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Manage Custom Search Fields

Understanding Custom Search Fields

Custom Search Fields are an extremely powerful feature in ProductCart. Here are some of the things that they allow you to do:
  • Display Additional Product Properties - Custom Search Fields allow you to display product information on the product details page separately from the product description, with each field linking to other products that share the same property (e.g. on a wine store you could see all wine from 1995 with one click).
  • Use Additional Search Filters on the Advanced Search Page -  Custom Search Fields, when setup to be visible in the storefront, can become additional search filters added to the advanced search page (search.asp). These additional search criteria are shown in the Filter by section of the page, which is only visible if custom search filters have been assigned to active products in the store. The first drop-down menu contains the field name (e.g. “Made In”), while the second drop-down shows all the values associated with that field name that are being used on the store (e.g. “USA”, “China”, “Italy”, etc.). When the user selects an entry from the first drop-down menu, the second menu is populated automatically with the corresponding values. Note that not all search field values are shown, but only the ones that are associated with active products.
  • Allow for Drill-Down Navigation - This is a feature that becomes incredibly useful to your customers when they are dealing with large product categories. For example, assume you sell computer printers and the “Printers” category contains 200 products. How can your customers quickly narrow down the list by type of printer (e.g. Inkjet vs. Laser), operating system (e.g. Windows vs. Mac), etc.? That is what "Drill Down Navigation" is for.
  • Use Additional Product Properties when Exporting a Data Feed  - Custom Search Fields can be hidden in the storefront and become strictly “product properties” used for other purposes. For example, you can use them to import, store and export product specific information such as the UPC, MPN, or ISBN codes. These are useful when creating data feeds for comparison shopping engines and product directories (e.g. Google Base, Live Search Cashback, etc.).

Whilst the use of Custom Search Fileds can be very useful, they should be used sparingly if possible. Where many Custom Search Fields are used we have seen performance issues in the drill down searching. We will endevorto review the reasons behind this in the future, but in the meanwhile we recommend defining them starting with the most important and testing the impact on the performance as you go - it's a balancing act between adding functionality through additional search fields and keeping performance acceptable.
 

Adding and Editing Custom Search Fields

Log into your ProductCart Control Panel and select Products > Manage Custom Fields > Manage Custom Search Fields. This is the page where you can:
  • Add a new Custom Search Field
  • Edit its name and some useful properties
  • Associate field values with it
  • Associate product categories with it
 
Add a New Custom Search Field
At the bottom of the page there is a form entitled “Add new custom search field:”. To add a new custom search field fill out the form as described below.

1. Fill out the following details
  • Field Name - The title of the search field
  • Field Order - The order in which the search field will be displayed.
  • Display Options - Allows you to show or hide the search field in different areas of the shopping cart. For instance, you can create a search field for drill down navigation and hide it from the search page.
2. Click the Add New button
 
Edit The Name and Some Useful Properties
Use this page to edit any of the options you selected when you created your search field in the previous steps. To edit the search field be sure to check the box on the left hand region of the page next to field you wish to edit, or select “Check All”. Edit any of the options listed below.
  • Field Name
  • Field Order
  • CP Search- Display on the Advanced Search pages in the Control Panel
  • SF Search- SF Search - Display on the Advanced Search page in the storefront (search.asp)
  • CP Details- Display on the Modify Product page in the Control Panel
  • SF Details-Display on the Product Details page in the storefront (viewPrd.asp)
When you have finished editing the values click Update Selected to save
 
Associate Field Values with it
Next to each search field is a set of icons. Click the first icon to add values to your search field. If you are not sure which icon to click just roll your mouse pointer over the icon to view what it does. When you click on the “Display Values” icon you will be taken to a page called “Manage Search Field Values”. To add your new value simply type its name in the “New Value” field. Then type its order in the “Order” field. Lastly, click the Add New button.
 
Associate Product Categories with it
Next to each search field is a set of icons. Click the third icon to associate product categories to your search field. If you are not sure which icon to click just roll your mouse pointer over the icon to view what it does. When you click on the “Show Categories Associated with this search field” icon you will view a pop-up that works exactly like the category assignment tool on the product details page. A pop-up window will allow you to easily check or uncheck the categories that the selected search field should be assigned to or removed from. When you are done, click on Update and you will be returned to the custom search field page.