API docs.search still broken!?

[dscott]

(starting a new thread on this topic, since the previous one got
clogged with some duplicate replies)...
_________________________

Can anyone at Scribd shed some light on this issue? The docs.search
method appears to still be broken for an API request which should
return results like the following:

http://api.scribd.com/api?api_key=MYAPIKEY&method=docs.search&session_key=VALIDSESSIONKEY&query=VALIDQUERY

If you just try this in a browser using a query that should return
results (with valid MYAPIKEY, VALIDSESSIONKEY, VALIDQUERY), the
incorrect result is always:

<rsp stat="ok">
<result_set totalResultsAvailable="0" totalResultsReturned="0"
firstResultPosition="1" list="true">
</result_set>
</rsp>

Needless to say, this is a core method in implementing the API. It
used to work fine for us. How do we get it working again?

Thanks,
Daryl

[Mike Watts]

Ok, we finally found the problem and deployed a fix. Thanks for your patience.

--
Mike Watts
mwa...@scribd.com

[dscott]

Terrific... thank you very much. All seems to be working as it should
again.

Appreciate your tracking down!

-Daryl

On Nov 6, 3:44 pm, Mike Watts <mwa...@scribd.com> wrote:
> Ok, we finally found the problem and deployed a fix. Thanks for your patience.
>
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 9:24 AM, dscott <dsc...@attaain.com> wrote:
>
> > (starting a new thread on this topic, since the previous one got
> > clogged with some duplicate replies)...
> > _________________________
>
> > Can anyone at Scribd shed some light on this issue? The docs.search
> > method appears to still be broken for an API request which should
> > return results like the following:
>

> >http://api.scribd.com/api?api_key=MYAPIKEY&method=docs.search&session...

[Søren Pedersen]

I think I'm seeing this issue again.

Yesterday docs.search was working perfectly, but today all queries are
returning zero results.

[Mike Watts]

Are you still experiencing problems? Is it only when you provide a
session_key parameter?

Thanks,
--Watts

2010/1/5 Søren Pedersen <so...@simulation.dk>:

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--
Mike Watts
mwa...@scribd.com

[Søren Pedersen]

Unfortunately, the problem is still there.

It's a simple query like this that returns nothing now (it used to
return results perfectly):

http://api.scribd.com/api?method=docs.search&query=binzer&api_key=[key]

My documents are private and secure - could that be an issue? I
wouldn't think so since it used to work and I haven't made any
changes.

I should say that I also sent this as a formal support request
(however, I do appreciate that you are also checking up on the issue).

> > For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/scribd-platform-developers?hl=en.
>
> --
> Mike Watts
> mwa...@scribd.com

[Mike Watts]

Testing this myself, I'm able to search private documents in my account.

Can you send me your api_key offline (please email me directly)?

Thanks,
--Watts

> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/scribd-platform-developers?hl=en.
>
>
>
>

--
Mike Watts
mwa...@scribd.com

[Madhead]

scibd looks pretty broken altogether to me :-(

[dscott]

Yes, the API docs.search method appears to be broken now for me too (I
have all private docs and am using a session key)...

In fact, I just tested the public Scribd site (i.e., logged-in to
Scribd.com, not even using the API) and when viewing All Documents in
my account, using the search box there seems to be broken as well --
help!

-Daryl

[Mike Watts]

Daryl,

Can you send me a specific example? I'm still unable to reproduce this problem.

Thanks,
--Watts

> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/scribd-platform-developers?hl=en.
>
>
>
>

--
Mike Watts
mwa...@scribd.com

[dscott]

Hi Mike:

Looking into it further, there seem to actually be a couple of things
going wrong. FYI, I have a number of Scribd accounts that are used for
different things, and the strange behavior is slightly different for
some accounts than for others(?).

For example, one of the most recent accounts created (created on
12/19/09) returns 0 docs with the API docs.search method (no matter
what the query search term is, including a blank query term) even
though docs.list correctly shows 5 docs exist. I can log-in to
Scribd.com and see all 5 private documents sitting there on the My
Documents page. However, using the Scribd.com search box on the site
with any search term (even ones that should match) also returns 0
docs, which is obviously wrong.

On most other Scribd accounts I have (created much longer ago), a
docs.search with a blank query returns all of my private docs (as it
should), but putting any search term in for the query parameter again
shows 0 results (even if there should be matches). And, again, using
the search box for any of these other accounts on the Scribd site also
seems to incorrectly return 0 results.

So, in summary:

- in some cases (my older Scribd accounts) it seems that I can use
docs.search with a blank query parameter and see all of my private
documents as I have been... but on my most recently created account I
cannot see any of my private docs this way.
- in any of my accounts, it seems that docs.search using a valid query
parameter that should match is returning 0 results.

If you are unable to reproduce, let me know and perhaps we can find a
way to privately look at some of my specific accounts that show this
behavior...

Thanks,
Daryl

[Alexey Kovyrin]

Hello,

I believe the problem should be fixed now. Could you please do the
checks and tell us if this is the case? Thanks.

