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The most common use case for this functionality involves multiple developers who share a data index in a development environment. For example, a team of developers work on the same project, so they share the same data structure with unified mappings and settings. Implementing this feature allows you to reindex without affecting other peoples data.

Prerequisites

  • Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) _Alloy_ or Optimizely Customized Commerce _Quicksilver_ sample site (CMS 11 and Commerce 13) [installed from the Visual Studio Extension](🔗). See also [Installing Optimizely .NET5](🔗) for CMS 12 and Commerce 14 installation instructions.

  • Optimizely Search & Navigation [service URL and default index name](🔗).

  • Optimizely Search & Navigation [client-side resource base URL](🔗).

  1. Install the following packages. To get latest development packages, use **PM> Install-Package EPiServer.Find**.

    • _EPiServer.Find_

    • _EPiServer.Find.Cms_

  2. Open the Quicksilver/Alloy site’s _web.config_ file.

  3. Go to \<appSettings> and update (add if missing) the following entry. 

    
    **Possible values**
    • **True** – If user re-indexes the site, the data of other developers who share that index is not affected.
    • **False or key missing** – If user re-indexes the site, all data is wiped out.
    Note
    Update the **Search & Navigation Service URL** and the **default index name** by updating  `\<episerver.find serviceUrl="" defaultIndex=""/>`.
Important notes
  • The Optimizely Search & Navigation index is not designed to be shared across sites. Developers can only share it if `ReindexMySiteOnly` is set to **true**.
  • Be sure that no property change is made while sharing the data index. This could lead to data loss and possibly a non-operational index.
  • For best results, all developers who share a data index should add the `ReindexMySitesOnly` key to their _web.config_. If not, a developer may accidentally remove his teammate’s data.
  • Developers cannot share a `SiteDefinition` and copies of a database. We expect developers to share source code but set up different sites.
If developers want to test with their data, they need to set up a new local site, then manually export/import the site page/content data only.
  • Both `ReindexMySitesOnly` and a Service `Url` must be configured, because Search & Navigation cannot distinguish a shared index from an unshared one.
Without the `ReindexMySitesOnly` setting, Search & Navigation treats the index as normal. So, it clears everything when the re-index function is executed.