JSON indexes

JSON indexes are IBM Cloudant Query indexes that are excellent for equality ($eq) and range ($lt, $lte, $gte and $gte) queries. Create JSON indexes to support queries that include these operators.

Creating JSON indexes

To create a JSON index in the database $DATABASE, make a POST request to /$DATABASE/_index with a JSON object that describes the index in the request body. The type field of the JSON object must be set to json. A JSON index can be partitioned or global; this option is set by using the partitioned field.

See the following example that uses HTTP to request an index of type JSON:

POST /$DATABASE/_index HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json

See the following example of a JSON object that creates a partitioned index that is called foo-partitioned-index for the field called foo:

{
    "index": {
        "fields": ["foo"]
    },
    "name" : "foo-partitioned-index",
    "type" : "json",
    "partitioned": true
}

See the following example of a JSON object that creates a global index that is called bar-global-index for the field called bar:

{
    "index": {
        "fields": ["bar"]
    },
    "name" : "bar-global-index",
    "type" : "json",
    "partitioned": false
}

See the following example of returned JSON, confirming that the index was created:

{
    "result": "created"
}

Request body format
Field	Description
`index`	fields - A JSON array of field names that uses the sort syntax. Nested fields are also allowed, for example, `person.name`.
`ddoc` (optional)	Name of the design document in which the index is created. By default, each index is created in its own design document. Indexes can be grouped into design documents for efficiency. However, a change to one index in a design document invalidates all other indexes in the same document.
`type` (optional)	Can be `json` or `text`. Defaults to `json`.
`name` (optional)	Name of the index. If no name is provided, a name is generated automatically.
`partitioned` (optional, boolean)	Determines whether this index is partitioned. For more information, see the `partitioned` field.

The `partitioned` field

This field sets whether the created index is a partitioned or global index.

Partitioned field values
Value	Description	Notes
`true`	Create the index as partitioned.	Can be used only in a partitioned database.
`false`	Create the index as global.	Can be used in any database.

The default follows the partitioned setting for the database:

Default partitioned value
Is the database partitioned?	Default `partitioned` value	Allowed values
Yes	`true`	`true`, `false`
No	`false`	`false`

It's important to reiterate that the default partitioned value is true for indexes that are created in a partitioned database. This default value means that the index cannot be used to satisfy global queries.

Return codes
Code	Description
200	Index was created successfully or existed in the database.
400	Bad request - the request body doesn't have the specified format.

JSON indexes

Creating JSON indexes

The partitioned field

The `partitioned` field