I’m currently doing some testing to determine the best way to achieve something in Bubble (something which is a very common requirement, and should be very simple but, due to some of the limitations of Bubble’s database query functionality, is way more challenging than it should be), and I’d be interested to hear how other Bubble devs have approached this in the past, or any creative ways of achieving it. The Situation There’s a Datatype of ‘Tag’ (with approx 100 Tags in the database) There’s a Datatype of ‘Content’ (with 15,000 entries in the database) Each Content item can have one or more Tags assigned to it The Requirement The requirement is simple: A user should be able to search for Content items by Tag, by selecting one or more Tags from a multi select dropdown. There are 2 required use-cases: Return ALL Content Items that contain 1 or more of the selected Tags Return ONLY Content Items that contain ALL of the selected Tags In both cases, the Content Item’s Name AND the name of all associated Tags should be displayed on the page. The Problem This is an extremely common requirement in any kind of listing app (whether it’s blog posts, products, or any other kind of item that can have associated tags/categories etc.) and yet doing this in Bubble can be very difficult. I’ve seen a lot of apps that try do do this and end up being extremely slow and/or costly in WU. Doing this in a regular SQL database is both very simple AND fast, and fully scalable (I’ll share some examples later), but because Bubble only provides very basic DB search functionality, I’ve never come across a truly satisfactory way to do this in Bubble. The Solution Over the years I’ve seen a number of discussions, on the forum, and elsewhere, about various ways to do this, and I’ve built this type of thing into multiple apps myself with various different approaches - but mostly on fairly small datasets (where the challenges are less noticeable). If the datasets are small, then there’s not much issue - everything can be done client-side and there’s no real problem. But on a larger database things get more complicated. So, I’m currently testing multiple approaches for this (about 8 different methods so far) and none of them are truly satisfactory (some are completely un-usable at scale - 2 are working very well, but have some limitations). So, before concluding my testing and sharing my findings, I’d be interested to know how (if at all) other Bubble devs have approached this challenge (what should be a very simple thing to do). The solution must: Be truly scalable (i.e. work just as well on a database of 100k Content Items as with 100) Be reasonably performant (i.e. not take 15 seconds+ to return anything) Be reasonably WU efficient Preferably allow the User to select any number of Tags to use in the search. Preferably also display the total count of matching Content items on the page Use the Bubble database I look forward to seeing some solutions :slight_smile:

Is that more performant than an advanced filter? I imagine it could be because the multiple searches all happen on the server, but curious if you did a test with some data from browser, as performance improvement should be significant enough to warrant increase in WU consumption.

It doesn’t bother or surprise me that Bubble is not the perfect tool for every problem. I think we all know to use the right tool for the right job.:slightly_smiling_face: The fun part is finding out everyone else’s tricks and tips. And having that “oooh I never thought of that - that’s clever” moment. :melting_face:

[image] lindsay_knowcode: The fun part is finding out everyone else’s tricks and tips. And having that “oooh I never thought of that - that’s clever” moment. Best part of the forum. Learning new tricks, and having somebody else eyes pointing out a glaring obvious issue that your own could not see.

Okay, some more on the join table method, now I’ve done some proper testing: To recap, this allows you search for Content that contains at least one selected tag. Here is the expression in a Repeating Group: [CleanShot 2024-07-31 at 15.34.50@2x] if using this expression as is, Bubble will return ALL content, even if it is not visible in the repeating group, and even if you set a fixed number of rows in the RG. that results in Bubble doing a search once per second or so, until it finds all 15,000 Contents (even though it’s not showing them. So, don’t do that… However, you can overcome this just by adding items until # for however many you want to load. [CleanShot 2024-07-31 at 15.41.59@2x] This has a clear limitation: it does not allow sorting. This expression is essentially saying, ‘find me 50 Contents by doing through the Content Tags, and stop when you hit 50’. If we try and sort the list before reducing to 50 items, then you have to go through all 15,000 Contents in order to know how to sort it. So, does it work? Yeah, in a niche set of circumstances. Is it useful or scaleable, probably not. [image] boston85719: Is that more performant than an advanced filter? And, it’s probably the same as an advanced filter for all intents and purposes, as it requires all Content Tags being loaded to the client, and then the Contents. From the Philippines (not sure to what extent latency affects total download time with Bubble) to download 18,131 Content Tags (to use as the unique ID is in filter for Contents), containing only the Content unique ID and the Tag unique ID, it took 21 seconds. That’s two misses for me on this problem now. I’ll admit it’s beaten me and instead make myself at peace with the solution for the contains all selected tags solution using the Data API to add constraints programatically!

