Efficiently managing search results and making them easily identifiable is a critical aspect of developing robust document search applications. With highlight search results using C#, you can enhance the user experience by visually distinguishing relevant information in search results. This guide will walk you through the process of how to highlight search results in C#, showing you how to apply visual indicators to matched terms, making it easier for users to find the information they need quickly and effectively.
Steps to Highlight Search Results using C#
- Set up your development environment by integrating the GroupDocs.Search for .NET library to enable highlighting of search results
- Instantiate an IndexSettings object to configure how documents are indexed
- Set TextStorageSettings to Compression.High to store the extracted text efficiently
- Use the Index class to create an index. Pass the path to the index folder and the IndexSettings object to the constructor
- Use the Index.Add method to add documents from the specified folder to the index
- Use the Index.Search method to search for a specific keyword or phrase, such as ‘Universe’. This returns a SearchResult object containing all documents that match the search query
The process starts by setting up an index, which stores extracted text from documents. This index is essential for fast and accurate searching. Using IndexSettings, we enable text storage with high compression to maintain efficiency. The Index object is created and populated with documents from a specified folder. Once documents are indexed, you can perform a search operation for specific keywords. For instance, to highlight occurrences of the word “Universe” in a document, we first search for it within the index. The SearchResult object holds all documents containing the keyword. If there are any matches, the FoundDocument is obtained, and a highlighter is used to apply highlighting. You can customize the highlighting format by setting TermHighlightStartTag and TermHighlightEndTag to display the matched terms clearly in the text. This approach not only allows you to perform C# document search and highlight but also enhances the user experience by clearly marking relevant text matches.
Code to Highlight Search Results using C#
| using GroupDocs.Search; | |
| using GroupDocs.Search.Common; | |
| using GroupDocs.Search.Highlighters; | |
| using GroupDocs.Search.Options; | |
| using GroupDocs.Search.Results; | |
| using System; | |
| namespace HighlightSearchResultsUsingCSharp | |
| { | |
| internal class Program | |
| { | |
| static void Main(string[] args) | |
| { | |
| // Apply the license to remove the restrictions | |
| // imposed by the Search library | |
| License lic = new License(); | |
| lic.SetLicense(@"GroupDocs.Search.lic"); | |
| string indexFolder = @"d:\MyIndex\"; | |
| string documentsFolder = @"d:\MyDocuments\"; | |
| // Creating an index settings instance | |
| IndexSettings settings = new IndexSettings(); | |
| // Enabling storage of extracted text in the index | |
| settings.TextStorageSettings = new TextStorageSettings(Compression.High); | |
| // Creating an index in the specified folder | |
| Index index = new Index(indexFolder, settings); | |
| // Indexing documents from the specified folder | |
| index.Add(documentsFolder); | |
| // Search for the word 'Universe' | |
| SearchResult result = index.Search("Universe"); | |
| // Highlighting occurrences in the text | |
| if (result.DocumentCount > 0) | |
| { | |
| // Getting the first found document | |
| FoundDocument document = result.GetFoundDocument(0); | |
| // Creating the output adapter | |
| StructureOutputAdapter outputAdapter = new StructureOutputAdapter( | |
| OutputFormat.PlainText); | |
| // Creating the highlighter instance | |
| Highlighter highlighter = new DocumentHighlighter(outputAdapter); | |
| // Creating the highlight options | |
| HighlightOptions options = new HighlightOptions(); | |
| // Setting the start tag for the found word | |
| options.TermHighlightStartTag = "<Term>"; | |
| // Setting the end tag for the found word | |
| options.TermHighlightEndTag = "</Term>"; | |
| // Generating plain text with highlighted occurrences | |
| index.Highlight(document, highlighter, options); | |
| DocumentField[] fields = outputAdapter.GetResult(); | |
| Console.WriteLine(document.ToString()); | |
| for (int i = 0; i < fields.Length; i++) | |
| { | |
| // Printing field names of the found document | |
| DocumentField field = fields[i]; | |
| Console.WriteLine("\t" + field.Name); | |
| } | |
| } | |
| } | |
| } | |
| } |
Highlighting search matches in C# is an essential feature for document search applications, making it easier for users to find relevant information quickly. By using libraries like GroupDocs.Search, you can implement a powerful and efficient system that supports highlight search matches in C#. This approach not only enhances the search functionality but also makes the results visually distinctive, improving user interaction. Implementing search and highlight with C# is straightforward and can be tailored to meet specific application needs, whether you’re developing a document management system or a real-time search tool.
Previously, we released an in-depth guide on getting indexed documents using C#. For a complete, step-by-step tutorial, be sure to check out our detailed article on how to get indexed documents using C#.
