Creating a custom search form

Using the Custom Search portlet, you can create unique search submission forms that meet very specific search requirements.

For example, you can determine which actions can be performed by users of the search form and which links, buttons, headings and are displayed on the search form.

You must be the administrator, a page builder or have the appropriate privileges to edit the default settings of the Custom Search portlet.

To create a custom search form:

Navigate to the page that contains the Custom Search portlet.
Click Edit Page to switch to Edit mode.
Click (Actions) beside the portlet.
Click Edit Defaults.

Note: All the options for the Custom Search portlet are described in the online Help. Click to display context sensitive Help for a particular screen.
On the Portlet Type tab:
1. To specify that users of this portlet can enter search criteria, select Display a search form for users to fill in.
2. Change the Portlet Header Title if you wish.
Click the What to Search tab, to restrict the page groups and content type to search:
1. For What type of content should be searched?, choose whether to search for items, pages, categories, perspectives or any of these.
2. For Which page groups should be searched?, choose all, or select a subset of page groups.
For more information see Restricting portal content from a custom search.
Click the Search Criteria tab, to define a default set of conditions for your search.

For more information see Setting search criteria for a custom search.
Click the Search Form tab to customize many aspects of the search form:
1. Select Search Terms Box and Search Terms Restriction Selector to allow users to enter their own search terms and select a search operator.
2. From the Allow users to section, choose whether users of this search form can control other aspects of the search process such as which page groups to search, how many results are returned, etc.
3. From the Other options section, choose whether links, buttons, headings and are displayed on the search form.
4. From the Attributes section, choose which (if any) attributes are displayed on the search form for users to specify.
5. Select Allow users to add extra attributes to the search and/or Allow users to choose Match Any/Match All for attributes to let the user of the search form choose which additional attributes to include in the search, their values and the attribute operator.
Click OK.

The custom search form displays the details you have specified.