Velocity Response Writer | Apache Solr Reference Guide 8.11

The VelocityResponseWriter is an optional plugin available in the contrib/velocity directory. It powers the /browse user interfaces when using some example configurations such as "techproducts" and "example/files".

The VelocityResponseWriter and associated /browse UI is deprecated and will be removed in 9.0.

The functionality has been replaced by a 3rd party plugin available at https://github.com/erikhatcher/solritas.

Its JAR and dependencies must be added (via <lib> or solr/home lib inclusion), and must be registered in solrconfig.xml like this:

<queryResponseWriter name="velocity" class="solr.VelocityResponseWriter">
  <str name="template.base.dir">${velocity.template.base.dir:}</str>

<!--
  <str name="init.properties.file">velocity-init.properties</str>
  <lst name="tools">
    <str name="mytool">com.example.MyCustomTool</str>
  </lst>
-->
</queryResponseWriter>

Configuration & Usage

Template Rendering Protections

Velocity template rendering is largely controlled by the trusted configset flag. Templates built into (the /browse ones) the component library are always available with this component. In a trusted configset, templates in the velocity/ subdirectory of the configset are renderable. Also in a trusted configset, when template.base.dir is specified those templates are renderable.

VelocityResponseWriter Initialization Parameters

template.base.dir

If specified and exists as a file system directory, a file resource loader will be added for this directory. Templates in this directory will override "solr" resource loader templates.

init.properties.file

Specifies a properties file name which must exist in the Solr conf/ directory (not under a velocity/ subdirectory) or root of a JAR file in a <lib>.

tools

External "tools" can be specified as list of string name/value (tool name / class name) pairs. Tools, in the Velocity context, are simply Java objects. Tool classes are constructed using a no-arg constructor (or a single-SolrCore-arg constructor if it exists) and added to the Velocity context with the specified name.

A custom registered tool can override the built-in context objects with the same name, except for $request, $response, $page, and $debug (these tools are designed to not be overridden).

VelocityResponseWriter Request Parameters

v.template

Specifies the name of the template to render.

v.layout

Specifies a template name to use as the layout around the main, v.template, specified template.

The main template is rendered into a string value included into the layout rendering as $content.

v.layout.enabled

Determines if the main template should have a layout wrapped around it. The default is true, but requires v.layout to specified as well.

v.contentType

Specifies the content type used in the HTTP response. If not specified, the default will depend on whether v.json is specified or not.

The default without v.json=wrf: text/html;charset=UTF-8.

The default with v.json=wrf: application/json;charset=UTF-8.

v.json

Specifies a function name to wrap around the response rendered as JSON. If specified, the content type used in the response will be "application/json;charset=UTF-8", unless overridden by v.contentType.

Output will be in this format (with v.json=wrf):

wrf("result":"<Velocity generated response string, with quotes and backslashes escaped>")

v.locale

Locale to use with the $resource tool and other LocaleConfig implementing tools. The default locale is Locale.ROOT. Localized resources are loaded from standard Java resource bundles named resources[_locale-code].properties.

Resource bundles can be added by providing a JAR file visible by the SolrResourceLoader with resource bundles under a velocity sub-directory. Resource bundles are not loadable under conf/, as only the class loader aspect of SolrResourceLoader can be used here.

VelocityResponseWriter Context Objects

Context Reference Description

request SolrQueryRequest javadocs

response QueryResponse most of the time, but in some cases where QueryResponse doesn’t like the request handler’s output (AnalysisRequestHandler, for example, causes a ClassCastException parsing "response"), the response will be a SolrResponseBase object.

esc A Velocity EscapeTool instance

date A Velocity ComparisonDateTool instance

math A Velocity MathTool instance

number A Velocity NumberTool instance

sort A Velocity SortTool instance

display A Velocity DisplayTool instance

resource A Velocity ResourceTool instance

engine The current VelocityEngine instance

page An instance of Solr’s PageTool (only included if the response is a QueryResponse where paging makes sense)

debug A shortcut to the debug part of the response, or null if debug is not on. This is handy for having debug-only sections in a template using #if($debug)…#end

content The rendered output of the main template, when rendering the layout (v.layout.enabled=true and v.layout=<template>).

[custom tool(s)] Tools provided by the optional "tools" list of the VelocityResponseWriter registration are available by their specified name.

Context Reference	Description
`request`	SolrQueryRequest javadocs
`response`	QueryResponse most of the time, but in some cases where QueryResponse doesn’t like the request handler’s output (AnalysisRequestHandler, for example, causes a ClassCastException parsing "response"), the response will be a SolrResponseBase object.
`esc`	A Velocity EscapeTool instance
`date`	A Velocity ComparisonDateTool instance
`math`	A Velocity MathTool instance
`number`	A Velocity NumberTool instance
`sort`	A Velocity SortTool instance
`display`	A Velocity DisplayTool instance
`resource`	A Velocity ResourceTool instance
`engine`	The current VelocityEngine instance
`page`	An instance of Solr’s PageTool (only included if the response is a QueryResponse where paging makes sense)
`debug`	A shortcut to the debug part of the response, or null if debug is not on. This is handy for having debug-only sections in a template using `#if($debug)…#end`
`content`	The rendered output of the main template, when rendering the layout (`v.layout.enabled=true` and `v.layout=<template>`).
[custom tool(s)]	Tools provided by the optional "tools" list of the VelocityResponseWriter registration are available by their specified name.

VelocityResponseWriter Usage

To see results in an HTML user interface on your own collection, try http://localhost:8983/solr/<my collection>/select?q=:&wt=velocity&v.template=browse&v.layout=layout

Or try /browse in the examples techproducts or example/files.