Searchitems

In information retrieval and related software systems, searchitems refer to the basic unit of a result produced by a search query. A searchitem represents a single candidate document, record, or resource that matches the user's query and is presented or further processed by the application.

A typical searchitem includes core fields such as an identifier (id or resource_id), a human-readable title, a URL or location, and a snippet or summary that conveys the content. Many implementations also attach a relevance score or rank, and may carry metadata fields such as type, date, author, source, or facets used for filtering.

Generation and retrieval: When a query is executed, the search system retrieves candidate documents from an index, ranks them using a scoring model, and converts the top results into searchitems. The exact shape can vary: some systems store the full document in the item; others store only a reference and fetch on demand. Pagination and aggregation controls influence how many searchitems are returned.

Usage and interoperability: Searchitems are commonly serialized as JSON or XML in APIs, consumed by client applications, dashboards, or content management systems. They support rendering in user interfaces and can be enriched with highlighting, breadcrumbs, or related suggestions. Security and privacy considerations may affect which fields are exposed.

Relation to related concepts: A collection of searchitems forms a search results set or hits list. They are distinct from the underlying documents but linked to them via identifiers. In some systems, searchitems are part of larger data transfer objects used in search-as-a-service or omnichannel search implementations.