Expand search functionality - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am building a website which has multiple tables which detail features of the site such as car pooling, matches, opponents and registered users. I have added a search function which searches for matches on the website but I do not know how to expand upon this so a user can search for car pooling details, opponents and registered users. I could probably just repeat what I have done for matches over again but this seems inefficient and I am sure there must be a way to capture all matching information to the search term entered.
There is a fair bit of code so bear with me please -
This is in the matches_contoller.rb file:
def search
#search_term = params[:q]
st = "%#{params[:q]}%"
#matches = Match.where("Opponent like ?", st)
respond_to do |format|
format.html # index.html.erb
format.json { render json: #matches }
end
end
I have added a _search.html.erb to the matches folder with this code:
<%= form_tag("/search", :method => "post") do %>
<%= label_tag(:q, "Search for:") %>
<%= text_field_tag(:q) %>
<%= submit_tag("Search") %>
<% end %>
I have added a search.html.erb to the matches folder with this code:
<h1>Search Matches Catalog</h1>
<br />
<h3>Searching For: <%= #search_term %></h3>
<table class="catalog">
<% if #matches.length == 0 %>
<br />
<h2>No matches found for this search term!!</h2>
<% end %>
<% #matches.each do |match| %>
<tr>
<td><%= match.opponent %></td>
<td><%= match.game %></td>
<td><%= match.home_away %></td>
<td><%= match.kick_off.strftime("%d/%m/%Y at %I:%M") %></td>
<td><%= match.score %></td>
<td><%= match.result %></td>
</tr>
<% end %>
</table>
<% if session[:login] == 1 %>
<p><%= link_to 'New match', new_match_path %></p>
<% end %>
This has been added to the routes.rb file:
post '/search' => 'matches#search'
And finally this has been added to the application.html.erb file:
<div class="searchbox">
<%= render :partial => 'matches/search' %>
</div>
I realise this is a bit long winded and any advice is greatly appreciated.
If anyone is so enclined I am happy to share my cloud9 development environment for someone to take a look if they feel it would be easier.
Thanks in advance and I hope the question is clear.

Answer 1

I would advice you with elasticsearch, it has flexible and advanced search indices in which you can add the columns you want to search by which satisfies your requirements.
An awesome elasticsearch client is searckick. It abstracts all difficulties in elasticsearch DSL and simplifies your mission.
First you will need to install elasticsearch then add gem 'searchkick' to your Gemfile.
If you use a Mac
brew install elasticsearch
the same for Linux distributions just replace brew by apt-get in ubuntu, yum or dnf in Fedora.
Add searchkick to your model
class Match < ActiveRecord::Base
searchkick
end
To control indexed data use the method search_data
class Match < ActiveRecord::Base
searchkick
def search_data
{
opponents: opponents_data,
details: details
}
end
def opponents_data
self.opponents.pluck(:name).join(',')
end
end
After that run Match.reindex and you can use Match.search("query")
Read more about elasticsearch and searchkick in their respective documentations. (Links attached above)