Index layout file manually prints braces, quotes, keys, and values to build index.json, but fails to place commas

[aniket866]

Closes #556

Describe the bug

Description

The search index layout file manually prints braces, quotes, keys, and values to build index.json, but fails to place commas between items in the page range loop, or prints trailing commas when pages are excluded.

• File Link: themes/microcks/layouts/_default/index.json
• Code Snippet:

  }{{- if eq $item $len -}}{{- else -}},{{- end -}}

Why It Breaks

Without proper comma delimiters between items in the inner loop, the result is malformed JSON. Furthermore, if a page is excluded (e.g., ignoreSearch: true), the hardcoded comma rendering logic results in trailing commas (e.g. [ { ... }, ]) or consecutive commas (e.g., ,,). This causes JSON.parse() to throw a syntax error in the browser and completely breaks the search capability.

How to Reproduce

1. Configure any documentation page with ignoreSearch = true in frontmatter.
2. Build the Hugo site: hugo.
3. Open the output file public/index.json and validate it using a JSON validator (like JSON.parse() in Node.js).
4. Observe the parsing failure due to syntax error.

[yada]

The jsonify approach fixes the fragile delimiter handling, but the final commit introduces a search-index regression. Moving the section-expansion block outside .Pages.GroupBy "Section" and checking $.Section means it never executes for the homepage.

The generated index drops from 174 entries to 9, removing all Author, Blog, and Documentation results. Please keep that block inside the inner page loop, using the current page’s .Section and .Title, then serialize the accumulated entries with jsonify. A test should also parse index.json and verify representative documentation and blog URLs remain indexed.

Last but not least, the PR should be revised into a Hugo-native, test-covered solution before merging:

1. Use a local newScratch instead of deprecated page-level $.Scratch.
2. Add a build test that parses public/index.json and checks representative Blog and Documentation URLs.
3. Either centralize the shared logic in a partial or confirm whether the duplicate documentation template is still needed.

[Vaishnav88sk]

I think this needs to be tested and verified locally to avoid previous consequences (c9ed769).

[yada]

@aniket866 any news regarding the requested change? Thanks

[aniket866]

@yada I have done the requested changes , sorry for the delay , let me know any more changes required , I will be doing that actively.