Add search content and design how your search results appear

Prerequisites

• Create a new model

Procedure

Add a new search setting object

1. On the Admin home page, select Search, and then on the Search settings page, select Add.

   You can quickly open the Search settings page if you're on the Search results page by selecting the pencil icon from the toolbar.

   
2. In the Settings dialog box, from the Model list, select the model for which you want to add search content.
3. Applaud uses the model's name in the Title box, but you can override this with your own name for your search. This appears under the Search for section on the search results page.
   
   Each Search setting you add for a model appears under the Search for filters list. To add a filter list for a property, add the Searching, sorting, and filtering feature to the search setting and choose the property you want to use as a filter. The property name appears as the filter list title and the values appear as options to select and by which you can filter the search results.
   
   Only the first five values are shown in any of the filter groups and you need to select Show more to view the rest of the filter's values.
4. When you're happy, select SAVE.

Choose the data for your search setting

1. Applaud populates the Title box from the previous screen, but you can amend it here.
2. If you want to prevent your users from seeing certain results, you can use the filter to remove an item from the search results. Select the Filter data items and choose your filter criteria.

   You can't select this option for access control because users can still access data through other means, such as APIs.

3. If you want to sort your search results for your users, select the Sort data items, and then select a Property and the sort Order.
4. Select CONTINUE.

Design your search result list

1. From the Layouts list, select how you want your search results to appear to your users.

From the Features list, select what you want to include in the list. Then see each feature section in this topic to configure your chosen feature.

• Text
• Avatar / icon / image
• Primary action
• Secondary actions
• Chips
• Searching, sorting, and filtering
  • Searching
  • Sorting
  • Filtering
• On-screen guidance
• Sublist
• Form block

Text

If you selected to display a list of the tasks linked by the foreign key to the model, you wouldn't see these options. Instead, you can only choose if you want to Show the text type in the overline. This won't show simple or approval task types. Instead, this is for the task type you configured, for example, Onboarding or Check-in.

1. Under the Text section, from the Title list, select the property to populate the main element of your block.
2. From the Subtitle list, select the property to populate text that appears under the main title element of your block. This text is less prominent than the title text.
3. From the Overline list, select the property to populate the text that appears just above the title. This text is less prominent than the title text.
4. From the Action text list, select the property to populate the text that appears in the top right of the block. For example, if you add a date property, it shows the time until or time since in an abbreviated form, "6 days ago."

Avatar / icon / image

If you selected to display a list of the tasks linked by the foreign key to the model, you wouldn't see these options. Instead, you can choose from options, Avatar of task owner or Icon of task type.

1. If you want to use an image in your block, from the Style list, choose if you want your image to be in a circle by selecting, Avatar, or show the whole image, select Image. If you want to use an icon to represent the record, select Icon.

   Avatar	Image	Icon

2. From the Image property list, select the property you want to use.
3. From the Placeholder text list, select the property you want to appear when there is no image. For example, you could have property that stores the user's initials and use that as your placeholder text.
4. If you selected to use the Icon, from the Icon property list, choose the property you want to use, and from the Icon color property list, choose the property color you want to use.

   If you see nothing in the list, it means you have no properties in this model with icons or color configured.

5. If you want to use a badge, a little circle in the corner of your avatar or icon to indicate something about the record, select the Use a badge option. Then, from the Badge color property list, select the color of the badge.

   This only appears on avatars and icons. This does not show if you use the whole image. Also, you need to add a color property type to your model.

   

Primary action

If you selected to display a list of the tasks linked by the foreign key to the model, you wouldn't see these options. Applaud sets these for standard models automatically, for example, the Task model. The Primary action links to whatever the standard task links to, either the task details or another place configured in the task workflow.

Choose what happens when you select the record itself, under the Primary action section, from the Link To options:

• If you want to open a page you've created, select the Applaud Cloud Page option.
  1. From the Page list, select the page that you want to open.
  2. From the Link target list, select if you want the page to open:
     • In the current window - Opens in the same browser tab.
     • In a new window - Opens in a new browser tab.
     • In a modal - Opens in a dialog box.
• If you want to open another page external to your Applaud tenant, select the External Hyperlink option.
  1. In the Hyperlink box, type in the website address of the page that you want to open.
  2. From the Link target list, select if you want the page to open:
     • In the current window - Opens in the same browser tab.
     • In a new window - Opens in a new browser tab.
     • In a modal - Opens in a dialog box. In this example, we created a new page with a form content block linked to the same model. Then we selected to link to the new page and open it in a modal when you select the record card in the list.
       

