This post describes the Sitecore Experience Accelerator Search Service. You will find here a description of each parameter, example values and server responses

Introduction

Sitecore Experience Accelerator Search Service is a search endpoint used by Search feature. In this post, you will get know how to use it, what are the available parameters and how an example response looks like.

Endpoint

Search route is registered in the Initialize pipeline via Sitecore.XA.Foundation.Search.Pipelines.Initialize.InitializeRouting class.

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RouteTable.Routes.MapHttpRoute(route + "sxa", route + "sxa/{controller}/{action}").RouteHandler = new SessionHttpControllerRouteHandler();

SXA delivers SearchController with two actions inside:

• Results
• Facets

Results

Description: Runs search and returns results.

Endpoint url: https://domain/sxa/search/results

Parameters:

• v - rendering variant ID used during rendering each search result item. Output will be rendered into Html parameter. If unspecified null value will be returned ¹,
• q - query term,
• s - search scope ID for narrowing search results ²,
• l - comma or pipe separated list of language versions to include,
• g - latitude and longitude of the geolocation used for spatial search,
• n - comma or pipe separated list of fields used to render item’s name,
• o - ordering column and sorting direction,
• e - offset, i.e. number of top search results to exclude,
• p - page size, i.e. number of search results to return,
• sig - signature of the search result component. ³

Example parameters:

Example result:

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{
    "TotalTime": 111,
    "CountTime": 4,
    "QueryTime": 91,
    "Signature": null,
    "Index": "sitecore_master_index",
    "Count": 2,
    "Results": [{
        "Id": "1abe17cb-1e86-4ff8-bcee-909b6b0404dd",
        "Language": "en",
        "Path": "/sitecore/content/SXA Reference/Playground/int/Home/renderings",
        "Url": "/renderings",
        "Name": "Renderings",
        "Html": null
    }, {
        "Id": "81003e8d-4232-433d-849e-6ca9574b5bd1",
        "Language": "en",
        "Path": "/sitecore/content/SXA Reference/Playground/int/Home/movies",
        "Url": "/movies",
        "Name": "Movies",
        "Html": null
    }]
}

Facets

Description: Runs search and returns facets.

Endpoint url: https://domain/sxa/search/facets

Parameters:

• f - comma or pipe separated list of facets to return,
• q - query term user entered into the search box,
• s - scope ID for narrowing down search result ²,
• l - comma or pipe separated list of language versions to include,
• g - latitude and longitude of the geolocation used for spatial search,
• sig - signature of the search result component ³.

Example parameters:

Example result:

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{
    "TotalTime": 31,
    "QueryTime": 4,
    "Signature": null,
    "Index": "sitecore_master_index",
    "Facets": [{
        "Key": "sxatags",
        "Name": "sxatags",
        "Values": [{
            "Name": "composites",
            "Count": 4
        }, {
            "Name": "context",
            "Count": 2
        }, {
            "Name": "page content",
            "Count": 10
        }]
    }]
}

Summary

Playing with search endpoint should be much easier right now. If you feel that you lack some knowledge about SXA features make sure you are familiar with links below.

In case of any problems with search feel free to ask in the comments section below or reach us on #sxa slack channel.

^{1. Rendering variants are configurable adaptations of the default renderings. More: Create a rendering variant}

^{2. Search scopes can be used to limit search results based on conditions. More: SXA Search}

^{3. Walkthrough: Adding search functionality to your page}