Full text search using Sphinx search

Question

I have decided to use Sphinx Search in my node js application to perform the Full Text Search queries. I read through it and understood how to configure Sphinx for FTS. But following is the grey area which I want to make clear as it will be very important as in future.

• I am using the index type as "Plain" and I am not sure how Sphinx will refresh this index as new records will get inserted in table ? Is there any configuration for this. Please note I don't want to use RealTime Index
• After refreshing index, how to make Sphinx to use refreshed index ?
• How to filter the result set ? the SetFilter API seemd to work with only int value but I want to filter results based on string values and date range

Answer 1

1. Using a task scheduler (like cron) that periodicall calls indexer to rebuild the index.

2. With --rotate switch. indexer and searchd coordinate to load new index

3. There is more than setFilter method, eg setFilterRange, setFilterString (But if starting new project recommend using SphinxQL rather than the API.