Specifying dynamic field type without polluting actual field names with type indicators

[Horváth Péter Gergely <ho...@gmail.com>]

Hi All,

By default Solr allows you to define the type of a dynamic field by
appending a post-fix to the name itself. E.g. creating a color_s field
instructs Solr to create a string field. My understanding is that if we do
this, all queries must refer the post-fixed field name as well. So
instead of a query like color:"red", we will have to write something like
color_s:"red" -- and so on for other field types as well.

I am wondering if it is possible to specify the data type used for a field
in Solr 6.0.0, without having to modify the field name. (Or at least in a
way that would allow us to use the original field name) Do you have any
idea, how to achieve this? I am fine, if we have to specify the field type
during the insertion of a document, however, I do not want to keep using
post-fixes while running queries...

Thanks,
Peter

Re: Specifying dynamic field type without polluting actual field names with type indicators

[Shawn Heisey <ap...@elyograg.org>]

On 5/17/2016 9:05 AM, Horv�th P�ter Gergely wrote:
> By default Solr allows you to define the type of a dynamic field by
> appending a post-fix to the name itself. E.g. creating a color_s field
> instructs Solr to create a string field. My understanding is that if we do
> this, all queries must refer the post-fixed field name as well. So
> instead of a query like color:"red", we will have to write something like
> color_s:"red" -- and so on for other field types as well.
>
> I am wondering if it is possible to specify the data type used for a field
> in Solr 6.0.0, without having to modify the field name. (Or at least in a
> way that would allow us to use the original field name) Do you have any
> idea, how to achieve this? I am fine, if we have to specify the field type
> during the insertion of a document, however, I do not want to keep using
> post-fixes while running queries...

Dynamic fields are just a different way to specify field names.  Instead
of explictly naming the field, you can put a * at the beginning or end
of the name and define an entire series of potential field names with
one declaration, and tie those names to a specific type.

You can't specify a field type when doing a query, only the field name. 
Solr looks up the field name in the schema to determine the type.  If
you want to change the type of a given field name, you need to change
your schema, restart Solr or reload the core, and quite possibly also
reindex.

Thanks,
Shawn