Defining a field for FTS

Considerations for indexing a field

Consider the following points when you define a field for indexing:

• When you define a field as indexed for FTS, it might take some time before that field is available for searching if the form has entries. Indexing a field can take several hours, depending on the amount of data in that field, the system load, and other factors.
• While a field is being indexed for FTS, you can still do non-FTS searches on that field if the underlying relational database permits it.
• For each field that you index forFTS, the amount of disk space required for theFTS index can grow significantly. To estimate approximately how much space is required for your FTSindex, see Estimating-the-size-of-the-FTS-index.
• Do not define fields for FTS during normal production hours, especially if you have many AR System server requests in your database. Indexing uses database and AR System server resources, which can have a significant impact on the performance of your system.
• The Index For FTS property does not appear for field types that are not valid for full text search.
• If the FTS property exists for an out-of-the-box field, use the base form to remove this property.
  To add or remove the FTS property on an overlay field and a custom field, use the overlay form.

To define a field for FTS

1. In Developer Studio, open the form.
2. Select the field.
3. Set the Index For FTS property to one of the following options:
   • FTS and MFS—Indexes the field for both field-based searching and multi-form searching.
   • MFS Only—Indexes the field only for multi-form searching.
     Field-based searches on this field will use the database searching capability.
4. If the field is defined for literal (whole field) searching, set the Literal FTS Index property to True.
   The search engine builds a different type of index for this type of search, so it must be specified at design time.
5. (Optional) If the field is defined as a rich-text-format field, set the Strip Tags For FTS property to True.
   This optional step lets you remove all HTML tags from the field's text before the data is sent for FTS indexing.
   When you change this property, the field is automatically re-indexed.
6. (Optional) If the field is on a form that will be part of a multiple-form search, update the field properties as follows:
   1. Enter a new or existing category name in the Full Text MFS Category Name field property for the field.
      At index time, the server checks whether an entry has any fields with a category name defined in the Full Text MFS Category Name field property. If so, the server also indexes the field as that category name.
   2. If the field is a table field that should be included in multiple-form searches, select True for the Index for MFS property.
7. Save your changes.
   AR System server begins to index the field for FTS.
   
   The FTS index for a field is automatically updated and does not require manual administration when you create, delete, or modify requests, provided that the field is a character, diary, or attachment field on a regular form or view form with data that is not changed from outside of AR System server.