Catalog Index in OpenSearch

What this solution does

The module accelerates standard 1C-Bitrix catalog components by indexing products in OpenSearch. A facet index is created for the Smart Filter component, while product filtering and sorting in the product list are handled via the search engine.

Integration is seamless and requires no changes to component templates. If OpenSearch fails, the system automatically falls back to standard 1C-Bitrix methods, logs the error, and displays the page to the user as usual.

Performance

On a project with a catalog of 130,000 products, 70,000 products in a section, and 23 filter properties, execution time for repeated requests without cache was reduced as follows:

Smart Filter: from 1.9 seconds to 0.12 seconds (15x faster).

Product List: from 1.17 seconds to 0.19 seconds (6x faster).

The performance gain is achieved by moving filtering and aggregation operations from SQL queries to the OpenSearch index. The difference becomes more pronounced as the number of products and properties in the catalog increases.

Key Features

Facet Index in OpenSearch

The Smart Filter component uses OpenSearch to select property options and count products, providing functionality equivalent to the standard 1C-Bitrix component.

Filtering and Sorting via OpenSearch

All product list filtering and sorting operations are performed through the OpenSearch index.

The module accelerates catalog performance by using OpenSearch to retrieve item identifiers and total counts. This allows the database to load product information via primary keys, avoiding full table scans. Features include pagination, multi-field sorting, random sorting, and filtering by product parameters, properties, and prices.

Automatic Index Update

The module monitors 1C-Bitrix events such as changes to infoblock elements, property values, prices, and product parameters. Records accumulate in a queue and are sent to OpenSearch in batches by a background agent. To ensure data integrity, a full reindexing of each catalog runs daily at 03:00, compensating for any system failures or missed events.

Simple Integration

Component replacement is seamless and activated with a single click in the administration panel. Standard Bitrix components are swapped for OpenSearch-enabled versions. Site templates are connected via symbolic links, eliminating file duplication.

Automatic fallback. If the index is unavailable or not yet built for a specific information block, the module seamlessly switches to standard 1C-Bitrix queries, ensuring the site continues to function normally.

Flexible control. Each component override is an independent feature that can be enabled or disabled separately.

Index field management

By default, the index includes sorting fields (ID, sort order, availability) and properties used in the smart filter. If a required field is missing from the index, a log entry is generated, and the module automatically reverts to standard 1C-Bitrix methods.

For blocks such as "Best Sellers," "Special Offers" on the main page, and the additional catalog filter, additional fields may need to be specified for indexing:

— When using the "Unified Property Management Mechanism," enable the "Add to OpenSearch Index" flag in the property edit form.

— Developers can utilize the onIndexFieldScope user event (details in the Installation section).

Product selection

Product offer properties are stored in the index as product parameters, with values from all offers combined into an array at the parent product level. Consequently, a filter with multiple conditions on offer properties returns products where these conditions are met by different offers. For example, a product named "T-shirt" has three offers: (Red, S), (Red, M), and (Blue, L). A filter query for "Color = Red AND Size = L" will include this product because among its offers there is a red one and one with size L.

Filtering by product activity date and access rights management within information blocks is not supported.

Meilisearch

Experimental support for Meilisearch is available for faceted indexing and product filtering. Random sorting and grouping by multiple fields are not supported.

General iT can connect “Catalog Index in OpenSearch”, configure it and verify the integration with the existing website.