Specifying total size of results to return for ElasticSearch query when using inner_hits - elasticsearch

Question

ElasticSearch allows inner_hits to specify 'from' and 'size' parameters, as can the outer request body of a search.
As an example, assume my index contains 25 books, each having less than 50 chapters. The below snippet would return all chapters across all books, because a 'size' of 100 books includes all of 25 books and a 'size' of 50 chapters includes all of "less than 50 chapters":
"index": 'books',
"type": 'book',
"body": {
"from" : 0, "size" : 100, // outer hits, or books
"query": {
"filtered": {
"filter": {
"nested": {
"inner_hits": {
"size": 50 // inner hits, or chapters
},
"path": "chapter",
"query": { "match_all": { } },
}
}
}
},
.
.
.
Now, I'd like to implement paging with a scenario like this. My question is, how?
In this case, do I have to return back the above max of 100 * 50 = 5000 documents from the search query and implement paging in the application level by displaying only the slice I am interested in? Or, is there a way to specify the total number of hits to return back in the search query itself, independent of the inner/outer size?
I am looking at the "response" as follows, and so would like this data to be able to be paginated:
response.hits.hits.forEach(function(book) {
chapters = book.inner_hits.chapters.hits.hits;
chapters.forEach(function(chapter) {
// ... this is one displayed result ...
});
});

Answer 1

I don't think this is possible with Elasticsearch and nested fields. The way you see the results is correct: ES paginates and returns books and it doesn't see inside nested inner_hits. Is not how it works. You need to handle the pagination manually in your code.
There is another option, but you need a parent/child relationship instead of nested.
Then you are able to query the children (meaning, the chapters) and paginate the results (the chapters). You can use inner_hits and return back the parent (the book itself).
PUT /library
{
"mappings": {
"book": {
"properties": {
"name": {
"type": "string"
}
}
},
"chapter": {
"_parent": {
"type": "book"
},
"properties": {
"title": {
"type": "string"
}
}
}
}
}
The query:
GET /library/chapter/_search
{
"size": 5,
"query": {
"has_parent": {
"type": "book",
"query": {
"match_all": {}
},
"inner_hits" : {}
}
}
}
And a sample output (trimmed, complete example here):
"hits": [
{
"_index": "library",
"_type": "chapter",
"_id": "1",
"_score": 1,
"_source": {
"title": "chap1"
},
"inner_hits": {
"book": {
"hits": {
"total": 1,
"max_score": 1,
"hits": [
{
"_index": "library",
"_type": "book",
"_id": "book1",
"_score": 1,
"_source": {
"name": "book1"
}
}
]
}
}
}
},
{
"_index": "library",
"_type": "chapter",
"_id": "2",
"_score": 1,
"_source": {
"title": "chap2"
},
"inner_hits": {
"book": {
"hits": {
"total": 1,
"max_score": 1,
"hits": [
{
"_index": "library",
"_type": "book",
"_id": "book1",
"_score": 1,
"_source": {
"name": "book1"
}
}
]
}
}
}
}

Answer 2

The search api allows for the addition of certain standard parameters, listed in the docs at: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/client/javascript-api/current/api-reference-2-0.html#api-search-2-0
According to the doc:
size Number — Number of hits to return (default: 10)
Which would make your request something like:
"size": 5000,
"index": 'books',
"type": 'book',
"body": {