Search-based navigation

Search-based navigation enhances starter stores by performing searches against categories when you browse a storefront catalog. All immediate categories and products are returned in the results, and can also include subcategories to increase its scope. With search-based navigation enabled, the storefront benefits include improved search performance and accuracy, search rules, and faceted navigation. As a result, the storefront delivers a perception of a personalized browsing experience in starter stores.
Shoppers can navigate the storefront catalog in the following ways:
Quick search

A search field with auto-suggest functions, integrated into the store's header at the top of the page. Shoppers can perform quick searches from any store page within the site.

The auto-suggest menu contains suggested keywords, categories, brands, site content, and search history.

Category-based navigation
A category-based navigation technique, which is driven by the header's top navigation menu. Effective when the shopper knows exactly which category their wanted products are located.
Faceted navigation
A process of browsing information by filtering a set of topics by progressively selecting from only valid values of a faceted classification system, which is a predefined collection of facets.
Catalog entries must contain multiple facets to be effective in the storefront. Therefore, facets are not shown in the storefront by default for those catalog entries that contain only one facet.
Advanced search

A variation of quick search, but allows for more detailed searching criteria to be specified. Useful when the shopper knows their range of criteria or conditions to be used to narrow the scope of search results.

Catalog navigation service for the storefront

The Catalog navigation noun that is used with the storefront Catalog service is called the CatalogNavigationView. This noun represents a business response of a catalog browsing request. It contains a list of subproducts, called CatalogEntryView, and a list of subcategories, called CatalogGroupView.

The following descriptions outline the service details:
  • Component: Catalog
  • Noun: CatalogNavigationView
  • Namespace: http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/commerce/9/catalog
  • Prefix: _cat
Where:
CatalogNavigationViewType
Represents a business response of a catalog browsing request. Contains a list of subproducts, called CatalogEntryView, and a list of subcategories, called CatalogGroupView.
CatalogEntryViewType
Defines a list of catalog entries within the catalog navigation view scope.
CatalogGroupViewType
Defines a list of catalog groups within the catalog navigation view scope.
FacetViewType
Contains a list of facet entry view types.
FacetEntryViewType
Defines a label and a count for each facet entry.
BreadCrumbTrailViewType
Contains a list of breadcrumb entry view types.
BreadCrumbTrailEntryViewType
Defines a label for this browsing history entry.
PriceViewType
Defines a price string that is used by storefront catalog entry view.
AttributeViewType
A view type definition of Catalog entry attributes that represent a group of catalog entry attributes.
AttachmentAssetViewType
A view type definition for an attachment asset.
SuggestionViewType
Represents a container for navigation suggestions, for example, "Brand" or "Category" suggestions.
SuggestionEntryViewType
Represents an entry in a navigation suggestion container. For example, for the container Brand, an entry might be Sharpson.
PreviewReportType
Contains a list of messages for creating a report within search preview.
WebContentView
Facilitates storing the search results used by the JSP file. It helps the JSP file make service calls to the search server.
Note: The search and navigation services that are provided in the Catalog component service module are of type Get.

For more information, see CatalogEntry.

When you model the business data for browsing and search in the storefront, the approach is to model as many requirements from the storefront as possible using the search index. It is because most of the storefront browsing and search requests are read-only and therefore this access model fits best with a search index. However, if there exists more personalized information that needs to be calculated at runtime based on certain user-specific context, such as contract, then the information can be retrieved or recalculated on-demand through this Catalog browsing service's business object mediator. For example, overriding the indexed price amount with the calculated offer price for only the items on the current search result page.