In this episode, we tackle adding a search feature to our discussion forum! We kick things off by building out a simple search bar and hooking it up to our UI with proper styling so it integrates nicely next to the topic list. We make sure it's a search input (so we get that handy X-clear icon) and also add accessibility touches with labels.
Next, we get into making the search interactive. We use a reactive model for the search input in Vue and start watching it for changes. This means as you type, the value is updated, and for now, we just log it to the console to test that everything's wired up. Heads up: at this stage, we're sending a request for every character typed, but don't worry—we'll optimize this later!
On the backend, we utilize Laravel Scout (with Meilisearch as our engine) for powerful and forgiving full-text searching. We show how you can simply call .search()
on the model and get relevant results, even with small typos. The client communicates the current search query back to the server using an Inertia reload, so new results populate as the query changes.
We then refine the backend so that only relevant discussions, matching search IDs, are returned—nicely tying the Scout search with Eloquent queries.
We also tidy up some UX bits, like making sure your search query stays in the input if you refresh the page or share the URL (since the query string is updated as you type).
Finally, we realize that sending a server request for every keystroke isn't ideal, so we tee up refactoring for the next episode, where we’ll debounce the input and make it less chatty with the backend. By the end of this video, you’ll have a fully functional, super responsive search for your forum discussions!