Sorting products using deep search sequencing

Deep search sequencing refers to the process of ordering products within a category and all its subcategories. This process is used to enhance the storefront by using Category-based browsing flows that customers can use to browse products.

About this task

This task enables deep search sequencing by sorting by both category sequence and product sequence. This is done by setting the EnableDeepProductSequence value to true in the catalog component configuration files on both the WebSphere Commerce and Search EAR files.

Alternatively, if you want to enable sorting only by product sequence, instead set the EnableDeepProductSequence value to false in the catalog component configuration files on both the WebSphere Commerce and Search EAR files.

Procedure

Configure the search properties in the catalog component configuration file (wc-component.xml) on the WebSphere Commerce server.

The catalog component configuration file is stored in the following location on the WebSphere Commerce EAR:

WC_eardir/xml/config/com.ibm.commerce.catalog-fep/wc-component.xml

The default catalog component configuration file.

WC_eardir/xml/config/com.ibm.commerce.catalog-ext/wc-component.xml

The extended catalog component configuration file. This customized version of the file contains only the changed properties.
1. Open the catalog component configuration file on the WebSphere Commerce server for editing. If the file does not exist you can create it. For more information on creating and customizing the file, see tde_wcsearch_wccomponentconfig.html.
  For more information about the values within the file, see:
  - Search properties in the component configuration file (wc-component.xml) (WebSphere Commerce EAR)
  - Search properties in the component configuration file (wc-component.xml) (Search EAR)
2. Set the following property:
```
<_config:property name="EnableDeepProductSequence" value="true" />
```
  Where EnableDeepProductSequence enables deep search sequencing by sorting by both category sequence and product sequence.
  For more information about setting values in the file, see:
  - Changing properties in the component configuration file (wc-component.xml) (WC EAR)
  - Changing properties in the component configuration file (wc-component.xml) (Search EAR)
3. Save and close the configuration file.
Configure the search properties in the search component configuration file (wc-component.xml) on the Search application server.

The catalog component configuration file is stored in the following location on the Search EAR:

Search_eardir/xml/config/com.ibm.commerce.catalog/wc-component.xml

The default catalog component configuration file for the search application.

Search_eardir/xml/config/com.ibm.commerce.catalog-ext/wc-component.xml

The extended catalog component configuration file for the search application.
1. Set the following property.
```
<_config:property name="EnableDeepProductSequence" value="true" />
```
2. Save and close the configuration file.
Deploy the customized files to the production environment.

Preprocess the WebSphere Commerce search index data, passing in the following extra parameter:


-deepSequence true

For example,

 sudo -u wasuser ./di-preprocess.sh /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/auth/installedApps/WC_auth_cell/WC_auth.ear/xml/search/dataImport/v3/db2
      -instance auth -dbuser wcsdb -dbuserpwd wcs9dbpw -masterCatalogId 10001 -deepSequence true

Build the WebSphere Commerce Search index.
Restart the Search and Transaction servers.

What to do next

After enabling deep search sequencing, you can browse the storefront and see that products are sequenced across a category and all of its subcategories.