Difference between MoreLikeThisHandler and search MoreLikeThisComponent in SOLR?

Question

Is there any difference between MoreLikeThisHandler and search MoreLikeThisComponent in SOLR?

Difference between

http://mycompany.com/solr/collection1/select?qt=mlt&q=promotion_pkey:1&defType=edismax&mlt=true&mlt.fl=promotion_message&fl=promotion_message,score

and

http://mycompany.com/solr/collection1/mlt?qt=mlt&q=promotion_pkey:1&mlt=true&mlt.fl=promotion_message&fl=promotion_message,score

Answer 1

Generally, a request handler in Solr will use one or more components to process the actual work.

The first request is using the default search handler, which is also configured to make use of the MoreLikeThisHandler. The latter request is going to a Handler set up to use the MoreLikeThisComponent exclusively.

The main differences in behavior for each request are in the other components loaded by the handler, and the various default parameters and values configured into each handler. This will depend on the specifics of your solrconfig.xml.