <field fieldName="serviceStep" returnType="string">project_namespace,DllName</field>

Answer 1

You might need to append the computed field into _content field, Try changing the computed field name to the following:

<fields hint="raw:AddComputedIndexField">
          <field fieldName="_content" returnType="string">project_namespace,DllName</field>

Answer 2

I do not believe there is a way to include your custom field in the _content field. That field is used to process all text fields in the Sitecore database.

You can read more about the _conent field here. What class indexes the _content index field

I believe you are going to have to query your field along with the the Content field.

<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/" xmlns:set="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/set/">
    <sitecore>
        <contentSearch>
            <indexConfigurations>
                <defaultSolrIndexConfiguration type="Sitecore.ContentSearch.SolrProvider.SolrIndexConfiguration, Sitecore.ContentSearch.SolrProvider">
                    <documentOptions type="Sitecore.ContentSearch.SolrProvider.SolrDocumentBuilderOptions, Sitecore.ContentSearch.SolrProvider">
                        <fields hint="raw:AddComputedIndexField">
                            <field fieldName="serviceStep" returnType="string">project_namespace,DllName</field>
                        </fields>
                    </documentOptions>
                </defaultSolrIndexConfiguration>
            </indexConfigurations>
        </contentSearch>
    </sitecore>
</configuration>

Then add your field to your extension of Sitecore's SearchResultItem class.

namespace Sitecore.Foundation.Indexing.Models
{
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using Sitecore.ContentSearch;
    using Sitecore.ContentSearch.SearchTypes;

    public class IndexedItem : SearchResultItem
    {
        [IndexField("serviceStep")]
        public string ServiceStep { get; set; }
    }
}

Then you query your new field.

using (var context = ContentSearchManager.GetIndex("sitecore_web_index").CreateSearchContext())
{
    var searchQuery = context.GetQueryable<IndexedItem>()
        .Where(x => x.ServiceStep == "My Search Text);

    var results = searchQuery.GetResults()
}

Answer 3

The search functionality will look into the sxacontent solr field, so add it by overriding the aggregated content. Other computed fields can be used for filtering purpose.