Federated search - Beta
Feature available from Datafari Enterprise v4.3. Still in beta
The federated search feature allows a user to execute a query from the search UI of Datafari, that will be performed on the Datafari index, but also on configured external search engines. The results of the external search engines are federated in the Datafari search view.
At the time this article is written, the only supported external search engine by this feature, is Dropbox. So we will use Dropbox as an example of how works this feature.
To enable an external search on a Dropbox account, a user needs to configure the access token of it's Dropbox account into Datafari. To do so, a specific UI is available through the search view menu "My account" = > "External sources"
In this specific UI, a list of compatible external search engines is provided:
By clicking on the Dropbox tab, a form will be displayed, allowing the current user to enter an access token for a Dropbox account:
Two parameters needs to be provided :
Client Identifier: A random name that will be used as ID for the Access Token. Avoid special characters and spaces !
Access Token: The access token of the Dropbox account.
Notice that only one Dropbox account can be configured by user !
Once you configured the access token, return to the search view and reload/refresh it (F5). You should now see a "Dropbox" tab:
By clicking on this tab you will display results of the last executed query in Datafari, returned by the search engine of Dropbox for the configured account/access token:
Notice that the facets are not available in this tab. This is because querying external search engines is limited in terms of features. This can be adapted, depending on the API provided by the external engine queried.
Of course, more external search engines can be supported by this feature, but it depends on the API provided by the engine to query. Just ask France Labs if you are interested in non currently supported external search engines.