Add support for 'flattened object' fields.

docs/reference/mapping/types.asciidoc

@@ -42,8 +42,6 @@ string::         <<text,`text`>> and <<keyword,`keyword`>>
 
 <<parent-join>>::   Defines parent/child relation for documents within the same index
 
-<<alias>>::         Defines an alias to an existing field.
-
 <<rank-feature>>::  Record numeric feature to boost hits at query time.
 
 <<rank-features>>:: Record numeric features to boost hits at query time.
@@ -54,6 +52,11 @@ string::         <<text,`text`>> and <<keyword,`keyword`>>
 
 <<search-as-you-type>>:: A text-like field optimized for queries to implement as-you-type completion
 
+<<alias>>::         Defines an alias to an existing field.
+
+<<flattened>>:: Allows an entire JSON object to be indexed as a single field.
+
+
 [float]
 === Multi-fields
 
@@ -82,6 +85,8 @@ include::types/date.asciidoc[]
 
 include::types/date_nanos.asciidoc[]
 
+include::types/flattened.asciidoc[]
+
 include::types/geo-point.asciidoc[]
 
 include::types/geo-shape.asciidoc[]

docs/reference/mapping/types/flattened.asciidoc

@@ -0,0 +1,188 @@
+[role="xpack"]
+[testenv="basic"]
+
+[[flattened]]
+=== Flattened datatype
+
+By default, each subfield in an object is mapped and indexed separately. If
+the names or types of the subfields are not known in advance, then they are
+<<dynamic-mapping, mapped dynamically>>.
+
+The `flattened` type provides an alternative approach, where the entire
+object is mapped as a single field. Given an object, the `flattened`
+mapping will parse out its leaf values and index them into one field as
+keywords. The object's contents can then be searched through simple queries
+and aggregations.
+
+This data type can be useful for indexing objects with a large or unknown
+number of unique keys. Only one field mapping is created for the whole JSON
+object, which can help prevent a <<mapping-limit-settings, mappings explosion>>
+from having too many distinct field mappings.
+
+On the other hand, flattened object fields present a trade-off in terms of
+search functionality. Only basic queries are allowed, with no support for
+numeric range queries or highlighting. Further information on the limitations
+can be found in the <<supported-operations, Supported operations>> section.
+
+NOTE: The `flattened` mapping type should **not** be used for indexing all
+document content, as it treats all values as keywords and does not provide full
+search functionality. The default approach, where each subfield has its own
+entry in the mappings, works well in the majority of cases.
+
+An flattened object field can be created as follows:
+[source,js]
+--------------------------------
+PUT bug_reports
+{
+  "mappings": {
+    "properties": {
+      "title": {
+        "type": "text"
+      },
+      "labels": {
+        "type": "flattened"
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+POST bug_reports/_doc/1
+{
+  "title": "Results are not sorted correctly.",
+  "labels": {
+    "priority": "urgent",
+    "release": ["v1.2.5", "v1.3.0"],
+    "timestamp": {
+      "created": 1541458026,
+      "closed": 1541457010
+    }
+  }
+}
+--------------------------------
+// CONSOLE
+// TESTSETUP
+
+During indexing, tokens are created for each leaf value in the JSON object. The
+values are indexed as string keywords, without analysis or special handling for
+numbers or dates.
+
+Querying the top-level `flattened` field searches all leaf values in the
+object:
+
+[source,js]
+--------------------------------
+POST bug_reports/_search
+{
+  "query": {
+    "term": {"labels": "urgent"}
+  }
+}
+--------------------------------
+// CONSOLE
+
+To query on a specific key in the flattened object, object dot notation is used:
+[source,js]
+--------------------------------
+POST bug_reports/_search
+{
+  "query": {
+    "term": {"labels.release": "v1.3.0"}
+  }
+}
+--------------------------------
+// CONSOLE
+
+[[supported-operations]]
+==== Supported operations
+
+Because of the similarities in the way values are indexed, `flattened`
+fields share much of the same mapping and search functionality as
+<<keyword, `keyword`>> fields.
+
+Currently, flattened object fields can be used with the following query types:
