Items-for-item

Recommendations

Items-for-item recommendations present items that are similar to a specified item. For example, when the user is viewing a BMX bicycle, Managed Fusion can recommend other BMX bicycles. Similarity can be based on different criteria, such as click patterns, people who bought this also bought that, percentage match of document tags, and so on.

Collaborative items-for-item recommendations

If you have enabled signals and recommendations for a collection, then the default COLLECTION_NAME_bpr_item_recs, a BPR Recommender job is already created and configured to produce items-for-item recommendations (as well as items-for-user recommendations).

This is the recommended job type, and produces better results with a short runtime. Download the APPName_item_item_rec_pipelines_bpr.json file and Migrate Managed Fusion Objects to create the query pipeline that consumes this job’s output. See Fetch Items-for-Item Recommendations (Collaborative/BPR Method) for details.

Migrate Managed Fusion Objects

You can use the Fusion UI and the Objects API to migrate collections and related objects, including your searchable data, configuration data, pipelines, aggregations, and other objects on which your collections depend. You can also migrate entire apps.

To upgrade from one Fusion version to a 5.x version, see Fusion 5 Upgrades to migrate objects.

You might need to migrate objects in the following circumstances:

• When migrating data from development environments into testing and production environments
• To back up data, so you can restore it after an incident of data loss
• When the migrator script was not able to migrate an object automatically

When you export and import objects to migrate them, make sure you that any data gets to where it is going before deleting the sources.

Migration approaches

Several approaches are available for migrating Fusion objects. This table summarizes the approaches.

	Export an app	Import an app	Export an object	Import an object	Add an object to an app
Fusion UI	App configuration	Launcher (entire app) App configuration (combine apps)	-	-	Object Explorer
Objects API (endpoints)	GET from export endpoint	POST to import endpoint	GET from export endpoint	POST to import endpoint	-

For more information about using the Objects API to export and import objects, see Objects API.

The remainder of this topic describes approaches in the Fusion UI.

Use the parts of the Fusion UI indicated in the table to export and import apps and specific objects. Exporting creates a zip file. To import, you select a data file and possibly a variable file.

The approach with Object Explorer differs. With Object Explorer, you can add objects from other apps (or that are not linked to any apps) to the currently open app.

Export an app with the Fusion UI

How to export an app with the Fusion UI

1. Navigate to the launcher.

2. Hover over the app you want to export and click the Configure icon:

   

3. In the app config window, click Export app to zip:

   

See import for information to import the downloaded zip file into other instances of Fusion 5.x.

Import an app with the Fusion UI

How to import an app with the Fusion UI

1. Navigate to the launcher.

2. Click Import app.

   

3. Under Data File, click Choose File and select the zip file containing the app you want to import.

4. If your app has usernames and passwords in a separate file, select it under Variables File. If the Variables File is needed, it must be a separate file that is not in a .zip file. It is a .json map of variables to values. The following is an example:

   {
   "secret.dataSources.Inventory_BR_S3_DS.password":"SOMETHING",
   "secret.dataSources.LLM_A_BR_S3_DS.password":"FmJSaDE9Tj5REDACTED",
   "secret.dataSources.LLM_BR_Inventory_S3_DS.password":"FmJSaDE9Tj5GzIVvethAC4Huh",
   "secret.dataSources.LLM_BR_Load_S3_DS.password":"FmJSaDE9Tj5GzIVvethAC4"
   }
   

5. You can sometimes edit parameter values to use the new values in the imported app. If this is the case, Fusion displays a dialog box that lets you edit the parameter values.

   

   Make desired changes, and then click Import.

Copy an app

To copy an app from one deployment to a different one, export the app on the source deployment, and then import the app on the target deployment.

Import objects into an app

You can import objects into the currently open app.

