Set up a basic product search

Add a search box to your website so visitors can find products by product code, name, and keywords. This guide uses ModdEngine’s embedded search engine and shows results on a dedicated Search Results page.

The example uses an index key of products. Use this exact key throughout the setup so the search box and results list connect to the same index.

Before you begin

You will need:

• A U do site / Artsphere version higher than v26.8.4

• Administrator access to Search Setup.

• Permission to edit and publish website pages.

• Published, enabled products with product codes, titles, or keywords.

If Search Setup is missing or reports that the search service cannot synchronize, ask your developer to check the installation before continuing.

1. Create the product search index

A search index is the searchable collection of product information. It does not replace your product records.

Open Settings → Search Setup, then click Add index.

Enter these settings:

• Index name: Products

• Index key: products

• Document types: Select the product types used by your catalogue (SImple Products, Artworks, etc)

For a catalogue using Simple Products, select the document type with code prodsimple. If your catalogue uses several product types, include each type visitors should be able to find.

The index name is a descriptive label. The index key connects the index to your website’s search blocks. Keep the key unchanged once your pages use it.

Enable these fields:

• code (Partial Matching) Weight :10

• title (Partial Matching) Weight: 5

• keywords (Stemmed) Weight: 3

Leave summary and text disabled for this basic setup. You could enable text to find based on text on the page eg. enable text (Stemmed) Weight: 1

Partial matching lets visitors search for part of a product code or title. For example, ABC can match a product code containing ABC123. Matching is case insensitive.

Weights influence result relevance. These starting values give product-code matches more influence than title or keyword matches. They do not guarantee a fixed position for every result.

2. Build the index

Click Save and Rebuild.

Wait for the confirmation:

• Search settings saved and synchronized.

The rebuild reads the existing products and creates their searchable entries. Larger catalogues may take longer.

Results can be incomplete while a rebuild runs. If a rebuild fails, it can leave partial results; resolve the reported problem and use Save and Rebuild again.

After setup, product publish and delete events automatically synchronize affected documents. You do not need to rebuild after every normal product edit.

3. Create the Search Results page

Create a website page called Search Results, or open the page you want to use.

Add a Content Filter block to display the matching products.

Open the block’s Filter settings and configure:

• Relation Type: Enter _search#products as a custom value

• Tags: Leave blank

• Group ID: Leave blank

• Sort By: Leave unset for search relevance

• Limit: 30

Remove any existing product-type selections from the Type field before entering _search#products. This value selects the search model; the product types themselves are already configured in Search Setup.

If you are configuring the source directly in a Hamle template, the equivalent expression is:

$(_search#products:20)

Choose or configure a product-card layout for the Content Filter. Each result is a normal product document, so you can display its image, title, price, and product-page link using your usual product layout.

Keep the result limit at 30 initially. Changing the limit controls how many results are displayed; it does not create pagination.

4. Add the search box

Add a Simple Search Input block to the Search Results page.

Configure its controls:

• Search Index: products

• Placeholder: Search products…

• Destination page: Your Search Results (if search box is in header)

• Button text: Search or Go

The Search Index value must exactly match the index key from step 1.

You can also place this block on your home page or another website page. Set its destination to the same Search Results page.

When a visitor submits a search, the block opens the destination page with their search term in the URL. For example:

/search-results?q[products]=shoe

Your actual page address may differ.

5. Publish and test

Publish the Search Results page and any other pages where you added the search box.

Test the published website as a visitor, including while logged out. Check your products can be found by the terms you expect, and there is a message when nothing is found.

Also publish a small change to a test product’s title or keywords, then search for the updated text. This checks that ongoing index synchronization works.

An empty search deliberately returns no results. If you want visitors to see featured products before searching, add a separate product list to the page.

Keeping search useful

Use clear product titles and consistent product codes. Add useful alternative names to the product’s keywords field—for example, a common abbreviation or another name customers use.

To search descriptions later, enable summary or text in Search Setup and rebuild the index. English word stems (porter) is available for fields where matching related English word forms is preferable to matching character fragments.

Use Save for routine configuration updates. New or changed index definitions can trigger indexing. Use Save and Rebuild when you need to explicitly rebuild the saved indexes, such as after a failed rebuild or when investigating stale results.

Troubleshooting

ProblemWhat to checkNo products appearConfirm the index contains the correct document types and has synchronized successfully.One product is missingCheck that it is published, enabled, and contains the search term in an enabled search field.Products appear for administrators but not visitorsCheck visitor permissions and the results page’s folder search path.Submitting the form opens the wrong pageCheck the Simple Search Input’s destination page.The results page shows ordinary products regardless of the searchCheck that the Content Filter Type is _search#products.The results list stays emptyEnsure products matches across the index key, search input, and Content Filter.Results stop working after changing sortingRemove the custom sort. Search supports relevance ordering and explicit sorder sorting.Results are incomplete after a rebuild errorResolve the error, then run Save and Rebuild again.Settings save but synchronization failsAsk your developer to check the search service and application logs.

Search results respect the current page’s folder search path and the visitor’s folder/type permissions. Including a product type in an index does not automatically make every product visible from every page.

Moving an existing Solr search

You can set up and test embedded search while the existing Solr search remains available. Replace the old search input and results source when the new page is ready.

Solr facet controls and custom attribute filters do not automatically transfer to this setup. Have those reviewed before removing the old search integration.