In the previous chapter, you were introduced to the dismax query parser as the preferred choice for user queries. The parser for user queries is set with the defType parameter. The syntax, the fields that are queried (with boosts)—qf, the min-should-match syntax—mm, and the default query—q.alt, were already described. We're now going to cover the remaining features: the ones that most closely relate to scoring.
Note
Any mention herein to dismax applies to the edismax query parser too, unless specified otherwise. As explained in the previous chapter, edismax is the extended DisMax parser. It is generally superior to dismax, as you'll see in the upcoming section.