Making a dimension value non-navigable (inert)

Marking a dimension value as inert (or non-navigable) indicates that the dimension value should not be included in any navigation state, although it can be displayed in a user interface to help guide the end-user toward a selection.

When a user selects an inert dimension value, the navigation state is not changed, but the children of the dimension value are displayed for selection.

For example, if a Wineries dimension contains 1000 wineries and there is no geographic information from which to create a meaningful hierarchy, you can create a non-navigable alphabetical hierarchy. The first set of refinements returned for the Winery dimension would be the non-navigable refinements (such as A, B, C, and so on). When a user selects 'A,' the resulting query returns the same record set but the winery refinements are limited to those wineries whose name begins with A.

Note: For a common inert dimension use case scenario, see A typical scenario.

To make a dimension value non-navigable:

In the Dimension Values view, double-click the name of the dimension value that you want to change to open it in the Dimension Value editor.
Click Inert.
Click OK.

Fully implementing this feature requires additional work outside of Developer Studio. Please refer to the Endeca Basic Development Guide for details.