I don’t know if this breaks the rules or not. In the tags data type create 3 fields, each is list of text that represent the Unique ID of the Content data type that has the tag. One field for the First 5K Content UID, one field for the Second 5K Content UID and one field for Third 5K Content UID. On Content Type have a field that is a text that is not a list, but stores the tags as a single text with separated values (ie: tag1, tag2, tag3 etc.) One page create an RG (hidden from users view) this will search for the Tags that have been selected by the User. [Screen Shot 2024-08-01 at 6.58.36 PM] Then have another RG that is of type text that is the list of the UID of content from the RG for found Tags selected. [Screen Shot 2024-08-01 at 6.58.54 PM] Then an RG for the Content that has at least one tag [Screen Shot 2024-08-01 at 6.59.30 PM] And then an RG for the content type with all selected tags [Screen Shot 2024-08-01 at 7.00.10 PM] [Screen Shot 2024-08-01 at 7.00.56 PM] [Screen Shot 2024-08-01 at 7.00.46 PM] Performant and scalable…if you go beyond 15,000 content, add another field for 4th 5K content to the Tag content type.

This is hacky but very creative :star_struck: I’m not sure it counts as scaleable if you have to add a new field for every n contents though

[image] georgecollier: scaleable if you have to add a new field for every n contents though Every 10,000 contents needs a new field. [image] adamhholmes: There’s a Datatype of ‘Content’ (with 15,000 entries in the database) [image] adamhholmes: Be truly scalable (i.e. work just as well on a database of 100k Content Items as with 100) So need 10 fields max…no need to add them later, can just do from the start. [image] georgecollier: This is hacky but very creative That is the way to get the impossible done in Bubble, at least until they add the features we request that allows them to be done in a better way. I’d say best part of this approach is that it requires just one search of the tags, which is already needed to show all selectable tags to the user. After that it another search for the content that is in the list of unique ids and then it is just referencing that first search of content and filtering off of it. But alas, none of the solutions are going to work as well as they should…except for [image] zelus_pudding: Some (all?) of you know I actually did create something that satisfies these requirements. It’s Omnisearch , which leverages Algolia/Typesense as the search One of the only two plugins I have purchased for apps and still actually use. I think I’ve only every bought 5 plugins.

[image] boston85719: One of the only two plugins I have purchased for apps and still actually use. I think I’ve only every bought 5 plugins. That’s mighty impressive!

Could be a testament to me being cheap or the vast number of very useful free plugins available.

Small idea to add to the discussion: Could be easier with a RG for tags selectiong or with a plugin like selectize, but this can be done with Bubble multidropdown. The solution is using a state “list of content”. Tags need to also be stored in a text field RG data source will be set to Search for content where tag contain keywords “selected tags”. :merged with state:unique elements The first search will help to show most “relevant” items (that contains all selected tags). While the merge will be used to add all other items with 1 (or more) tags. Add a WF that trigger on field change (or same idea if you use RG or selectize dropdown, with the correct event) and set state to add list of a search content that contain the last added tags to the dropdown (you will need to store and compare the state of the multidropdown each time the value change. This is why it’s easier with a RG or selectize that contain a state for last item added/removed) I’ve not tested this solution. Just an idea that I got and want to share.

Bubble DB Challenge - Searching By Tags

Questions

dorilama November 20, 2024, 10:24pm 57

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Bubble DB Challenge - Searching By Tags

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