The Directory+ add-on for WPSOLR is deceptively simple.

Configure WPSOLR as usual, activate the add-on, and that’s it.

All your items listings search are now accelerated as if by magic. No extra-setup, no knowledge of Elasticsearch or Solr are even required.

Below are explained the steps to activate the add-on. Notice that most steps are optional.

If you prefer watching the full tutorial showing the setup of WPSOLR with Directory+:

1) Create an index

For Elasticsearch:

Video: Create an Elasticsearch index automatically

For Solr:

Video: Create an Apache Solr index semi-automatically

For SolrCloud:

Video: Create an Apache SolrCloud index automatically

You can also want to search for more informations on index creation, Elasticsearch, Apache Solr, or Elasticsearch/Solr hosting providers. Or just browse the Elasticsearch/Solr forums.

2) Activate the Directory+ add-on

The only action required for the add-on is to activate it. The add-on will then operate in the background to transform  mySQL queries in Elasticsearch or Solr queries. Therefore, no other Directory+ configuration is necessary.

3) Select the archive types to speed up

Pick the archive search page (which you want to accelerate with WPSOLR), among the 8 archive types.

4) Index “Items”

This step is mandatory. Select the “Items” post type, and its taxonomies and custom fields in screen 2.2: items will be indexed, and only then their custom fields can be used as a facet or a sort in Elasticsearch or Solr.

5) Configure facets (Optional)

Facets are the dynamic filters you probably saw on WooCommerce sites like Amazon. You can select any of the custom fields and taxonomies you previously chose in screen 2.2.

a) First add the facets:

b) Save the facets

6) Add WPSOLR facets widget (Optional)

Once you configured the facets in screen 2.4, you can add the WPSOLR Facets Widget to each archive type sidebar.

Here is how the facets widget look like on the front-end, within the Directory+ search results page (after you indexed all your documents):

7) Index your content

You created your index, configured it. It’s now time to fill it with your data (selected in screen 2.2):

8) Nothing else!

Yes, that’s it. From now on, WPSOLR will replace your Directory+ MySQL queries with faster Elasticsearch/Solr queries.