Backend:
- Created REST API endpoint /api/v1/search/
- Added SearchResultSerializer and SearchResponseSerializer
- Implemented search_api_view with model formatters (employee, department, post, request, chat, message, event)
- Registered search endpoint in api/v1/urls.py
- Added permission check for requests (HR can see all, users only their own)
Frontend:
- Added SearchResponse, SearchResult, SearchModelType types
- Added apiClient.search() method in lib/api.ts
- Completely rewrote search/page.tsx:
* Single API call instead of 6 parallel requests
* Cleaner UI with icons for each result type
* Real-time search with loading states
* Meta information display (email, phone, status, etc.)
* Better performance and UX
Benefits:
- Frontend: 220 lines → 178 lines (19% reduction)
- 1 API request instead of 6 (83% less network calls)
- Server-side full-text search via watson (better relevance)
- Unified search results with metadata
Testing:
- API endpoint verified at /api/v1/search/?q=test
- Returns JSON with query, results, counts, total
- Requires authentication (IsAuthenticated decorator)
