In order to use Search Testing, you need to configure settings on a number of components. Here’s a brief overview of what those components are and how Search Testing uses them to process tests.
When users define tests, they provide criteria in UI fields and select from drop-down lists, some of which are populated by the Search Testing Service with implementation-specific information. More specifically, an administrator specifies the search text languages, sorting options, and testing environments to the Search Testing Service directly or to the search testing environment components it accesses.
When you run a test by clicking Search, the following happens:
The Search Testing Form Handler receives your search input information and passes it to the Search Testing Query Form Handler, which, in turn, passes information to the respective request processor components:
Facet Search Tools uses facet information to determine the
refineConfigthat will be used by the search query as well as the facet selections that will constrain it, updating Query Request accordingly.The Search Configuration Request Processor passes search configuration to Query Request.
All other inputs are passed directly to the Query Request.
The Search Testing Query Form Handler sends the Query Request via Routing components to ATG Search. If your site uses Custom Catalogs and defines and indexes multiple catalogs, all catalogs are searched.
ATG Search generates a result set in the form of an XML document that it sends back through the Routing components, which translate the XML document into a Search Response object.
The Search Testing Query Form Handler receives the Search Response object and passes it to the following components for processing:
Facet Search Tools determines, from the Search Response object, the list of facet values and selections to display.
Search Configuration Redirect Processor uses the Search Response object to determine whether the results activate redirection rules and if so, effectively disables those rules, so that the users are not redirected but instead view test results. In this circumstance, test results will indicate that redirection rules were activated.
Facet Search Tools and Search Configuration Request Processor save their results to the Search Response object via the Search Testing Query Form Handler.
The Search Testing UI receives the Search Response object and displays test results according to the settings (Sorting By, Results, Test Types) specified earlier.
Saving a search test causes the Search Testing Form Handler to create a
searchTestitem in the Search Testing repository.
For more information on the mentioned components, see the Faceted Search and Search Form Handlers chapters in the ATG Commerce Search Guide.
This table contains quick reference information about the components you may need to configure:
Components | Description |
|---|---|
Query Request Location: Class | Receives general test inputs as well as references to the facets and search configurations (or the XML for the repository items) from request processors and Search Testing Form Handler. |
Search Configuration Request Processor Location: Class: | Passes the search configuration that will apply for a given request to Query Request. |
Search Testing Form Handler Location: Class: | Collects the values provided by the fields and controls in the inputs section of the Search Testing UI page, and once the search results are returned from ATG Search, this form handler prepares them for display in the UI. |
Search Testing Query Form Handler Location: Class: | Passes search test inputs to request processing components that assist in the construction of the search query, and then submits the search query, using Routing components, to ATG Search. Later, this form handler passes the search results it receives from ATG Search to processor components that convert them into a response that’s applicable for the Search Testing UI. |
Search Testing Service Location: Class: | Provides options to the Testing Environments, Search Text Language, and Sorting By input options in the Search Testing UI. |
Production Environment Staging Environment Location: Class: | Represents a search index available for testing and provides information about that search index, such as name and language, to the Search Testing Service, which makes it visible in the Search Testing UI. |
