No current controller when indexing for search

[lianna-blanca]

The function getContentForSearchIndex() is often used by default for indexing content for search.

However we've frequently run into an issue in which the indexing process's queued job is halted by an error:

{"exception":"[object] (Exception(code: 512): No current controller available in /var/www/mysite/releases/0000000000/vendor/silverstripe/framework/src/Control/Controller.php at line 524 at /var/www/mysite/releases/0000000000/vendor/symbiote/silverstripe-queuedjobs/src/Services/JobErrorHandler.php:41)"}

This happens on elemental content that is calling a controller as part of its normal functions, e.g. a form block, which has a page controller during normal rendering, but as the search indexing doesn't have that context, it hits the forTemplate() function within getContentForSearchIndex() and breaks.

There are some clunky ways to work around this, but if possible we would like to see an option to index elemental content without hitting forTemplate() or similar functions.

[GuySartorelli]

Hi,
Thanks for reporting this. In the future please use the "bug report" issue template, as that gives you certain information to fill out.

In particular please provide:

1. What version of this module is this bug on?
2. What are the steps to reproduce this from a fresh installation of silverstripe/installer plus this module?

[lianna-blanca]

Hi @GuySartorelli I'm sorry - I used the bug report template initially, but the step of how to reproduce it is not something I can provide - we haven't even determined what triggers it in many cases, so I didn't feel right using that form.

As to the versions, I can say for sure this happens on 5.3.5 and 5.3.8.

[GuySartorelli]

If there's any time sensitivity for this, I'll be happy to help chase down the root cause if I'm able to reproduce locally in the project you're experiencing this in (contact me on slack) - but in the meantime without any way to reproduce this we won't be able to fix it.

If you can produce a stack trace, that could help identify the cause as well - i.e. what code is trying to access the controller when it's not available?

[michalkleiner]

I think we did have this issue as well but then created a method in our project's base controller overriding the module's one and provided content we needed without having to render the template as for some elements that's undesirable.

[lianna-blanca]

I think we did have this issue as well but then created a method in our project's base controller overriding the module's one and provided content we needed without having to render the template as for some elements that's undesirable.

That was our workaround too.

[blueo]

This is a tricky one as its likely caused by implementations of elemental rather than the main module itself. I think starts with the recommendation in the docs to use getElementsForSearch - which involves a forTemplate call. People then use something like elemental userforms and it creates problems (eg this patched issue or this controller call gets triggered). It doesn't help that the error doesn't have a great stack trace

So the issue is sitting between a few modules atm @GuySartorelli I can probably make some reproduction steps for some of these - thoughts on the best issue to add it on?

[GuySartorelli]

I can probably make some reproduction steps for some of these - thoughts on the best issue to add it on?

So far this issue is for this module - if it turns out it's specific to a different module and elemental is a red herring I can always transfer the issue over. For now lets keep all details in this issue and we can move stuff around if that seems appropriate later.

[blueo]

Ok cool some minimal steps atm looks like

Steps to reproduce

1. install elemental, queued jobs, elemental userforms and either silverstripe search service or silverstripe forager module along with their elastic enterprise search counterparts (silverstripe/silverstripe-search-service-elastic or silverstripe/silverstripe-forager-elastic-enterprise).
2. Configure the search module to index the contents of blocks - a minimal example could be:

SilverStripe\Forager\Service\IndexConfiguration:
  indexes:
    main:
      includeClasses:
        Page:
          fields:
            content:
              property: Content
            meta_title:
              property: MetaTitle
            elemental_area:
              property: getContentForSearchIndex

