Conditional requests with InstantSearch Android

Learn how to make conditional requests with InstantSearch Android.

By default, InstantSearch sends an initial search request to Algolia’s servers with an empty search query. This connection helps speed up later requests.

However, sometimes you don’t want to perform more network calls than are necessary. For example, you may want to limit the number of search requests and reduce your overall Algolia usage. This guide helps you build a UI that prevents this initial request.

Set Searcher triggerSearchFor property

All the Searcher implementations such as HitsSearcher and FacetSearcher provide the triggerSearchFor closure which defines the boolean condition for triggering a search operation. By default has a null value so the search will be triggered on each search() function call.

• HitsSearcher

  Kotlin

  val searcher = HitsSearcher(
    client = client, 
    indexName = indexName, 
    triggerSearchFor = { query -> query.query?.startsWith("a") == true }
  )
  
  Kotlin

  val searcher = HitsSearcher(
    client = client, 
    indexName = indexName, 
    triggerSearchFor = SearchForQuery.lengthAtLeast(1)  // not empty query
  )
  

• FacetsSearcher

  Kotlin

  val searcherForFacet = FacetsSearcher(
    client = client, 
    indexName = indexName, 
    attribute = categories,
    triggerSearchFor = { query, attribute, facetQuery -> facetQuery?.startsWith("a") == true }
  )
  
  Kotlin

  val searcherForFacet = FacetsSearcher(
    client = client, 
    indexName = indexName, 
    attribute = attribute,
    triggerSearchFor = SearchForFacetQuery.lengthAtLeast(1) // not empty query
  )
  

• MultiSearcher

  Kotlin

  val searcher = multiSearcher.addHitsSearcher(
    indexName = indexName, 
    triggerSearchFor = SearchForQuery.lengthAtLeast(1)
  )
  
  Kotlin

  val searcher = multiSearcher.addHitsSearcher(
    indexName = indexName,
    attribute = attribute,
    triggerSearchFor = SearchForFacetQuery.lengthAtLeast(1) 
  )