How to do Search inside a subFolder with Azure AI Search.

Question

In Azure AI Search how to find something inside a subdirectory? right now when I am searching something i am getting result from all of the subfolders, I have to do search within a folder for example right now I am in /Submission directory and there are subfolder in here how do I search in them? I have tried some filter options but it is not working, anybody here who can help?
[HttpGet]

[Route("azureAISearch")]

[ProducesResponseType(typeof(ResponseStatusCodes), StatusCodes.Status202Accepted)]

[ProducesResponseType(typeof(ResponseStatusCodes), StatusCodes.Status500InternalServerError)]

public async Task<IActionResult> GetAzureAiSearchResult(string? requestId = null, string? searchText = null)

{

 try

 {

     _indexClient = new SearchIndexClient(new Uri(_searchServiceUri), new AzureKeyCredential(_queryApiKey));

     _searchClient = _indexClient.GetSearchClient(_searchServiceIndex);

     //string filterExpression = $"folderName eq '{requestId}'";

     //string filterExpression = $"folderPath eq 'submission/{requestId}' and endswith(folderPath, '/{requestId}') and key eq '{searchText}'";

     //string filterExpression = $"key eq '{requestId}' and key eq '{searchText}'";

     var options = new SearchOptions()

     {

         IncludeTotalCount = true,

         //Filter = $"startswith(folderPath, 'submission/{requestId}/') and substring(folderPath, string_length(folderPath) - string_length('{requestId}') + 1, string_length('{requestId}')) eq '{requestId}'"

         //Filter = $"startswith(folderPath, 'submission/{requestId}/') and substring(folderPath, string_length(folderPath) - string_length('{requestId}') + 1) eq '{requestId}'"

         //Filter = $"startswith(folderPath, 'submission/{requestId}/') and substring(folderPath, length(folderPath) - length('{requestId}') + 1) eq '{requestId}'"

         Filter = $"startswith(folderPath, 'submission/{requestId}/') and substring(folderPath, string_length(folderPath) - string_length('{requestId}') + 1, string_length('{requestId}')) eq '{requestId}'",

     };

     // Check for a search string

     if (searchText == null)

     {

         searchText = "";

     }

     // Send the query to Search.

     var resultList = await _searchClient.SearchAsync<AzureAISearch>(searchText, options).ConfigureAwait(false);

     //return Accepted(new { QueryData = resultList});

     return Accepted(new { QueryData = resultList.Value.GetResults().Select(result => result.Document).ToList() });

 }

 catch (Exception ex)

 {

     return StatusCode(500, $"Internal server error: {ex.Message}");

 }

}

Answer 1

To better assist you on this, what is the data source you are indexing? Are you referring to any Azure doc for the steps?

 

 Based on my understanding of your issue description, as outlined in this doc, the fields you want from the blob indexer: Azure Blob indexer - Azure AI Search | Microsoft Learn

 

• metadata_storage_name (Edm.String) - the file name of the blob. For example, if you have a blob /my-container/my-folder/subfolder/resume.pdf, the value of this field is resume.pdf.
• metadata_storage_path (Edm.String) - the full URI of the blob, including the storage account. For example, https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/my-container/my-folder/subfolder/resume.pdf

 

If you haven’t done this already, for the filter to work, the field (folderPath in this case) must be attributed as “filterable” in your index definition. Filters in text queries

 

If you’re not storing the value in a metadata field and instead, you’re trying to extract it from a document, there could be issues if the indexer doesn’t support field mapping for your document type, such as a markdown document. In such cases, you might need to create a custom web API skill set. This skill set would need to be invoked to perform the necessary mapping before the steps you outlined. Doc section : Supported document formats

The options listed here are supported: Limitations and considerations

If it’s for SharePoint, to filter specific folders, introduce a custom column when creating documents in SharePoint. This could be automated using a workflow or a similar process. After the indexing process, this custom column can be used as a filter during the query for documents: apply filters

Kindly let us know, I'll follow-up with you.

Answer 2

Thank You for your Response, that worked here is the correct code for this.
Note, we have to make the filed filterable before we try to apply filtering on it.
[HttpGet]

[Route("azureAISearch")]

[ProducesResponseType(typeof(ResponseStatusCodes), StatusCodes.Status202Accepted)]

[ProducesResponseType(typeof(ResponseStatusCodes), StatusCodes.Status500InternalServerError)]

public async Task<IActionResult> GetAzureAiSearchResult(string? requestId = null, string? searchText = null)

{

try

{

    _indexClient = new SearchIndexClient(new Uri(_searchServiceUri), new AzureKeyCredential(_queryApiKey));

    _searchClient = _indexClient.GetSearchClient(_searchServiceIndex);

    var options = new SearchOptions()

    {

        IncludeTotalCount = true,

        Filter = requestId != null ? $"metadata_storage_path eq '{requestId}'" : null

    };

    // Check for a search string

    searchText ??= "";

    // Send the query to Search.

    var resultList = _searchClient.SearchAsync<AzureAISearch>(searchText, options);

    return Accepted(new { QueryData = resultList });

    //return Accepted(new { QueryData = resultList.Value.GetResults().Select(result => result.Document).ToList() });

}

catch (Exception ex)

{

    return StatusCode(500, $"Internal server error: {ex.Message}");

}

}