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Exponential Query Translator

General description

Exponential Query Translator (extension name: expquery_translator) is a Galach search query parser and node filter for Exponential CMS (eZ Publish Legacy). It is a port of the well-known netgen/query-translator library into the legacy extension ecosystem and provides the following capabilities:

• Galach query parsing - Parse rich, human-friendly search strings (words, phrases, tags, users, exclusions, boolean operators, domain prefixes) into structured data your PHP code can act on.
• Node filtering - Filter arrays of eZContentObjectTreeNode objects with a single search string, matching against node name, class identifier and class name.
• Fetch parameter building - Translate #tag terms directly into eZContentObjectTreeNode::subTreeByNodeID class-filter parameters so the database narrows the result set before PHP post-filtering runs.
• Zero dependencies - The bundled parser library is pure PHP with no Symfony or Doctrine requirements; it drops into any legacy installation.
• Layouts and admin integration - Ready-made patterns for Exponential Layouts block handlers, manual collections, admin content lists and custom module views with search.

What is included:

• lib/ - the upstream query-translator library (Galach language, QueryTranslator\ namespace). It is pure PHP and has no Symfony/Doctrine dependencies; it is autoloaded through a Composer PSR-4 mapping in the project root.
• classes/expquerytranslator.php - a legacy adapter that turns Galach search strings into usable eZContentObjectTreeNode filters and eZContentObjectTreeNode::subTreeByNodeID parameters.
• autoloads/expquery_translator_autoload.php - class map for the adapter.

The lib/ directory is the upstream netgen/query-translator library, unmodified. Only the expQueryTranslator adapter in classes/ is custom. Tags (#tag) are mapped to content class identifiers because that is the most common filtering need in this legacy stack.

Features

Exponential Query Translator provides the following features in detail:

Key classes

Galach syntax support

The Full token extractor supports the complete Galach search language:

• foo - a word
• "hello world" - a phrase
• #tag - a tag (mapped to a content class identifier in the adapter)
• @user - a user
• -foo or NOT foo - excluded term
• +foo or just foo - required term
• foo AND bar, foo OR bar - operators are tokenized; the adapter currently treats all listed terms as required by default
• title:foo - domain-prefixed term; the adapter extracts the word and matches it against node name, class identifier and class name

Adapter behaviour

• analyze() breaks a query string into structured include / exclude / tags / users / raw buckets. An empty or whitespace-only query returns the same structure with empty buckets, so callers do not need a separate guard.
• filterNodes() matches nodes on name, class identifier and class name. include terms are AND-ed, exclude terms drop a node on match, and #tags must equal the node's class identifier. Entries that are not eZContentObjectTreeNode instances are skipped. If the query yields no terms at all, the input array is returned unchanged.
• buildSubtreeParams() turns #tags into ClassFilterType / ClassFilterArray entries on top of your base fetch parameters. Words and phrases do not change the fetch parameters - apply them afterwards with filterNodes().

Extensibility

• The adapter exposes protected hook methods (getTokenValue(), nodeMatches()) designed for subclassing.
• The full upstream library (tokenizer, token extractors, the Parser syntax tree builder) remains available for advanced boolean logic and grouping.

Version

• The current version of Exponential Query Translator is 1.0.0
• Last Major update: July 30, 2026

Copyright

• Exponential Query Translator is copyright 1998 - 2026 7x
• See: LICENSE.md for more information on the terms of the copyright and license

License

Exponential Query Translator is licensed under the GNU General Public License.

The complete license agreement is included in the LICENSE.md file.

Exponential Query Translator is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License or at your option a later version.

Exponential Query Translator is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

The GNU GPL gives you the right to use, modify and redistribute Exponential Query Translator under certain conditions. The GNU GPL license is distributed with the software, see the file LICENSE.md.

It is also available at https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with Exponential Query Translator in LICENSE.md. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

Using Exponential Query Translator under the terms of the GNU GPL is free (as in freedom).

For more information or questions please contact [email protected]

Requirements

The following requirements exists for using Exponential Query Translator extension:

Exponential CMS / eZ Publish Legacy version

• Make sure you use Exponential 6 (eZ Publish Legacy) or higher.

PHP version

• Make sure you have PHP 8.1 or higher.

Composer autoloader mapping

• The project root Composer autoloader must map the QueryTranslator\ namespace to extension/expquery_translator/lib (PSR-4) so the upstream library classes resolve.

Installation

Installation is the standard legacy extension procedure: place the extension in extension/expquery_translator, activate it via [ExtensionSettings] ActiveExtensions[] (or ActiveAccessExtensions[] for a single siteaccess), regenerate the extension autoloads, verify the Composer PSR-4 mapping and clear all caches.

See the complete step-by-step instructions in INSTALL.md.

Usage

The adapter is a single class you can instantiate anywhere the kernel is bootstrapped - modules, block handlers, cronjobs and CLI scripts:

analyze() returns structured buckets:

The recommended pattern is fetch-then-filter: narrow the database fetch with buildSubtreeParams() (tags become class filters), then post-filter the words and phrases with filterNodes():

For full Galach parsing beyond what the adapter extracts, use the upstream library directly:

The QueryTranslator\Languages\Galach\Parser class (also in lib/) builds a full syntax tree when boolean logic and grouping are needed.

See doc/USAGE.md for verified, copy-ready examples - Layouts block handlers, manual collection filtering, admin list filtering, module views with search - and for the customization guide covering all three layers: the settings layer (this extension ships no INI file; tunables travel as method arguments), the template layer (no templates shipped; presentation is owned by the caller) and the PHP layer (safe subclassing points getTokenValue() and nodeMatches(), and swapping the token extractor). Additional copy-and-paste snippets are collected in EXAMPLES.md.

Documentation

Troubleshooting

Read the FAQ

• Some problems are more common than others. The most common ones are listed in the doc/FAQ.md.

Use our support systems

• If you have any questions not handled by this document or the FAQ you can reach us through se7enx.com
• If you find a bug or defect, please report it to the Exponential Query Translator: Issue Tracker