How to import objects into an open app

1. In the Fusion launcher, click the app into which you want to import objects. The Fusion workspace appears.
2. Click System > Import Fusion Objects. The Import Fusion Objects window opens.
3. Select the data file from your local filesystem. If you are importing usernames and passwords in a separate file, select it under Variables File.
4. Click Import. If there are conflicts, Fusion prompts you to specify an import policy:
   • Click Overwrite to overwrite the objects on the target system with the ones in the import file.
   • Click Merge to skip all conflicting objects and import only the non-conflicting objects.
   • Click Start Over to abort the import. Fusion confirms that the import was successful:
5. Click Close to close the Import Fusion Objects window.

Add an object to an app

You can add objects present in other apps (or in no apps) to the open app. Some objects are linked to other apps. You can also add those directly to an app.

• Add an object to an app – While in the Fusion workspace for the app to which you want to add an object, open Object Explorer and click In Any App. Search for or browse to the object you want to add. Hover over the object, click the App icon, and then click Add to this app.

  

• Add an object to an app directly – In cases when an object is linked to an app, but is not linked directly to the app (it is linked via some dependency), you can add the object to an app directly.

  While in the Fusion workspace for the app to which you want to add an object directly, open Object Explorer and click In Any App. Search for or browse to the object you want to add. Hover over the object, click the App icon, and then click Add to this app directly.

  

Fetch Items-for-Item Recommendations (Collaborative/BPR Method)

In Managed Fusion, you can download and import a query pipeline that works out of the box with the default BPR Recommender job.

There are two separate pipelines attached below which work in different ways to query and return recommendations.

Query for recommendations only

1. Download the APPName_item_item_rec_pipelines_bpr.json file.

2. Rename the file to replace APPName with the name of your Managed Fusion app, such as ProductCatalog_item_item_rec_pipelines_bpr.json.

3. Open the JSON file, replace all instances of APPName with the name of your Managed Fusion app, such as ProductCatalog, and save it.

4. Import the JSON file into your Managed Fusion instance using the Query Pipelines REST API:

   curl -u USERNAME:PASSWORD <https://EXAMPLE_COMPANY.b.lucidworks.cloud/api/query-pipelines -XPOST -H 'content-type:application/json' -d@<path/to/filename.json>
   

5. In the Managed Fusion UI, navigate to Query > Query Pipelines to verify that the new pipeline is available.

   This pipeline should be used to query the collection where the recommendations are stored. It makes a query against the itemId field and only returns the recommended itemId values. To get the actual items, you need to make a second query to the respective catalog collection with the returned itemId values.

No additional configuration is needed to use this pipeline with the default BPR job configuration.

Boost recommended products from catalog

1. Download the APPName_items_for_item_bpr_boost.json file
2. Rename the file to replace APPName with the name of your Managed Fusion app, such as ProductCatalog_item_item_rec_pipelines_bpr.json.
3. Open the JSON file, replace all instances of APPName with the name of your Managed Fusion app, such as ProductCatalog.
4. Fill in the collection name field in the first Recommend Items for Item stage and save the file.
5. Import the JSON file into your Managed Fusion instance using the Query Pipelines REST API:
   curl -u USERNAME:PASSWORD https://EXAMPLE_COMPANY.b.lucidworks.cloud/api/query-pipelines -XPOST -H 'content-type:application/json' -d@<path/to/filename.json>
   

6. In the Managed Fusion UI, navigate to Query > Query Pipelines to verify that the new pipeline is available.

This pipeline queries the recommendations collection and then makes a subsequent query to the actual catalog collection boosting the recommended items and returning the actual items from the catalog. This pipeline will therefore also return recommendations even if none were generated/available.

This pipeline expects a request parameter called id=<itemId> to be appended to the request in order to work. An example query URL to this pipeline would look like https://EXAMPLE_COMPANY.b.lucidworks.cloud/api/query-pipelines/APPName_items_for_item_bpr_boost/collections/catalog/select?q=**:**&id=SomeItemId

If the pipeline does not appear in the Query Pipelines panel, you may need to attach it to your app like this: Go to System > Object Explorer, click the In No Apps filter, hover over the pipeline, click the icon, and select Add to this app.

No additional configuration is needed to use this pipeline with the default BPR job configuration.

