Defining menu element search properties

Specify the search criteria to be used when generating the menu element. You can limit the search according to content item profile settings including authoring templates, site areas, categories and keywords.

By default, a menu element retrieves content that matches any of the content item profile settings. Selecting one or more of the search criteria will limit the search to the selected criteria.

1. Select the search criteria types you would like to use in this search query, and then enter the following details.

2. To exclude the currently displayed content item if returned in the search results, select Exclude current content item from results.

3. To search for content items that are based on specific authoring templates:

   1. Click Select Authoring Templates to search for content items that use the selected authoring templates.

   2. Use the following options to dynamically create search criteria:

      • To include authoring templates that are defined in a rendering portlet configuration in the search, select User-specified rendering portlet configuration.

      • To include the authoring template used by the currently displayed content item, select Current authoring template.

      • Enter query string parameter to search for.

        For example, if you entered myquery in this field, a menu displayed on a page whose URL contained a search query ?myquery=library1/shoes would display content that used an authoring template called shoes from the library called library1. If no library is specified in the original URL, the default library specified in WCMConfigService.properties is used.

      • Select Merge selected authoring templates with included authoring templates to add authoring templates selected in the Further Options section to the selected authoring templates.

      • Select Replace selected authoring templates with included authoring templates to replace the selected authoring templates with authoring templates selected in the Further Options section. If no authoring templates are found using the criteria entered in the Further Options section, then the selected authoring templates are used.

   Menus will search for content that use a specific authoring template from any library. To restrict a search to items from a specific library, you should select only site areas that belong to that library in step 4.

4. To search for content items that are located within specific site areas:

   1. To include all ancestors of the selected site areas in the search, select Include Ancestors.

   2. To include all descendants of the selected site areas in the search, select Include Descendants.

   3. Click Select Site Areas and to search for content items located within the selected site areas.

   4. Use the following options to dynamically create search criteria:

      • To include site areas that are defined in a rendering portlet configuration in the search, select User-specified rendering portlet configuration.

      • To include the site area the currently displayed content item is located under in the search, select Current content.

      • Select the site areas you would like restrict the search to. Only the selected site areas that also are found in the portlet-defined or content-defined site areas will be used in the search.

      • Enter a query string parameter to search for.

        For example, if you entered myquery in this field, a menu displayed on a page whose URL contained a search query ?myquery=library1/shoes would display content located under a site area called shoes from the library called library1. If no library is specified in the original URL, the default library specified in WCMConfigService.properties is used.

      • Select Merge selected site areas with included site areas to add site areas selected in the Further Options section to the selected site areas.

      • Select Replace selected site areas with included site areas to replace the selected site areas with site areas selected in the Further Options section. If no site areas are found using the criteria entered in the Further Options section, then the selected site areas are used.

5. To search for content items that are profiled using specific categories:

   1. To include all ancestors of the selected categories in the search, select Include Ancestors.

   2. To include all descendants of the selected categories in the search, select Include Descendants.

   3. To only return content items profiled with all selected categories, select Results must match All Categories.

   4. Click Select Category to search for content items that are profiled with the selected categories.

   5. Use the following options to dynamically create search criteria:

      • To include categories that are defined in a rendering portlet configuration in the search, select User-specified rendering portlet configuration.

      • To include the categories the currently displayed content item is profiled with in the search, select Current content.

      • To include the categories the current user is profiled with in the search, select Current user.

      • Select the categories you would like restrict the search to. Only the selected categories that also are found in the portlet-defined, user-defined or content-defined categories will be used in the search.

      • Enter a query string parameter to search for.

        For example, if you entered myquery in this field, a menu displayed on a page whose URL contained a search query ?myquery=library1/shoes would display content profiled with a category called shoes from the library called library1. If no library is specified in the original URL the library of the current content item is used, and if that cannot be resolved the default library specified in WCMConfigService.properties is used.

        If a category exists in more than one taxonomy, only the first found category will be used by the search query. You cannot specify a taxonomy name in the search query. You should rename one of the categories to ensure the search query uses the correct category.

      • Select Merge selected categories with included categories to add categories selected in the Further Options section to the selected categories.

      • Select Replace selected categories with included categories to replace the selected categories with categories selected in the Further Options section. If no categories are found using the criteria entered in the Further Options section, then the selected categories are used.

   Menus will search for items profiled with categories from any library. To restrict a search to items from a specific library, you should select only site areas that belong to that library in step 4.

6. To search for content items that are profiled using specific keywords, enter keywords to search for in the Matching Content Keywords field separated by commas. Keyword searches are case sensitive.

   1. Use the following options to dynamically create search criteria:

      • To include the keywords the currently displayed content item is profiled with in the search, select Current content.

      • To include the keywords the current user is profiled with in the search, select Current user.

      • Enter a query string parameter to search for.

        For example, if you entered myquery in this field, a menu displayed on a page whose URL contained a search query ?myquery=shoes would display content profiled with a keyword called shoes. No library is specified when using query strings with keywords.

   Menus will search for items profiled with keywords from any library.

   To restrict a search to items from a specific library, you should select only site areas that belong to that library in step 4.

Parent topic:

Creating a menu component

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