FrontLook.com Newsletter Tip

Volume 4 - Issue 6 - September 2004

Adding a Search Areas Menu to your Quick Search Form
By David Pfeiffer of FrontLook.com

Several FrontLook Site Search Engine customers have asked if it is possible to add a Search Areas drop-Down menu to the Quick Search Form, much like Amazon.com com does (we have added this feature to our Home page Quick Search Form in the right border). This tip will take you through the steps to add this menu to your Quick Search form.

Step 1: Locate your sets.inc file
First you will need to bring up your "Sets.inc file to gain access to your Search Area Names and Search Area ID numbers. You will find the sets.inc file in the "_frontlook/SSE" folder of your web. Bring up the file, it should look something like the file below:

maxid|6
default.inc|General|1
set1.inc|Products|4
set2.inc|Support/Troubleshooting|2
set3.inc|Tips and Tutorials|3
set4.inc|Newsletters|5
set5.inc|Press/Public Relations|6

The search areas begin on the second line of the file. The first item on the line is the name of the .inc files where the page URLs to be searched are maintained (you won't need this info).

The "|" delimiter is used to separate the next two items on the line. The second item is the "Search Area Name" and the third item is the "Search Area ID". Your will need the "Search Area Name" and the "Search Area ID" in the next step. For example, the name of the first search area is "General" and its ID is "1"

Step 2: Insert and Setup a Drop-Down Box Form Element
This steps assumes you have already inserted a Quick Search form on a Page. If not please click here to see a tip on how to do this.

Bring up the page with your Quick Search form on it and place your cursor after (or on the next line of) the "Go" or "Search" button of your Quick Search Form. Then select the "Insert->Form->Drop-Down Box..." item. This will bring up the "Drop-Down Box Properties" dialog.

Set the "Name" field to "Area" and then press the "Add..." button, The "Modify Choice" dialog will appear as illustrated below. Add the Search Areas Name to the Choice field, check the "Specify Value" checkbox and enter the Search Area ID into the "Specify Value" field.

Enter the Search Area Name and Search Area ID

Continue adding the search areas to the Drop-Down Box until your have entered all the

After adding all the Search Area Names and the Search Area IDs

Once all the Search Area Names and IDs have been setup, press the "OK" button and the Search Areas Drop-Down menu will be added to the page as illustrated below:

All AreasProductsSupportTutorials NewslettersPress/PR
Search Area Drop-Down Menu

Step 3: Remove the Quick Search Form Hidden Variable
The next step is the removal of the Quick Search form's Hidden "Area" variable that sets the search area ID for the search page. IF it is not removed, it will conflict with the new Drop-Down Menu value selected by the user.

To do this, right-click anywhere in the area of the Quick Search Form and a popup menu will appear. Select the "Form Properties..." menu item and the "Form Properties" dialog will appear. Press the "Advanced..." button and the "Advanced Form Properties" dialog will appear:

Click on the "Area" list item and press the "Remove" button

After Removing the "Area" Hidden Field

Step 4: Test your new "Search Area" Menu
Now save the page and publish it your server for testing. We have added a "Search Areas" menu to our home page in the right border so you can test the "Search Areas" menu.

New "Search Area" menu in the Quick Search form

To test the "Search Areas" menu, put a word in the "Search" field, select a search area from the "Search Areas" menu and press the Search button to run a search.