While I was DRYing up some code, I noticed that a lot of my Sunspot searches were using the same options over and over. Default scope is a nice option in ActiveRecord queries, why not in our searches?

class Item
  # simple default scope to add an order_by to all queries
  def self.default_search_scope(&additional)
    search = Sunspot.new_search(Item)
    search.build(&additional)
    search.build do
      order_by :created_at, :desc
    end
    search.execute
    search.results
  end

  # pardon the contrived example
  def self.with_keywords(user, query)
    default_search_scope do
      keywords query
    end
  end
end

This way you can specify your search options in the Sunspot DSL from each method, while moving repetitive options to a single location. Clean, readable, and effective.

Great props to Mr Mat for his help