See also

• Items-For-Item Recommendations
• Get Started with Recommendations and Boosting

BPR collaborative recommendations dataflow

If you want to use different parameters for items-for-item recommendations and items-for-user recommendations, simply create separate jobs for each, where one job configuration includes an output collection for items-for-item recommendations only and the other includes an output collection for items-for-user recommendations only.

Content-based items-for-item recommendations

The Content-Based Recommender job computes item similarities based on their content, such as product descriptions. This is a useful option when you do not have enough signals for accurate results using the collaborative method described above. Download the APPName_item_item_rec_pipelines_content.json file and Migrate Managed Fusion Objects to create the query pipeline that consumes this job’s output.

Migrate Managed Fusion Objects

You can use the Fusion UI and the Objects API to migrate collections and related objects, including your searchable data, configuration data, pipelines, aggregations, and other objects on which your collections depend. You can also migrate entire apps.

To upgrade from one Fusion version to a 5.x version, see Fusion 5 Upgrades to migrate objects.

You might need to migrate objects in the following circumstances:

• When migrating data from development environments into testing and production environments
• To back up data, so you can restore it after an incident of data loss
• When the migrator script was not able to migrate an object automatically

When you export and import objects to migrate them, make sure you that any data gets to where it is going before deleting the sources.

Migration approaches

Several approaches are available for migrating Fusion objects. This table summarizes the approaches.

	Export an app	Import an app	Export an object	Import an object	Add an object to an app
Fusion UI	App configuration	Launcher (entire app) App configuration (combine apps)	-	-	Object Explorer
Objects API (endpoints)	GET from export endpoint	POST to import endpoint	GET from export endpoint	POST to import endpoint	-

For more information about using the Objects API to export and import objects, see Objects API.

The remainder of this topic describes approaches in the Fusion UI.

Use the parts of the Fusion UI indicated in the table to export and import apps and specific objects. Exporting creates a zip file. To import, you select a data file and possibly a variable file.

The approach with Object Explorer differs. With Object Explorer, you can add objects from other apps (or that are not linked to any apps) to the currently open app.

Export an app with the Fusion UI

How to export an app with the Fusion UI

1. Navigate to the launcher.

2. Hover over the app you want to export and click the Configure icon:

   

3. In the app config window, click Export app to zip:

   

See import for information to import the downloaded zip file into other instances of Fusion 5.x.

Import an app with the Fusion UI

How to import an app with the Fusion UI

1. Navigate to the launcher.

2. Click Import app.

   

3. Under Data File, click Choose File and select the zip file containing the app you want to import.

4. If your app has usernames and passwords in a separate file, select it under Variables File. If the Variables File is needed, it must be a separate file that is not in a .zip file. It is a .json map of variables to values. The following is an example:

   {
   "secret.dataSources.Inventory_BR_S3_DS.password":"SOMETHING",
   "secret.dataSources.LLM_A_BR_S3_DS.password":"FmJSaDE9Tj5REDACTED",
   "secret.dataSources.LLM_BR_Inventory_S3_DS.password":"FmJSaDE9Tj5GzIVvethAC4Huh",
   "secret.dataSources.LLM_BR_Load_S3_DS.password":"FmJSaDE9Tj5GzIVvethAC4"
   }
   

5. You can sometimes edit parameter values to use the new values in the imported app. If this is the case, Fusion displays a dialog box that lets you edit the parameter values.

   

   Make desired changes, and then click Import.

Copy an app

To copy an app from one deployment to a different one, export the app on the source deployment, and then import the app on the target deployment.

Import objects into an app

You can import objects into the currently open app.

How to import objects into an open app

1. In the Fusion launcher, click the app into which you want to import objects. The Fusion workspace appears.
2. Click System > Import Fusion Objects. The Import Fusion Objects window opens.
3. Select the data file from your local filesystem. If you are importing usernames and passwords in a separate file, select it under Variables File.
4. Click Import. If there are conflicts, Fusion prompts you to specify an import policy:
   • Click Overwrite to overwrite the objects on the target system with the ones in the import file.
   • Click Merge to skip all conflicting objects and import only the non-conflicting objects.
   • Click Start Over to abort the import. Fusion confirms that the import was successful:
5. Click Close to close the Import Fusion Objects window.

