Fordham Law Search

Developed by Friends of the Web https://friendsoftheweb.com

This app was generated with rails new --skip-active-record --skip-spring --skip-turbolinks ... This app does not use a database/activerecord!

Configuration and Code of Interest

Configuration of search targets and text and links related to each is in ./config/initializers/bento_search.rb This file includes a section for each search target, configuring a bunch of stuff, sorry it gets a bit confusing:

which BentoSearch search engine adapter to use. Most adapters are located in the bento_search gem, but there are some local ones, such as for screen-scraping Sierra Classic, in ./app/search_engines. conf.engine
Other adapter-specific configuration, max per page, hard-coded search limits, etc. Authentication information for adapters that need it.
Titles and sub-titles for each section. display.heading, display.hint
URL and label to link out to full results, display.link_out and display.link_out_text.
"See also" links for each section, in display.extra_links

We use a customized partial template to display each search results, at ./app/views/application/_result_item.html.erb. This specifies how a result will work, and is used for all search targets -- it does have some conditionals in it to display different sorts of results differently.

Additionally some search targets may have a BentoSearch Item Decorator configured, with custom overrides on a search-adapter-specific basis. Configured in ./config/initializers/bento_search.rb, display.decorator. For instance, an EDS decorator to suppress any "other_link" with a label Availability.

While bento search targets are configured in [./config/initializers/bento_search.rb], they are also mentioned in the top-of-file class variables for ./app/controllers/multi_search_controller.rb. main_engine_ids are the two engines that show up in wide columns of their own, and secondary_engine_ids are the engines that show up stacked in the additional narrower column. To remove an engine, remove it from these lists, and it will no longer be displayed. Subsequently removing it from config/initializers/bento_search.rb is just tidying up to not leave dead code around.

'Secret' Configuration

Confidential configuration (passwords, api keys) is stored in ./config/secrets.yml.

This file is NOT in the repository, because it's secret. There is an example without confidential info at ./config/secrets.example.yml.

You need to get the correct secrets.yml through some other secure channel. TBD how we deal with it on deployment.

If deploying to heroku, and you have a secrets.yml on disk with correct production values, you can copy them to heroku with:

bin/rake heroku:secrets RAILS_ENV=production

This will copy the production values from your secrets.yml on disk to heroku config/env variables beginning with _SECRET_. We use the heroku_secrets gem to then load these into Rails secrets on boot on heroku.

Embed Search Form

A utility to embed the search form on a remote page is included. It uses javascript to do the embed, the javascript places an iframe on the host page.

There are two ways to trigger embedding:

1. Script tag

Anywhere on your page, place a script tag:

<script src="https://github.com/Fordham-lawlib-bento/fordham-law-search/raw/master//librarysearch.law.fordham.edu/search-embed.js" async></script>

The search form will appear on the page where the script tag has been placed.

2. Specified insertion point with DOM id

Anywhere on your page, include an HTML element, perhaps an empty placeholder div, with a unique 'id' of your choice:

<div id="searchFormHere"></div>

Now include a javascript script tag wherever you'd like (such as <head> section), specifying that id:

 <script src="https://github.com/Fordham-lawlib-bento/fordham-law-search/raw/master//librarysearch.law.fordham.edu/search-embed.js?hostDomId=searchFormHere" async></script>

The search form will be placed just before the element whose id is specified.

trigger focus and/or selection of search type

If the host page that includes the embed is accessed with special URL query params, it can trigger search form setup:

&search.focus=true => focus on search text input
'&search.type=$type' => pre-select a specific search radio button. valid $type values are: catalog ; articles ; website ; databases ; reserves ; flash

Tests

There are some limited automated tests. At present, just of the custom Sierra screen-scraping bento_search adapters, not of the actual UI.

Run tests with bundle exec rake or bundle exec rspec.

We use VCR in tests, to record the transactions with Sierra, so ordinarily when running tests the code is not actually interacting with the Fordham Sierra, but using pre-recorded interactions.

You might want to run tests with live sierra (and re-record VCR cassettes) to make sure everything is still good with actual Sierra behavior. But beware, if Fordham Sierra index has changed, you may need to find new queries that still demonstrate what's meant to be demo'd in tests. To re-record VCR cassettes with live interactions:

VCR=all bundle exec rspec

Note on Windows development

Windows and unixy OSs (like Heroku) can't share a Gemfile.lock. See:

https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/bundler-windows-gemfile

Recommend avoid committing or pushing a Gemfile.lock on Windows if possible.

Eventually dependencies will need to be updated, which will require update of the Gemfile.lock. Not sure the best way to do this on Windows, a VM might be wise, even just for Gemfile/Gemfile.lock updating.

Deployment

For heroku deploy, the Procfile is used by heroku, and specifies deploying with puma, using ./config/puma.rb for more configuration.

These files can be used in other deployment scenarios too, depending on setup. Procfile is used by the foreman tool. This simple app prob doesn't need a procfile in non-heroku scenario, just start it with puma, or rails server.

Fordham-lawlib-bento / fordham-law-search

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