With SXA 9.3 two new search features have been introduced. First, we have the aggregated search filter. This component allows you to create dynamic filters sets, which will automatically adapt to the content available in the search results. Then we have the facet summary, which shows the facets applied and allows you to remove them individually or all at once.
So how does it work. Let’s look at a simple example. Here we have a simple search page. Facets on the left side, and the results on the right.
On the left side you see the facets. The “Size” facet and the “Colour” facet are part of the aggregated facet filter component. Since we haven’t applied any facets to our results yet, the Facet Summary component is hidden.
When we open this page in the Experience Editor you will see the following sets of components:
When you want to select any of the facets mentioned earlier, you will see that it selects the component which holds the three facets. This component (the aggregated search filter) uses rendering variants to define which facets need to be shown. In the example above we are simply using the default rendering variant.
The rendering variant also defines which facets are being shown. When we look at the rendering variant definition used above, we see this structure:
You might notice that our rendering variants holds three facets while the search page only shows two facets. That is because one of the improvements made in SXA 9.3 is that facets have become smarter. As soon as the items in the search results do not have a field value that matches the facet will be hidden. This means that as soon as you apply one facets all the other facets will quickly evaluate whether they need to be shown, if not they will hide as well to limit the facets to those who can be applied.
Combine this with the aggregated facet filter and you are now able to create preconfigured sets of facets and add those to a page. The aggregated search filter simply combines existing facets and groups them. This will reduce the amount of effort when you are setting up any search driven pages. You can now simply add an aggregated facet filter component and all those facets at once. This is extremely helpful for those who are building catalog pages.
The other new component is the facet summary. The facet summary gives the user an overview of all the facets applied to the current set of results.
In our example search have now selected the fruit color green and medium as our size. On the left side, just above the facets you can now see our facet summary which gives the visitor the option to remove a facet or clear all the facets at once.
As you can see it easier than ever to create a faceted search with the introduction of the new aggregated facet filter and the facet summary.