How to exclude non-routable Pages from SimpleSearch results

Support Plugins
1

Hi everyone,

I’m currently using the SimpleSearch plugin on my GRAV CMS website to search and display results. However, I’m encountering an issue where the search results include links to non-routable pages, specifically those located in folders with names prefixed by an underscore (e.g., _hidden/page.md).

I would like to find a solution to exclude these non-routable pages from the search results. Ideally, I would prefer to avoid having to add code to each individual non-routable page.

simplesearch:
    process: false

I found this information: Simplesearch returns _module pages but something may change.

I think commenting out the line in the simplesearch.php file works:

//Add modular pages again 
$this->collection->merge($modularPageCollection);

but I would also like to avoid such modification inside the file.

Has anyone faced a similar issue or have any suggestions on how to achieve this? Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance.

2

Not an answer to your question, but have you tried the TNT Search plugin?

I can’t remember the details of why, but I had lots of problems like yours when I tried making SimpleSearch work, and they mostly went away when I switched to TNT Search. Both are released by the Grav team. There’s also Algolia as a premium plugin but I haven’t tried it except as a user on the Grav docs and I’m not very impressed.

3

@q3d,

However, I’m encountering an issue where the search results include links to non-routable pages, specifically those located in folders with names prefixed by an underscore (e.g., _hidden/page.md ).

“Non-routable”
The purpose of using the underscore (_) as prefix in a foldername is, imho, not to mark it as non-routable, but to mark a page as a module. Modules will be treated differently by Grav. Although a module is non-routable, it will be treated differently form pages which are explicitly being marked as non-routable using routable: false in the header of the page.

SimpleSearch
I suspect when a module (underscore prefixed folder) contains the search keyword, the parent (the modular) will be returned and not the module itself.

If you have a different experience, please share the relevant folder tree and frontmatter.

4

I wasn’t aware of the TNT Search plugin, but I’ll definitely take a closer look at it. It sounds like it might resolve some of the issues I’m facing with SimpleSearch.

Thank you for the detailed explanation regarding “non-routable” pages and the use of the underscore prefix. Your clarification helps me understand how modules are treated differently in GRAV. I appreciate the insight and will consider it while working on my site.

Thanks again to both of you for your helpful suggestions and explanations!

1 Like
5

@q3d, Just curious, do the pages with routable: false still appear in your SimpleSearch?
They don’t in my tests…

Please keep the community updated.

6

In my case, I have a main page (modular)

01.start -> modular.md

---
title: Main Page
visible: false
simplesearch:
    process: false
content:
    items: '@self.modules'
---

On this page, I display several modules, including, for example, Hero.

Case 1.

01.start -> 01._hero -> section.md

section.md:

title: 'We invest in the environment together'
block: hero
layout: full-image
...

The search finds the phrase ‘We invest in the environment together’ and directs to the main page. Thanks to you, I understand the reasoning behind this behavior. However, in my case, it causes confusion.

Case 2.

title: 'We invest in the environment together'
simplesearch:
    process: false
block: hero
layout: full-image
...

When entering the phrase: ‘We invest in the environment together’, the search finds nothing. That’s ok!

Case 3.

title: 'We invest in the environment together'
routable: false
block: hero
layout: full-image
...

Gives me exactly the same result as in Case 1. That is, the phrase is found, and the link from the search results directs to the main page.

7

@q3d,

Case 1:
This how modules are supposed to be handled by Grav: As part of a parent modular page.

Case 2:
That’s how, according the README of SimpleSearch, pages should be excluded.

Case 3:
This is also according the definition of `routable’.

According Grav’s docs about routable:

By default, all pages are routable . This means that they can be reached by pointing your browser to the URL of the page.
However, you may need to create a page that is created to hold specific content, but it is meant to be called directly by a plugin, other content, or even a theme directly.

  • The module is directly called by the modular, hence it will be available according the definition shown above.
1 Like