elastic-search post value select all if nothing is selected - php

Question

i am trying to filter data based on the user selection.
as a example if a user select a name "Smith" and "Type(Which is male of female)", it actually works fine.
The problem is if a user do not select any name and just select just type, than based on the type to should query the data, which means it should select all "names", instead of selecting a single names.
Now if the user do not select any name it returns null value in the query, so how can i make the query to act like when nothing is "post" it should "select all".
Do any one knows any solution for this problem !
if ($request->getMethod() == 'POST') {
$name = $request->request->get('name'); // get requested name
$type = $request->request->get('type'); // Which is male of female
$params = array(
'index' => "myIndex",
'type' => "myType",
'body' => array(
'query' => array(
'bool' => array(
'should' => array(
'query_string' => array(
'default_field' => 'name',
'query' => $name
)
)
)
),
'term' => array(
"type" => $type
)
)
);
$docs = $client->search($params);
For making it more clear how to make a condition for elasticserch if post value is null select all

Answer 1

I think you should simply build your query conditionally, i.e. add each constraint only if the related parameter is present in the request. Besides, you also have another issue in your query, i.e. the term query is misplaced, it should be located inside the bool/should and not directly in the body. So here is how I'd do it:
if ($request->getMethod() == 'POST') {
$name = $request->request->get('name'); // get requested name
$type = $request->request->get('type'); // Which is male of female
// create the base skeleton of your query
$params = array(
'index' => "myIndex",
'type' => "myType",
'body' => array(
'query' => array(
'bool' => array(
'should' => array(
// empty should clause for starters
)
)
)
)
);
// add each constraint in turn depending on whether the param is specified
if (!empty($name)) {
$params['body']['query']['bool']['should'] = array(
'query_string' => array(
'default_field' => 'name',
'query' => $name
)
);
}
if (!empty($type)) {
$params['body']['query']['bool']['should'] = array(
'term' => array(
"type" => $type
)
);
}
// special case if none is present, just match everything
if (count($params['body']['query']['bool']['should']) == 0) {
$params['body']['query'] => array(
'match_all' => array()
);
}
$docs = $client->search($params);