Results pages

A results page is used by Funnelback to display a set of search results to an end user.

It contains configuration and templating relating to a search results page provided by Funnelback and includes:

  • Templating for the search results.

  • Display settings that define properties about what is displayed by Funnelback (e.g. what metadata fields to return, how to sort the search results).

  • Ranking settings that define how the order of search results will be determined.

  • Feature configuration such as faceted navigation, auto-completion and extra searches that will be used to supplement the search results.

Reporting such as usage analytics, content and accessibility auditing is also produced for each results page.

A results page is similar to a service-enabled profile from older versions of Funnelback.

Create a results page

  1. From the search dashboard home page locate your search package in the main listing.

  2. Click on the results pages tab for the search package.

  3. Click the add results page button.

  4. Enter a name for the results page.

  5. (optional) Upload a thumbnail image for the results page.

  6. Review the choices you have made then click finish to create the results page.

Naming advice:

  • Keep the names succinct and meaningful, concentrating on the purpose (e.g. public-website, intranet).

  • Avoid having the data source type as part of the name.

  • Use well known abbreviations like usa for United States of America

  • Don’t use shortened names for example by dropping a few letrs cos its hrd 2 undrstnd.

  • Avoid using complete domain names (e.g. www-client-com-au)

The same process can be used to add additional results pages.

Manage a results page

The results page management screen is accessed in the following way:

  1. From the search dashboard home page locate your search package in the main listing.

  2. Click on the results pages tab for the search package.

  3. Click on the name of the results page that you wish to edit, or select configuration from the settings menu.

The management screen provides options to:

Rename a results page

This updates the name displayed for a results page. It does not change the results page ID (as used for the profile parameter in searches). The results page ID cannot be changed.

To update the results page name:

  1. Open the results page screen, then select edit results page configuration from the customize panel.

  2. Edit (or create) the service.title option and enter the desired name.

  3. Save and publish the change. The new results page name will be displayed as soon as the save is complete.

Results page analytics and reporting

Analytics and content reporting can also be accessed from the search results configuration screen, providing access to:

Create data source specific templating

If your search package comprises a number of different data source types, for example a web plus a database data source, then the search results will be a heterogeneous mix of records. The results page templates should use an <#if /> FreeMarker clause to identify the data source and format the record appropriately.

For example, if you had a database collection called library you could format results differently with the following:

<#if r.collection == "library">
  <a href="${r.cacheUrl}">${r.title}</a>
  <b>Library Record</b> - ${r.date?date?string.short}
  <#if r.listMetadata["y"]?first??>
    <span class="summary_label">ISBN:</span><${r.listMetadata["y"]?first!}<br />
  </#if>
</#if>
<#if r.collection != "library">
  <a href="${r.cacheUrl}">${r.title}</a>
  <b>Other Record</b> - ${r.date?date?string.short}
  <#if r.listMetadata["a"]?first??>
    <span class="summary_label">Author:</span><${r.listMetadata["a"]?first!}<br />
  </#if>
</#if>

Note that r.cacheUrl is used for the links to the library records as they are the rows extracted from the database (as XML files).

Search package scoping and ranking options

Scoping search results to a subset of data sources

Search results can be restricted to a subset of data sources at query time by supplying the clive CGI parameter or results page option.

Example: restrict results to the intranet and staffdir data sources of the internal-search search package:

Using CGI clive parameter(s):

http://FUNNELBACK_SERVER/s/search.html?collection=internal-search&query=hr&clive=intranet,staffdir

or

http://FUNNELBACK_SERVER/s/search.html?collection=internal-search&query=hr&clive=intranet&clive=staffdir

Using a query processor option, set in the results page options, specifying -clive parameters for each data source:

-clive=intranet -clive=staff

Filter the search results by data source

Filtering of results by data source can be achieved by configuring faceted navigation with category values based on data source.

Same collection suppression

Same collection suppression is a result diversification option that allows the down-weighting of consecutive results from the same data source.

Up-weighting or down-weighting results from a data source

It is possible to up-weight or down-weighting results based on the data source that they are sourced from.

Document level security

If any of the selected data sources have early binding document level security, the following option must be added to the results page configuration for the search package to maintain security processing.

security.earlybinding.user-to-key-mapper=Meta