Solr: Sort by score & an int field value

Question

I need to sort documents returned in order of (descending) score & (descending) value of an int field within the document. How do I ensure proper sort order as well as good performance ?

I don't need the sort-order defined by sort=score desc,intField desc. The sort order needs to be somewhat like what will be delivered using product function of score*fieldVal as effective score for sort order. But I don't need exact product for sorting. Approximations are ok, & this is just to roughly define the sort order I need.

I can see a few possible ways to accomplish this:

1. Use a customized function of score for sort

2. Use query time boost to increase the score using the int field value for boost

I'm new to Solr & don't understand the performance implications of each of above case. Also, don't know if there are other better ways to accomplish what I am trying to do. So how do I build performance friendly query to achieve this sort order ?

Answer 1

Have a look at solr function queries

http://wiki.apache.org/solr/FunctionQuery

Example: &sort=product(score, fieldVal)