+
+- `term`, `terms`, and `terms_set`
+- `prefix`
+- `range`
+- `match` and `multi_match`
+- `query_string` and `simple_query_string`
+- `exists`
+
+When querying, it is not possible to refer to field keys using wildcards, as in
+`{ "term": {"labels.time*": 1541457010}}`. Note that all queries, including
+`range`, treat the values as string keywords. Highlighting is not supported on
+`flattened` fields.
+
+It is possible to sort on an flattened object field, as well as perform simple
+keyword-style aggregations such as `terms`. As with queries, there is no
+special support for numerics -- all values in the JSON object are treated as
+keywords. When sorting, this implies that values are compared
+lexicographically.
+
+Flattened object fields currently cannot be stored. It is not possible to
+specify the <<mapping-store, `store`>> parameter in the mapping.
+
+[[flattened-params]]
+==== Parameters for flattened object fields
+
+The following mapping parameters are accepted:
+
+[horizontal]
+
+<<mapping-boost,`boost`>>::
+
+    Mapping field-level query time boosting. Accepts a floating point number,
+    defaults to `1.0`.
+
+`depth_limit`::
+
+    The maximum allowed depth of the flattened object field, in terms of nested
+    inner objects. If a flattened object field exceeds this limit, then an
+    error will be thrown. Defaults to `20`.
+
+<<doc-values,`doc_values`>>::
+
+    Should the field be stored on disk in a column-stride fashion, so that it
+    can later be used for sorting, aggregations, or scripting? Accepts `true`
+    (default) or `false`.
+
+<<eager-global-ordinals,`eager_global_ordinals`>>::
+
+    Should global ordinals be loaded eagerly on refresh? Accepts `true` or
+    `false` (default). Enabling this is a good idea on fields that are
+    frequently used for terms aggregations.
+
+<<ignore-above,`ignore_above`>>::
+
+    Leaf values longer than this limit will not be indexed. By default, there
+    is no limit and all values will be indexed. Note that this limit applies
+    to the leaf values within the flattened object field, and not the length of
+    the entire field.
+
+<<mapping-index,`index`>>::
+
+    Determines if the field should be searchable. Accepts `true` (default) or
+    `false`.
+
+<<index-options,`index_options`>>::
+
+    What information should be stored in the index for scoring purposes.
+    Defaults to `docs` but can also be set to `freqs` to take term frequency
+    into account when computing scores.
+
+<<null-value,`null_value`>>::
+
+    A string value which is substituted for any explicit `null` values within
+    the flattened object field. Defaults to `null`, which means null sields are
+    treated as if it were missing.
+
+<<similarity,`similarity`>>::
+
+    Which scoring algorithm or _similarity_ should be used. Defaults
+    to `BM25`.
+
+`split_queries_on_whitespace`::
+
+    Whether <<full-text-queries,full text queries>> should split the input on
+    whitespace when building a query for this field. Accepts `true` or `false`
+    (default).

docs/reference/rest-api/info.asciidoc

@@ -71,6 +71,10 @@ Example response:
           "available" : true,
           "enabled" : true
       },
+      "flattened" : {
+         "available" : true,
+         "enabled" : true
+      },
       "graph" : {
          "available" : true,
          "enabled" : true

server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/fielddata/IndexOrdinalsFieldData.java

@@ -47,4 +47,11 @@ public interface IndexOrdinalsFieldData extends IndexFieldData.Global<AtomicOrdi
      * or null if global ordinals are not needed (constant value or single segment).
      */
     OrdinalMap getOrdinalMap();
+
+    /**
+     * Whether this field data is able to provide a mapping between global and segment ordinals,
+     * by returning the underlying {@link OrdinalMap}. If this method returns false, then calling
+     * {@link #getOrdinalMap} will result in an {@link UnsupportedOperationException}.
+     */
+    boolean supportsGlobalOrdinalsMapping();
 }

server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/fielddata/ordinals/GlobalOrdinalsIndexFieldData.java

