# App Search field types with ES based index **URL:** \ **Category:** Elastic Search\ **Tags:** elastic-app-search\ **Created:** [March 14, 2024, 12:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/app-search-field-types-with-es-based-index/355405 "2024-03-14T12:39:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chenko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@Chenko](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Chenko)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 12:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/app-search-field-types-with-es-based-index/355405/1 "2024-03-14T12:39:33Z")
Hi, I am running into an issue with App Search, the issue goes like this: I create an ES index with the mappings required for App Search relevance tuning and such. I create an App Search engine, with the ES based index. When I go to schema everything is text, even though I have some fields that have dates and such. I cannot change this type. How would I get these fields to show up as date etc.? I was thinking this would already have been asked or was in the documentation but I could not find it so apologies if I overlooked this. Help would be appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Story](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sean_story/32/69987_2.png) [@Sean\_Story](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Sean_Story)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 1:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/app-search-field-types-with-es-based-index/355405/2 "2024-03-14T13:09:36Z")
@Chenko can you share what your index mappings look like for your date field? I would expect that you're not using `date` or `date_nanos`. Please read the docs for [supported field types in Elasticsearch index engines](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/app-search/current/elasticsearch-engines.html#elasticsearch-engines-supported-fields) ---
**Author:** ![GlebL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GlebL](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/GlebL)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/app-search-field-types-with-es-based-index/355405/3 "2024-03-14T14:04:36Z")
Hello the mapping looks like this: "metadata\_datum": { "type": "text", "fields": { "date": { "type": "date", "format": "strict\_date\_time||strict\_date", "ignore\_malformed": true }, .... The problem is - we cannot sort the search results of the app search query like this: "sort": [ { "metadata\_datum.date": "desc" } ] ---
**Author:** ![Chenko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@Chenko](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Chenko)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 6:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/app-search-field-types-with-es-based-index/355405/4 "2024-03-14T18:30:28Z")
> [@GlebL](#): > > Hello > the mapping looks like this: > > "metadata\_datum": { > "type": "text", > "fields": { > "date": { > "type": "date", > "format": "strict\_date\_time||strict\_date", > "ignore\_malformed": true > }, > .... > > The problem is - we cannot sort the search results of the app search query like this: > > "sort": [ > { "metadata\_datum.date": "desc" } > ] Hi Sean, Gleb is my colleague. These are indeed the mappings. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Story](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sean_story/32/69987_2.png) [@Sean\_Story](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Sean_Story)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/app-search-field-types-with-es-based-index/355405/5 "2024-03-14T19:38:30Z")
@Chenko @GlebL thanks! Ok, I think this makes sense. You're using [multifields](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/multi-fields.html). App Search has support for [a specific set of mutlifieds for text fields](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/app-search/current/elasticsearch-engines-text-subfields-support-conventions.html), but other than those, really looks at top-level fields to determine what should be accessible in the App Search Schema. While special handling is available for [Object Fields](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/app-search/current/elasticsearch-engines.html#elasticsearch-engines-object-fields) and [Nested Fields](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/app-search/current/elasticsearch-engines.html#elasticsearch-engines-nested-fields), it doesn't seem that we can support arbitrary multifields. However, the big benefit of multifields is that it allows you to store your `_source` once, but analyze it in multiple ways. Another feature that allows this same behavior is `copy_to`, and since this creates a new top-level field instead of a subfield, it seems to work with App Search. I created a minimal example: ```auto PUT copyto { "mappings": { "properties": { "metadata_datum" : { "type": "text", "copy_to": "date" }, "date": { "type": "date" } } } } POST copyto/_doc/1 { "metadata_datum": "2023-01-01" } POST copyto/_doc/2 { "metadata_datum": "2024-01-01" } ``` If you then create an App Search Engine from this `copyto` index, you can execute a query like: ```auto curl -XGET ${HOST}/api/as/v1/engines/copyto/search \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${KEY}" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "Accept: application/json" \ -d '{ "query": "", "sort": [ { "date": "asc" } ] }' | jq ``` And it works as expected. Hope this helps! ---
**Author:** ![GlebL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GlebL](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/GlebL)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 9:33am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/app-search-field-types-with-es-based-index/355405/6 "2024-03-15T09:33:51Z")
The solution works! Thanks a lot! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 9:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/app-search-field-types-with-es-based-index/355405/7 "2024-04-12T09:34:27Z")
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