Elasticsearch exclude empty string when looking in a nested collection - string

Question

I'm trying to do a seemingly simple elastic query but im failing and i cannot really find anything on the subject.
I have the following model (lets call it response)
{
string id,
int category,
answers: [{
string answer,
string innerId
int type,
}]
}
some of the answers may not have an actual answer (i.e. the answer field is an empty string).
I have 2 scenarios that i have problems with.
My first case i cannot solve is such that I must find all nested objects that are of type = 1 and have something in the answer field. I came up with this query this option which gives me all the responses that have at least one answer that is of type 1, including the responses that have an empty string for answer, which i want to exclude.
{
"query": {
"nested": {
"path": "surveyResponseAnswers",
"query": {
"bool": {
"must": [
{
"match": {
"surveyResponseAnswers.questionType": 1
}
}
]
}
}
}
}
}
Ive tried adding a
"must_not": [{
"match": {
"surveyResponseAnswers.answer": ""
}
]
On the same level as the must but what i think happens is that it gives me the response parent because there are other answers that have a value in the answer property, about which i dont care.
My second case is such that I must find all nested objects that are of type = 1 and the answer field contains another string/substring, for which i came up with the following query, but this gives me results only for answers that match the full search word i have.
{
"query": {
"nested": {
"path": "answers",
"query": {
"bool": {
"must": [{
"match": {
"answers.type": 1
}
}, {
"match": {
"answers.answer": "text"
}
}]
}
}
}
}
}

Answer 1

For you first problem, try using "constant_score" and then filter. Your query will look like this.
{
"query": {
"nested": {
"path": "surveyResponseAnswers",
"query": {
"bool": {
"must": [
{
"match": {
"surveyResponseAnswers.questionType": 1
}
},
{
"constant_score": {
"filter": {
"exists": {
"field": "surveyResponseAnswers.answer"
}
}
}
}
]
}
}
}
}
}
for, your second problem, try using "term", if you want to search for whole word, or "prefix" , based on what you are required.
For more details, please see https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-term-query.html