@@ -126,6 +126,11 @@ public OrdinalMap getOrdinalMap() {
         return ordinalMap;
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public boolean supportsGlobalOrdinalsMapping() {
+        return true;
+    }
+
     /**
      * A non-thread safe {@link IndexOrdinalsFieldData} for global ordinals that creates the {@link TermsEnum} of each
      * segment once and use them to provide a single lookup per segment.
@@ -225,9 +230,15 @@ public void close() {}
             };
         }
 
+        @Override
+        public boolean supportsGlobalOrdinalsMapping() {
+            return true;
+        }
+
         @Override
         public OrdinalMap getOrdinalMap() {
             return ordinalMap;
         }
+
     }
 }

server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/fielddata/plain/AbstractIndexOrdinalsFieldData.java

@@ -138,6 +138,11 @@ protected TermsEnum filter(Terms terms, TermsEnum iterator, LeafReader reader) t
         return iterator;
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public boolean supportsGlobalOrdinalsMapping() {
+        return false;
+    }
+
     private static final class FrequencyFilter extends FilteredTermsEnum {
 
         private int minFreq;

server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/fielddata/plain/SortedSetDVOrdinalsIndexFieldData.java

@@ -146,4 +146,9 @@ public IndexOrdinalsFieldData localGlobalDirect(DirectoryReader indexReader) thr
     public OrdinalMap getOrdinalMap() {
         return null;
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean supportsGlobalOrdinalsMapping() {
+        return true;
+    }
 }

server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/ContentPath.java

@@ -66,4 +66,8 @@ public String pathAsText(String name) {
         sb.append(name);
         return sb.toString();
     }
+
+    public int length() {
+        return index;
+    }
 }

server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DynamicKeyFieldMapper.java

@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.index.mapper;
+
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+
+/**
+ * A field mapper that supports lookup of dynamic sub-keys. If the field mapper is named 'my_field',
+ * then a user is able to search on the field in both of the following ways:
+ * - Using the field name 'my_field', which will delegate to the field type
+ *   {@link DynamicKeyFieldMapper#fieldType()} as usual.
+ * - Using any sub-key, for example 'my_field.some_key'. In this case, the search is delegated
+ *   to {@link DynamicKeyFieldMapper#keyedFieldType(String)}, with 'some_key' passed as the
+ *   argument. The field mapper is allowed to create a new field type dynamically in order
+ *   to handle the search.
+ *
+ * To prevent conflicts between these dynamic sub-keys and multi-fields, any field mappers
+ * implementing this interface should explicitly disallow multi-fields. The constructor makes
+ * sure to passes an empty multi-fields list to help prevent conflicting sub-keys from being
+ * registered.
+ *
+ * Note: we anticipate that 'flattened' fields will be the only implementation of this
+ * interface. Flattened object fields live in the 'mapper-flattened' module.
+ */
+public abstract class DynamicKeyFieldMapper extends FieldMapper {
+
+    public DynamicKeyFieldMapper(String simpleName,
+                                 MappedFieldType fieldType,
+                                 MappedFieldType defaultFieldType,
+                                 Settings indexSettings,
+                                 CopyTo copyTo) {
+        super(simpleName, fieldType, defaultFieldType, indexSettings, MultiFields.empty(), copyTo);
+    }
+
+    public abstract MappedFieldType keyedFieldType(String key);
+
+}

server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/FieldMapper.java

@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ public Builder nullValue(Object nullValue) {
             return this;
         }
 
-        public T addMultiField(Mapper.Builder mapperBuilder) {
+        public T addMultiField(Mapper.Builder<?, ?> mapperBuilder) {
             multiFieldsBuilder.add(mapperBuilder);
             return builder;
         }