Expose user data to ElasticSearch

[mikebell]

I'm investigating the possibility of exposing user data through search_api so that I can easliy create a REST endpoint using views to search for skills and other data (to be defined properly).

Here are some questions:

• Is search api with elasticsearch integration the best way to go about this?
• Is using views to provide the REST end point a good idea?
  • Architecturally we're very restricted by the views way of doing things.

[mikebell]

Using search API and search seems overkill. wkhub_search relies on search so that might have to be re-worked if this is the right solution.

[mikebell]

Seems like both search_api_elasticsearch and elasticsearch_connector are both immature.

• search_api_elasticsearch - dependency hell, requires version of search_api that doesn't exist
• elasticsearch - https://www.drupal.org/node/2653628

[danielnolde]

If still relevant: @floretan has done some work integrating Elastisearch with Drupal 8, using the standard Elasticsearch PHP library, with good outcomes.