Link Fields

When a query has no fields parameter or explicitly requests “*”, only scalar fields of perspective objects are returned. When the fields parameter includes a link field, by default only the _ID field of each linked object is returned. If a link field is requested that has no values, an empty list is returned. For example, consider this object query:

GET /Email/Person/_query?q=LastName=Powell&f=Manager,DirectReports&shards=2014-06-18

This query searches for people whose LastName is Powell and requests the Manager and DirectReports links. An example result in XML:

<results>

<docs>

<doc>

<field name="_ID">gfNqhYF7LgBAtKTdIx3BKw==</field>

<field name="DirectReports">

<doc>

<field name="_ID">mKjYJmmLPoTVxJu2xdFmUg==</field>

</doc>

</field>

<field name="Manager">

<doc>

<field name="_ID">nLOCpa7aH/Y3zDrnMqG6Fw==</field>

</doc>

</field>

</doc>

<doc>

<field name="_ID">sHUm0PEKu3gQDDNIHHWv1g==</field>

<field name="DirectReports"/>

<field name="Manager">

<doc>

<field name="_ID">tkSQlrRqaeHsGvRU65g9HQ==</field>

</doc>

</field>

</doc>

</docs>

</results>

In JSON:

{"results": {

"docs": [

{"doc": {

"_ID": "gfNqhYF7LgBAtKTdIx3BKw==",

"DirectReports": [

{"doc": {

"_ID": "mKjYJmmLPoTVxJu2xdFmUg=="

}}

],

"Manager": [

{"doc": {

"_ID": "nLOCpa7aH/Y3zDrnMqG6Fw=="

}}

]

}},

{"doc": {

"_ID": "sHUm0PEKu3gQDDNIHHWv1g==",

"DirectReports": [],

"Manager": [

{"doc": {

"_ID": "tkSQlrRqaeHsGvRU65g9HQ=="

}}

]

}}

]

}}

As shown, requested link fields are returned even if they have no values. By default, only the _ID values of linked objects are included.