Catalog search bean

The catalog search functionality is implemented by a data bean that generates SQL queries against the database.

These queries can perform simple searches based on string combinations or more powerful searches based on Boolean expressions. The search is capable of searching rich attributes as well. You can implement searches based on either product or category. Use the com.ibm.commerce.search.beans.CatEntrySearchListDataBean for a product or item search and the com.ibm.commerce.search.beans.CategorySearchListDataBean for a category search. Furthermore, the catalog search feature underlies the Product Advisor's base search space format.

Note: During development, it is useful to enable tracing on the component WC_SEARCH. By looking at the trace log, you can see the generated SQL.