Bible Fts Search

bible-fts-search

Overview

Full-text search capability for Bible applications with advanced features like Porter stemming, relevance ranking, and search result highlighting. Integrates with SQLite FTS5 for high-performance text search across Bible verses, notes, bookmarks, and user data.

Core Features

Search Engine Implementation

• SQLite FTS5 Integration: Virtual tables for Bible text, notes, bookmarks
• Porter Stemmer: English language stemming for better search results
• Relevance Ranking: BM25 algorithm for scoring search results
• Search Highlighting: Highlight matched terms in results
• Multi-language Support: UTF-8 encoding for international Bibles

Search Types

• Verse Search: Full-text search within Bible verses
• Cross-reference Search: Search in reference data
• Notes Search: Full-text search in user notes
• Bookmarks Search: Search within bookmark labels and notes
• Combined Search: Unified search across all content types

Advanced Features

• Wildcard Search: * and ? wildcards support
• Phrase Search: Exact phrase matching with quotes
• Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT logic
• Proximity Search: NEAR operator for word proximity
• Case-insensitive Search: Automatic case folding

Implementation Guide

Database Schema

-- Bible text FTS table
CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE bible_fts USING fts5(
    book_id, chapter, verse, text,
    content=bible_verses,
    content_rowid=rowid
);

-- Notes FTS table
CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE notes_fts USING fts5(
    verse_reference, note_text,
    content=notes,
    content_rowid=rowid
);

-- Bookmarks FTS table
CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE bookmarks_fts USING fts5(
    verse_reference, label, color,
    content=bookmarks,
    content_rowid=rowid
);

Room Integration

@Dao
interface BibleSearchDao {
    @Query("""
        SELECT b.*, highlight(bible_fts, 3, '<mark>', '</mark>') as highlighted_text,
               bm25(bible_fts) as relevance_score
        FROM bible_fts
        WHERE bible_fts MATCH :query
        ORDER BY relevance_score
        LIMIT :limit
    """)
    fun searchVerses(query: String, limit: Int): List<SearchResult>

    @Query("SELECT * FROM bible_fts WHERE rowid = :rowid")
    fun getVerseByRowId(rowid: Long): VerseEntity
}

Search Query Processing

class BibleSearchEngine(private val dao: BibleSearchDao) {

    fun search(query: String, limit: Int = 50): List<SearchResult> {
        val processedQuery = processSearchQuery(query)
        return dao.searchVerses(processedQuery, limit)
    }

    private fun processSearchQuery(rawQuery: String): String {
        return rawQuery
            .lowercase()
            .trim()
            .replace(Regex("\\s+"), " ") // normalize spaces
            .let { if (it.contains(" ")) "\"$it\"" else it } // phrase search
    }
}

Performance Optimization

• Index Maintenance: Regular FTS index rebuilding
• Query Caching: LRU cache for frequent searches
• Pagination: Implement cursor-based pagination
• Background Indexing: Async index updates for new content

UI Integration

• Search Suggestions: Autocomplete based on popular searches
• Search History: Persistent search history with recent/clear options
• Filter Options: Filter by book, testament, or content type
• Result Previews: Truncated text with highlighted matches

Dependencies

• SQLite FTS5 extension
• Room database library
• Kotlin coroutines for async search

Testing

• Unit tests for query processing
• Integration tests with Room database
• Performance tests with large Bible datasets
• UI tests for search interface