numHits must be > 0; please use TotalHitCountCollector if you just need the total hit count

Elastic Stack Elasticsearch
1

Once in a while i get the following error:

numHits must be > 0; please use TotalHitCountCollector if you just need the total hit count

The query is the following, with varying 'from', but never larger than 750:

 {
    	"track_total_hits": true,
    	"size": 15,
    	"from": 750,
    	"sort": [
    		{
    			"_score": {
    				"order": "desc"
    			}
    		},
    		{
    			"sortDate": {
    				"order": "desc"
    			}
    		}
    	],
    	"query": {
    		"function_score": {
    			"boost_mode": "sum",
    			"query": {
    				"bool": {
    					"filter": [
    						{
    							"match_all": {}
    						}
    					],
    					"must": []
    				}
    			},
    			"functions": [
    				{
    					"weight": 5.0
    				},
    				{
    					"weight": 1.0
    				},
    				{
    					"filter": {
    						"nested": {
    							"path": "addOns",
    							"query": {
    								"bool": {
    									"filter": [
    										{
    											"terms": {
    												"addOns.addOnID": [
    													8,
    													10
    												]
    											}
    										},
    										{
    											"range": {
    												"addOns.startDate": {
    													"lte": "2020-04-04T15:56:16.8498491+02:00"
    												}
    											}
    										},
    										{
    											"range": {
    												"addOns.finishDate": {
    													"gte": "2020-04-04T15:56:16.8498491+02:00"
    												}
    											}
    										}
    									]
    								}
    							}
    						}
    					},
    					"weight": 10.0
    				}
    			]
    		}
    	}
    }

I have increased the index to "max_result_window": "50000".
It is a standalone installation v. 7.5.2
The index has 1 shard and 0 replica.
The index never have more than 30.000 documents.

Why do the server throw Bad Request: "numHits must be > 0; please use TotalHitCountCollector if you just need the total hit count" ?

2

can you share a full stack trace? You can use the error_trace=true parameter, see https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.6/common-options.html#common-options-error-options

Why did you change the max result window, if your from never exceeds 750?

Also, is the query you are running or just a part of it?

3

The query is the complete query.

I increased "max_result_window" because i needed to support some legacy views, where the user can go to page 1300. It is not optimal, but it is a move away from a sql solution, so not all can be changed at once, and has to be gradually rewritten. Since we are not talking millions of documents, i was not worried.

I'm guessing, this is the part i am hitting:

It is only, once in a while i get these errors. I will enable the stacktrace option in production.

4

D'oh, i found the error.

It is somehow possible for some users to set a negative "from". in a specific view.

5

Good find, I think the handling there should be improved to avoid confusion... I'll open an issue for that.