ElasticSearch highlight with filter query

Question

I have the following query, but highlight is not working.

{
  "query": {
    "filtered" : {
      "filter" : {
        "or" : {
          "filters" : [
            {
            "query": { 
              "multi_match":{
                "query":"time",
                "fields":[
                        "display_name_en","display_name_pa","display_name_pr",
                        "icon_class","in_sidemenu","model_name","name",
                        "table_name"
                ],
                "operator":"OR"
              } 
            }
          },
          {
            "terms":{
              "created_by.id":["11","13","14","16"],
              "_name" : "created_by"
            }       
          },
          {
            "range":{
              "created_at":{
                "gte":"2016-01-27",
                "lte":"2016-03-21",
                "format":"YYYY-MM-dd"
              }
            }
          } 
        ],
        "_name" : "or"
      }
    } 
  }
},
"highlight": {
    "fields" : {
        "name" : {}
    }
}
}

And the result is like this:

{
  "took": 3,
  "timed_out": false,
  "_shards": {
    "total": 5,
    "successful": 5,
    "failed": 0
 },
 "hits": {
  "total": 1,
  "max_score": 1,
  "hits": [
     {
        "_index": "promote_kmp",
        "_type": "resources",
        "_id": "569e0d84684cc",
        "_score": 1,
        "_source": {
           "id": 106,
           "name": "Last time First Update",
           "display_name_en": "Last time",
           "display_name_pr": "Last time",
           "display_name_pa": "Last time",
           "table_name": "Last time",
           "model_name": "Last time",
           "in_sidemenu": "0",
           "icon_class": "Last time",
           "created_at": "2016-01-18 09:40:51",
           "created_by": null,
           "updated_at": "2016-01-19 14:48:44",
           "updated_by": {
              "id": 6,
              "first_name": "Laili",
              "last_name": "Hamta",
              "last_activity": "2016-01-19 14:48:44",
              "roles": [
                 {
                    "id": 1,
                    "name": "admin",
                    "created_at": "2015-09-06 15:19:15",
                    "updated_at": "2015-09-06 15:19:15",
                    "pivot": {
                       "user_id": 6,
                       "role_id": 1
                    }
                 }
              ]
           }
        },
        "matched_queries": [
           "or"
        ]
     }
  ]
 }
}

As you see there is no any highlight keyword inside result, So what is the mistake with this query, and why highlight is not working? But if I put the multi_match part before filter:{} it is working, and on that case how I can use with or operator? for any help thanks.

Answer 1

The problem with query is that you are only filtering the results, highlight works on queries only. You can also notice that every document has score of 1 because of applying only filters . You need to rewrite your query as something like this

{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "should": [
        {
          "multi_match": {
            "query": "time",
            "fields": [
              "display_name_en",
              "display_name_pa",
              "display_name_pr",
              "icon_class",
              "in_sidemenu",
              "model_name",
              "name",
              "table_name"
            ]
          }
        },
        {
          "terms": {
            "created_by.id": [
              "11",
              "13",
              "14",
              "16"
            ],
            "_name": "created_by"
          }
        },
        {
          "range": {
            "created_at": {
              "gte": "2016-01-27",
              "lte": "2016-03-21",
              "format": "YYYY-MM-dd"
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "highlight": {
    "fields": {}
  }
}

convert or filters to bool should clause and highlighting will work now.