The API: Aggregations

AggregationsAggregations (Computer Science) Effectively a synonym for Facet., also known as facets, are a powerful tool that allow you to find, and quantify, the commonalities between records within your search results. They can be used for a variety of applications, including the ability to refine search results by specific criteria. Aggregations are commonly used for online shopping interfaces, for example allowing the user to narrow results by aspects such as colour, size, pricing, brand and so on.

In the APIAPI (Computer Science) Application Programming Interface – a facility to allow a computer or application to access the data and/or functionality of another computer system or application results, aggregation data can be found in the responseResult (Computer Science) The data (in JSON format) that is returned by the API following a query. It will either contain records, or, if there is a problem with the query, an error message.’s extension block. The example below shows a response aggregating on object.departmentDepartment (API) The section of the museum that an object is associated with. – it offers the top 10 results (known as buckets) along with the count (doc_count) of records that match the listed content.

"aggregations": {
      "department": {
        "doc_count_error_upper_bound": 0,
        "sum_other_doc_count": 0,
        "buckets": [
          {
            "key": "Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design Department",
            "doc_count": 129079
          },
          {
            "key": "Product Design and Decorative Arts Department",
            "doc_count": 28924
          },
          {
            "key": "Textiles Department",
            "doc_count": 26275
          },
          {
            "key": "Wallcoverings Department",
            "doc_count": 9189
          },
          {
            "key": "Exhibitions Department",
            "doc_count": 2480
          },
          {
            "key": "Archives Department",
            "doc_count": 800
          },
          {
            "key": "Smithsonian Libraries",
            "doc_count": 183
          },
          {
            "key": "Digital",
            "doc_count": 19
          },
          {
            "key": "Registrars Office",
            "doc_count": 1
          },
          {
            "key": "Training",
            "doc_count": 1
          }
        ]
      }
    },

You can queryQuery (Computer Science) A query is a request for data or information from a database table or combination of tables, or an API that manages access to those tables multiple aggregations at the same time. This allows you to deploy a number of criteria at the same time in your applicationApplication (Computer Science) A computer software unit that provides functionality for particular use.

{
  objectObject (Museology) Artefact or specimen held in a museum collection.

(Computer science) A software "bundle" consisting of a set of variables which define the states the object can exist in and a set of functions that define its behavior.(aggregations: ["department", "makerMaker (API) Creator of an object"]) {
    id
    summary
  }
}

Aggregations are at their most useful when combined with a search, for example:

{
  object(_general:"chair" aggregations: ["department", "maker"]) {
    id
    summary
  }
}