# Unmapped, searchable JSON field **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [January 16, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unmapped-searchable-json-field/6402 "2012-01-16T17:13:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MarcusLongmuir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@MarcusLongmuir](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/MarcusLongmuir)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unmapped-searchable-json-field/6402/1 "2012-01-16T17:13:12Z")
I'd like to be able to store JSON in a field of a document that is searchable as a string, but unmapped so that I can store any structure within this field without conflict. I've experimented with different mappings, none of which allow me to perform a text search on the field and my setup makes it cumbersome to rapidly modify settings to find the one that works. I assume this is possible and I've just been unable to discover the correct combination of settings. If anyone can help me out I'd appreciate it. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 9:41am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unmapped-searchable-json-field/6402/2 "2012-01-17T09:41:03Z")
You mean within a json field, you will have a json value encoded into that string? If so, whats the problem with it? On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 7:13 PM, marcuslongmuir [marcuslongmuir@me.com](mailto:marcuslongmuir@me.com)wrote: > I'd like to be able to store JSON in a field of a document that is > searchable as a string, but unmapped so that I can store any structure > within this field without conflict. > > I've experimented with different mappings, none of which allow me to > perform a text search on the field and my setup makes it cumbersome to > rapidly modify settings to find the one that works. > > I assume this is possible and I've just been unable to discover the > correct combination of settings. If anyone can help me out I'd > appreciate it. > > Thanks ---
**Author:** ![MarcusLongmuir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@MarcusLongmuir](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/MarcusLongmuir)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unmapped-searchable-json-field/6402/3 "2012-01-18T03:18:06Z")
This is the functionality I would like to achieve, but without explicitly setting the JSON structure as a string in the document. I tried setting the mapping type to "String", but I was unable to search on the field. On Jan 17, 9:41 am, Shay Banon [kim...@gmail.com](mailto:kim...@gmail.com) wrote: > You mean within a json field, you will have a json value encoded into that > string? If so, whats the problem with it? > > On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 7:13 PM, marcuslongmuir [marcuslongm...@me.com](mailto:marcuslongm...@me.com)wrote: > > > I'd like to be able to store JSON in a field of a document that is > > searchable as a string, but unmapped so that I can store any structure > > within this field without conflict. > > > I've experimented with different mappings, none of which allow me to > > perform a text search on the field and my setup makes it cumbersome to > > rapidly modify settings to find the one that works. > > > I assume this is possible and I've just been unable to discover the > > correct combination of settings. If anyone can help me out I'd > > appreciate it. > > > Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Clinton\_Gormley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Clinton\_Gormley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Clinton_Gormley)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unmapped-searchable-json-field/6402/4 "2012-01-18T04:10:42Z")
On Tue, 2012-01-17 at 19:18 -0800, marcuslongmuir wrote: > This is the functionality I would like to achieve, but without > explicitly setting the JSON structure as a string in the document. I > tried setting the mapping type to "String", but I was unable to search > on the field. The mapping type should be 'string', not 'String'. Here is an example: [Index a doc which contains a JSON-encoded string · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1630868) I index a doc which contains a JSON encoded string (so in the curl statement, that string is double-encoded). This automatically creates the 'json' field and sets its type to 'string', and analyzes its contents with the default analyzer. Then I demonstrate a search on the contents of the JSON, and finally show all the terms stored in the 'json' field, indicating how the string has been analyzed. clint ---
