The following concepts are unique to Dynamic Search and Navigation and Search Merchandising, which are features in ATG Merchandising that are available only to those users who also have ATG Search:
Search Configuration
A search configuration contains rules and settings that affect how site search results display to a group of site visitors. Each search configuration has a particular language or user segment called a dimension that acts as a filtering device. A search configuration applies to only those visitors who meet the language and segment restrictions.
Base Search Configuration
A base search configuration is a search configuration that acts as a template by providing settings that are inherited or overridden in the search configurations that use it.
Search Configuration Folder
A search configuration folder is a folder that organizes search configurations into a tree structure. Different from other folders, a search configuration folder has a dimension that restricts the site visitors who access the search configurations it contains. In order for a search configuration to be applied to a visitor’s search results, that visitor must be part of the language or segment groupings defined by the search configuration and its parent search configuration folders.
Dimension
A dimension is a characteristic that governs the visitors whose search results are affected by a given search configuration. Two types of dimensions are possible:
Language dimensions limit access based on a visitor’s language
User segments group users based on profile characteristics
Search configuration folders always specify a dimension, and the assets they contain - regardless of whether they are search configurations or search configuration folders - must specify a value for that dimension.
Facet
A facet is an asset available to users who have ATG Search and ATG Merchandising. Use facets to design virtual groupings (selections) of products based on a product property. Site pages that use facets show a range of selections named for product property values or letters in the alphabet that represent them. By clicking an A-C selection, you view products, for example, that have a manufacturer name that begins with those letters. A facet may organize all products on your site or a subset of products, for example, those contained within a given category: the products available to a facet depends on whether your facet is global (associated with the Global Facets folder) or local (associated with a specific catalog or category).