Add an object to an app

You can add objects present in other apps (or in no apps) to the open app. Some objects are linked to other apps. You can also add those directly to an app.

• Add an object to an app – While in the Fusion workspace for the app to which you want to add an object, open Object Explorer and click In Any App. Search for or browse to the object you want to add. Hover over the object, click the App icon, and then click Add to this app.

  

• Add an object to an app directly – In cases when an object is linked to an app, but is not linked directly to the app (it is linked via some dependency), you can add the object to an app directly.

  While in the Fusion workspace for the app to which you want to add an object directly, open Object Explorer and click In Any App. Search for or browse to the object you want to add. Hover over the object, click the App icon, and then click Add to this app directly.

  

Content-based recommendations dataflow

Once you have run the recommender job, see Fetch Items-for-Item Recommendations (Content-Based Method).

Fetch Items-for-Item Recommendations (Content-Based Method)

You can download and import a query pipeline that works out of the box to fetch the items-for-item recommendations generated by the default Content-Based Recommender job.

There are two separate pipelines attached below which work in different ways to query and return recommendations.

Query for recommendations only

1. Download the APPName_item_item_rec_pipelines_content.json file.
2. Rename the file to replace APPName with the name of your Managed Fusion app, such as ProductCatalog_item_item_rec_pipelines_bpr.json.
3. Open the JSON file, replace all instances of APPName with the name of your Managed Fusion app, such as ProductCatalog, and save it.
4. Import the JSON file into your Managed Fusion instance using the Query Pipelines REST API:
   curl -u USERNAME:PASSWORD https://EXAMPLE_COMPANY.b.lucidworks.cloud/api/query-pipelines -XPOST -H 'content-type:application/json' -d@<path/to/filename.json>
   

5. In the Managed Fusion UI, navigate to Query > Query Pipelines to verify that the new pipeline is available.

This pipeline should be used to query the collection where the recommendations are stored. It makes a query against the itemId field and returns the recommended itemId values. To get the actual items, you need to make a second query to the respective catalog collection with the returned itemId values.

No additional configuration is needed to use this pipeline with the default BPR job configuration.

Boost recommended products from catalog

1. Download the APPName_content_boost.json file
2. Rename the file to replace APPName with the name of your Managed Fusion app, such as ProductCatalog_item_item_rec_pipelines_bpr.json.
3. Open the JSON file, replace all instances of APPName with the name of your Managed Fusion app, such as ProductCatalog.
4. Fill in the collection name field in the first Recommend Items for Item stage and save the file.
5. Import the JSON file into your Managed Fusion instance using the Query Pipelines REST API:
   curl -u USERNAME:PASSWORD https://EXAMPLE_COMPANY.b.lucidworks.cloud/api/query-pipelines -XPOST -H 'content-type:application/json' -d@<path/to/filename.json>
   

6. In the Managed Fusion UI, navigate to Query > Query Pipelines to verify that the new pipeline is available.

This pipeline queries the recommendations collection and then makes a subsequent query to the actual catalog collection boosting the recommended items and returning the actual items from the catalog. This pipeline will therefore also return recommendations even if none were generated/available.

This pipeline expects a request parameter called id=itemId to be appended to the request. An example query URL to this pipeline would look like https://EXAMPLE_COMPANY.b.lucidworks.cloud/api/query-pipelines/APPName_items_for_user_bpr_boost/collections/catalog/select?q=**:**&id=SomeItemId

If the pipeline does not appear in the Query Pipelines panel, you may need to attach it to your app like this: Go to System > Object Explorer, click the In No Apps filter, hover over the pipeline, click the icon, and select Add to this app.

See also

• Items-For-Item Recommendations
• Content-Based Recommender job
• Get Started with Recommendations and Boosting