**Author:** ![MarcusLongmuir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@MarcusLongmuir](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/MarcusLongmuir)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unmapped-searchable-json-field/6402/5 "2012-01-20T03:13:35Z")
Thanks for the solution. I would definitely be using this method were it not for a rather difficult limitation. Unfortunately without having at least some redundancy I can't do this as I need to be able to return the document straight from a search result without the overhead of parsing it. Is there no mapping setup that would allow me to simply set the indexing of the field to a string and have the structure processed the same was as if it were double encoded as you demonstrate in your gist? Thanks On Jan 18, 4:10 am, Clinton Gormley [cl...@traveljury.com](mailto:cl...@traveljury.com) wrote: > On Tue, 2012-01-17 at 19:18 -0800, marcuslongmuir wrote: > > > This is the functionality I would like to achieve, but without > > explicitly setting theJSONstructure as astringin the document. I > > tried setting the mapping type to "String", but I was unable to search > > on the field. > > The mapping type should be 'string', not 'String'. > > Here is an example:[Index a doc which contains a JSON-encoded string · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1630868) > > I index a doc which contains aJSONencodedstring(so in the curl > statement, thatstringis double-encoded). > > This automatically creates the 'json' field and sets its type to > 'string', and analyzes its contents with the default analyzer. > > Then I demonstrate a search on the contents of theJSON, and finally > show all the terms stored in the 'json' field, indicating how thestring > has been analyzed. > > clint ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unmapped-searchable-json-field/6402/6 "2012-01-20T15:05:13Z")
No, there isn't one. On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 5:13 AM, marcuslongmuir [marcuslongmuir@me.com](mailto:marcuslongmuir@me.com)wrote: > Thanks for the solution. I would definitely be using this method were > it not for a rather difficult limitation. > > Unfortunately without having at least some redundancy I can't do this > as I need to be able to return the document straight from a search > result without the overhead of parsing it. > > Is there no mapping setup that would allow me to simply set the > indexing of the field to a string and have the structure processed the > same was as if it were double encoded as you demonstrate in your gist? > > Thanks > > On Jan 18, 4:10 am, Clinton Gormley [cl...@traveljury.com](mailto:cl...@traveljury.com) wrote: > > > On Tue, 2012-01-17 at 19:18 -0800, marcuslongmuir wrote: > > > > > This is the functionality I would like to achieve, but without > > > explicitly setting theJSONstructure as astringin the document. I > > > tried setting the mapping type to "String", but I was unable to search > > > on the field. > > > > The mapping type should be 'string', not 'String'. > > > > Here is an example:[Index a doc which contains a JSON-encoded string · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1630868) > > > > I index a doc which contains aJSONencodedstring(so in the curl > > statement, thatstringis double-encoded). > > > > This automatically creates the 'json' field and sets its type to > > 'string', and analyzes its contents with the default analyzer. > > > > Then I demonstrate a search on the contents of theJSON, and finally > > show all the terms stored in the 'json' field, indicating how thestring > > has been analyzed. > > > > clint ---
**Author:** ![MarcusLongmuir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@MarcusLongmuir](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/MarcusLongmuir)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unmapped-searchable-json-field/6402/7 "2012-01-21T00:03:17Z")
Ok. Thanks for the solution. I'll have to put the encoding in the application layer, not too much of an overhead. On Jan 20, 3:05 pm, Shay Banon [kim...@gmail.com](mailto:kim...@gmail.com) wrote: > No, there isn't one. > > On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 5:13 AM, marcuslongmuir [marcuslongm...@me.com](mailto:marcuslongm...@me.com)wrote: > > > Thanks for the solution. I would definitely be using this method were > > it not for a rather difficult limitation. > > > Unfortunately without having at least some redundancy I can't do this > > as I need to be able to return the document straight from a search > > result without the overhead of parsing it. > > > Is there no mapping setup that would allow me to simply set the > > indexing of the field to a string and have the structure processed the > > same was as if it were double encoded as you demonstrate in your gist? > > > Thanks > > > On Jan 18, 4:10 am, Clinton Gormley [cl...@traveljury.com](mailto:cl...@traveljury.com) wrote: > > > > > On Tue, 2012-01-17 at 19:18 -0800, marcuslongmuir wrote: > > > > > > > This is the functionality I would like to achieve, but without > > > > explicitly setting theJSONstructure as astringin the document. I > > > > tried setting the mapping type to "String", but I was unable to search > > > > on the field. > > > > The mapping type should be 'string', not 'String'. > > > > Here is an example:[Index a doc which contains a JSON-encoded string · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/1630868) > > > > I index a doc which contains aJSONencodedstring(so in the curl > > > statement, thatstringis double-encoded). > > > > This automatically creates the 'json' field and sets its type to > > > 'string', and analyzes its contents with the default analyzer. > > > > Then I demonstrate a search on the contents of theJSON, and finally > > > show all the terms stored in the 'json' field, indicating how thestring > > > has been analyzed. > > > > clint ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 3:41am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unmapped-searchable-json-field/6402/8 "2017-07-06T03:41:55Z")