3. Add a user forms block to a page
4. Publish the page
5. Run queued jobs to run the page index job
6. Observe the page index job breaks with a message like:

a:9:{i:0;s:70:"[2025-03-14 14:12:02][WARNING] Job paused at 2025-03-14 14:12:02 [] []";i:1;s:565:"[2025-03-14 14:12:03][ERROR] No current controller available in /var/www/mysite/releases/c36a7399d7b1fb3d61c1939e365e447668434eb6/vendor/silverstripe/framework/src/Control/Controller.php at line 524 {"exception":"[object] (Exception(code: 512): No current controller available in /var/www/mysite/releases/c36a7399d7b1fb3d61c1939e365e447668434eb6/vendor/silverstripe/framework/src/Control/Controller.php at line 524 at /var/www/mysite/releases/c36a7399d7b1fb3d61c1939e365e447668434eb6/vendor/symbiote/silverstripe-queuedjobs/src/Services/JobErrorHandler.php:41)"} []";i:2;s:70:"[2025-03-14 14:12:03][WARNING] Job paused at 2025-03-14 14:12:02 [] []";i:3;s:70:"[2025-03-14 14:20:02][WARNING] Job paused at 2025-03-14 14:20:02 [] []";i:4;s:565:"[2025-03-14 14:20:02][ERROR] No current controller available in /var/www/mysite/releases/c36a7399d7b1fb3d61c1939e365e447668434eb6/vendor/silverstripe/framework/src/Control/Controller.php at line 524 {"exception":"[object] (Exception(code: 512): No current controller available in /var/www/mysite/releases/c36a7399d7b1fb3d61c1939e365e447668434eb6/vendor/silverstripe/framework/src/Control/Controller.php at line 524 at /var/www/mysite/releases/c36a7399d7b1fb3d61c1939e365e447668434eb6/vendor/symbiote/silverstripe-queuedjobs/src/Services/JobErrorHandler.php:41)"} []";i:5;s:70:"[2025-03-14 14:20:02][WARNING] Job paused at 2025-03-14 14:20:02 [] []";i:6;s:70:"[2025-03-19 12:34:11][WARNING] Job paused at 2025-03-19 12:34:11 [] []";i:7;s:409:"[2025-03-19 12:34:11][ERROR] No current controller available in /var/www/html/vendor/silverstripe/framework/src/Control/Controller.php at line 524 {"exception":"[object] (Exception(code: 512): No current controller available in /var/www/html/vendor/silverstripe/framework/src/Control/Controller.php at line 524 at /var/www/html/vendor/symbiote/silverstripe-queuedjobs/src/Services/JobErrorHandler.php:41)"} []";i:8;s:70:"[2025-03-19 12:34:11][WARNING] Job paused at 2025-03-19 12:34:11 [] []";}

Which sounds OK - but when you're say adding search to a bunch of sites with existing blocks its a bit tricky as the stacktrace goes as far as vendor/silverstripe/framework/src/Control/Controller.php at line 524. Seems this user error trigger is now gone from CMS 6 - so that's a fix. Maybe in this module it could be about some extra docs info about what to watch out for

[GuySartorelli]

Do search service and forager actually matter for this - i.e. does it seem like something specific to how they work is causing it? Or is that just a convenient way to reproduce it but isn't specific to those modules?

[blueo]

Ah, well it is the index jobs from those modules that ultimately call getContentForSearchIndex which, in combination with running as a queued job, will trigger this error.

So its not specific in a way... you could call Controller::curr() in any job I suppose and trigger it.

[mfendeksilverstripe]

Adding information about some workarounds:

Option 1

For blocks created in our codebase, we can add a getContentForSearchIndex() on the block itself and set it to return only the content we want used in the search, e.g.

    public function getElementsForSeach(): string
    {
        return $this->Title; // Or however much content you want indexed. 
    }

This lets us avoid passing in things that we don't need (image fields) or that have Controller issues, lightening the load in general as a side benefit.

Option 2

For things like the FormBlock created by a module, make an Injector and do the same thing as option 1, only override whatever function is getting its search content - for elemental blocks, that'll most likely be BaseElement::getElementsForSeach().

Option 3

For other or weird things, we can add an early exit to whatever function is calling the controller and bail if it's not there, e.g.

 if (!Controller::has_curr()) {
        return;
 }