The second beta of the Elasticsearch module is now available! We noticed that the first beta was too hard to configure to make it run on most systems so we have worked very hard to support a multitude of systems via the ajax proxy option. This makes the module work out-of-the-box on Cloudways (thirty bees cloud) for example. Together with support for more systems we have added tons of features, finally making the module feature-complete with the second beta.

Let’s not keep you waiting, here is a short video of what a fully configured search page of the module looks like with the second beta:

 

Highlights

A few of the highlights added to this second beta:

  • Support for more systems via the ajax proxy option
  • More filter types: price slider and color picker
  • Pagination
  • Sorting
  • Show discounts (catalog price rules)
  • Show stock
  • Disjunctive (OR) facets
  • Instant search
  • Replace native category, manufacturer and supplier pages
  • Infinite scroll
  • Higher and higher performance by removing deprecated libraries. This module is fast and light-weight!

Note that this is a very advanced module and as of beta 2 has a lot of features. Therefore we have updated the documentation and added as much helpful information as we possibly could. There are many ways to install Elasticsearch for example. You can check the installation section to see which method works best for you.

Installing the module requires you to replace previous search modules you might have in your store. Be sure to check out the instructions on installing the module so you can be sure that the module is placed correctly onto the front office pages from the start.

The module has a lot of configuration options, you can visit the configuration section of the documentation and for every option it will tell you what it is for and what influence it has on the module’s functionality. Good luck and if you need any help, visit the forum or leave a comment underneath the documentation page.

Compatibility

The module’s compatibility has also been updated since beta 2.

Currently the system requirements are:

  • PHP 5.6 or higher
  • PHP cURL extension must be enabled

Elasticsearch 5.4 or higher (including 6.0) is required.

Keep in mind that beta 2 still is only optimized for the default community theme. We have plans to support more themes. The current plans are:

  • Default community theme – done
  • Warehouse theme – planned for the next beta
  • Transformer theme – planned for the next beta
  • Panda theme – planned for the next beta

Reporting bugs

If you encounter any bugs testing and using the module, please report them. We are aiming to release the final version of this module as soon as possible.

The best place to report bugs for the Elasticsearch module is GitHub. That is what we are currently using to manage bug reports on beta software. To report a bug, go to the thirty bees Elasticsearch repository and click on the issues tab. From there you can create a new issue.

Writing a good bug report

Writing a good bug report is essential to us being able to solve the bug quickly and efficiently. Things we will need to know and how to help us with the bug reports:

  • How to reproduce the bug
  • What version of thirty bees you are using
  • If the bug has been reported before, please do not report bugs multiple times
  • Hosting information like: PHP version, Mysql version, Elasticsearch version, even the hosting service name helps too, because we are aware of configuration issues with some hosts
  • We might ask for access to your dev environment if it is a data specific bug, this is normal
  • If you can see an easy fix for the bug, by all means, please make a pull request

To make sure your bug report is as relevant as possible do not file bug reports from previous versions and if possible check if the bug might have been solved already from the list of changes on this page. The commit titles will briefly describe the changes and tell you if the changes might be relevant to solving the bug you are currently seeing.

With this beta we should be close to a stable release. The more testers, the more users, and the better quality of the bug reports the sooner the final version will appear.

EDIT: Thanks! The first bugs have already been reported. If you do not see checkboxed filters show up among the results, simply apply this change.