On Jan 6, 9:42 pm, dscott <dsc...@attaain.com> wrote:
> Hi Mike:
>
> Looking into it further, there seem to actually be a couple of things
> going wrong. FYI, I have a number of Scribd accounts that are used for
> different things, and the strange behavior is slightly different for
> some accounts than for others(?).

--
Alexey Kovyrin
http://kovyrin.net/

[Søren Pedersen]

Unfortunately, there's still a problem with empty resultsets.

I have just sent Matt my private key to check up on it. Yesterday I
uploaded a new bunch of documents and they indexed fine (and were
available in docs.search, but ONLY the new ones). This morning they
have also dissapeared from the results.

Somehow it seems to me that a nightly job cleans everything up without
re-indexing.

[Søren Pedersen]

> scibd looks pretty broken altogether to me :-(

I think it's a wonderful system, it's only the docs.search that is the
problem for me (although it pretty serious since it breaks my entire
application - however, Im confident they will locate and fix it pretty
fast).

[dscott]

Same here -- still broken. I, too sent private sample account info
along last night, and that account still exhibits the same broken
docs.search behavior (and broken website search behavior, as well)
this morning. Hoping this can be fixed asap!

[Mike Watts]

Thanks Daryl and Søren, I received your emails and am now able to
reproduce the issue. We're actively looking into it.

--Watts

> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/scribd-platform-developers?hl=en.
>
>
>
>

--
Mike Watts
mwa...@scribd.com

[dscott]

...any ETA for the fix yet?

Thanks,
Daryl

[Alexey Kovyrin]

About 15 min ago we've finished 20+ hours long search indexes rebuild,
please try now and if there are any problems, send me or Mike your
account name + query params you use for your test search queries.
Thanks.

On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 3:18 PM, dscott <dsc...@attaain.com> wrote:
> ...any ETA for the fix yet?

--
Alexey Kovyrin
http://kovyrin.net/

[dscott]

Success... all appears to be working as it should again!

Thanks for your efforts in getting this back in shape...

Best Regards,
Daryl

[systemaddict]

I can confirm too that it is working.

Thanks for swift action on this.

[dscott]

It appears that this docs.search (and Scribd website search) problem
is occurring once again:

1) I created the new account and uploaded a private doc
2) the doc shows up on Scribd.com when viewing All Documents
3) However, NO docs show up when doing any Search Documents on
Scribd.com for the account (even with a valid search term)
4) AND, NO docs show up via the API for any docs.search on the
account, even though they should.

I tried deleting and re-uploading the private doc with the same
incorrect results (both on the Scribd.com site and via the API).

Just as when the problem appeared previously, while no docs can be
found via the API docs.search method, a docs.getList does show that
the docs are there -- it's just docs.search that cannot find them and
returns 0 results regardless of the search term.

Is the search indexing broken again?

-Daryl

P.S. I can provide the details for this account privately if it is
needed...

[Alexey Kovyrin]

Search index tail (that holds newly uploaded documents) is updated
hourly, did you give it a time after uploading the document before
searching for it?

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>
>
>
>

--
Alexey Kovyrin
http://kovyrin.net/

[dscott]

Yes, I actually uploaded the doc to the new account last night, so
it's been 14+ hours since uploading, and still no luck with searching
for it today...

-Daryl

[Alexey Kovyrin]

I believe I've figured out the issue - there was a problem with last
24 hours of indexes. Please confirm if you see your doc in the search.

[dscott]

Hi Alexey:

Yes, all fixed now... thanks for the quick resolution!

-Daryl

[systemaddict]

Unfortunately, it seems that the indexer has stopped working again.

New documents are not indexed.

I'm trying a query like this:

http://api.scribd.com/api?method=docs.search&query=tags%20'year2010'&num_results=1000&api_key=XXXX

I know for certain that I have more documents with the above tag then
what is returned and it is the new ones that are missing.

I can forward detailed information if you want.

Regards,

Soeren

[Alexey Kovyrin]

AFAIU the right syntax would be "@tags year2010"
(http://www.scribd.com/developers/search_help for more information).
For backward-compatibility with our old API search based on some other
search engine (now we use sphinx) we still support tags:year2010
syntax, but I'd recommend to use the syntax explained on the search
help page.

P.S. As for the indexer, it seems to be ok at this moment. Let me know
if you see any problems.

[systemaddict]

Alexey, thanks for that. I have absolutely no idea how that error
sneaked into my code. I've got it right all other places.

Thanks again and sorry for the false alarm. Everything is working now.

On 23 Jan., 18:35, Alexey Kovyrin <ale...@kovyrin.net> wrote:
> AFAIU the right syntax would be "@tags year2010"

> (http://www.scribd.com/developers/search_helpfor more information).

> For backward-compatibility with our old API search based on some other
> search engine (now we use sphinx) we still support tags:year2010
> syntax, but I'd recommend to use the syntax explained on the search
> help page.
>
> P.S. As for the indexer, it seems to be ok at this moment. Let me know
> if you see any problems.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 6:17 AM, systemaddict <soren.svend...@eb.dk> wrote:
> > Unfortunately, it seems that the indexer has stopped working again.
>
> > New documents are not indexed.
>
> > I'm trying a query like this:
>

> >http://api.scribd.com/api?method=docs.search&query=tags%20'year2010'&...