For two years we've been using SearchableTrait which gives models the ability to process Googlesque queries like this:

Contact.search('a mix of words "and phrases" and qualified:fields')

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This trait used to be a huge blob of code without tests and documentation, so I made a gem out of it. Check out https://github.com/makandra/dusen Show archive.org snapshot for code, tests, and a huge README.

You should use the Dusen gem and delete SearchableTrait in all future projects.

Note that the syntax to define query processors has changed lightly:

class Contact < ActiveRecord::Base

  search_syntax do

    search_by :text do |scope, phrase|
      columns = [:name, :street, :city, :email]
      scope.where_like(columns => phrase)
    end

  end
  
   search_by :email do |scope, email|
     scope.where(:email => email)
   end  

end

Note the changes:

• Query processors are defined within a search_syntax block
• Processor blocks now take the current scope chain as the first argument (the current chain used to be self)
• A new conveniance method where_like that is useful for text queries