Secondary actions

These are links in a context menu on each record. You can either add a menu that you've already created or add new links to either open a page in your Applaud tenant in the same tab or in a dialog box, change a property's yes or no response, or delete the record.

If you selected to display a list of the tasks linked by the foreign key to the model, you won't see these options. Instead, the Secondary actions link to the same as the standard task would link to, such as approve, mark as complete, or task details.

1. To use an existing menu that you created on the Menus page, select the Use a menu for actions, and from the Choose a menu list, select the menu that you want to use. If you haven't added any menus in your Applaud tenant, this list is blank. See our knowledge base article, Configure a menu.
2. To add action links to a context menu for each record:
   1. In the Title box, type in the text for your link label.
   2. From the Type of action list, select the action you want:
      • To add a link that opens a select a page from your Applaud tenant and open it in the same browser tab, select the Open page - regular option.
      • To select a page from your Applaud tenant and open it in a dialog box, select the Open page - modal option.
      • To add a link that changes a yes or no property on your model, select the Toggle Boolean option.
      • Delete - Adds a button that deletes the whole record and its values from the model.
   3. If you selected to open a page from the Target list, select the page in your Applaud tenant to open. Otherwise, if you selected the Toggle Boolean option, select the boolean property type.
3. You can add an icon to your link from the Icon list, search by typing a description of the icon you want to use, and select it from the list.
4. If you want to hide your link based on a condition of the property, from the Hide/show based on a model property list, select the property, and from the Condition list, choose either Hide if true or Show if true.

Chips

Chips are small blocks of color that sit within your item to illustrate an action. For example, you might include a chip on a leave request to illustrate whether it's a paid leave type or not. It's good practice to use chips to highlight exceptions rather than norms. For example, for a leave type, it would be more likely to have a chip to represent 'unpaid' rather than 'paid' as 'unpaid is less usual.

If you selected to display a list of the tasks linked by the foreign key to the model, you won't see these options. Instead, the chip shows when the task is due automatically, for example, today or overdue.

1. Under the Chips section, from the Property list, select the property that you want to show.
2. From the Condition list, select if you want the chip to show if the property is true or is false.
3. In the Text box, type in the text that you want to appear on your chip.
4. From the Color picker, choose the color of your chip.
5. From the Icon list, type in a description, and from the list of icons, select the one that you would like to use. You don't need to use an icon.

Searching, sorting, and filtering

The searching, sorting, and filtering feature allows you to provide the user with options to search and filter results within a list block.

Searching

You can include a search box at the top of your list.

Under the Searching section:

• To make the search box appear at the top of your list, select the Show a search box that allows the user to search the list items option.

  This option is only available for the feature on a list block. This option doesn't appear when using this feature when creating a search setting.

• If you want to let your users search on terms that aren't necessarily shown, you can choose to include properties from linked models. Select the Search within extra properties option and from the Search properties list, select the properties you want to include.

Sorting

You can let your users sort the list by specific properties. They can open the sort from the filter icon.

1. Under the Sorting section, select the Show sorts that allows the user to search the list items option.
2. From the Property list, select the property you want to appear in the Sort by filter list.
3. From the Direction list, choose if you want the sort action to sort in Ascending or Descending order.

Filtering

You can add multiple filters to let your users filter the list of items. They can open the filters from the filter icon. When you use this feature when adding a Search setting, the property appears in the filters on the global search results page. You can select a property value by which to filter the search results.

Only the first five values are shown in any of the filter groups and you need to select Show more to view the rest of the filter's values.

1. Under the Filtering section, select the Show filters that allow the user to refine the list of items option.
   
2. From the Property list, select the property that you want to appear as a filter list. Each property shows as an expandable list, and the user can select values to filter the list by.
3. From the Type list, select the type of filter you want to appear.
   • Multiple select
     
   • Single select
     
   • Range slider
     

   On-screen guidance

   The on-screen guidance is the text that appears above the list to add some context to the user on what they are viewing.

   
   1. Under the On-screen guidance section, in the Preamble text editor, type in some text you want to appear above the list.
   2. In the No items text editor, type in some text to appear when there are no items shown in the list. This could be because the user doesn't have permissions, or the filter applied to the list block has hidden the data.
      

   Sublist

   A sublist is a list inside a list. For example, you may have a business goal as your main list, and inside that list is a series of comments about the individual's performance on that one goal. Before using a sub-list, you need to have another model related to your main list model somehow.

   
   1. Under the Design sub list section, from the Sub list model list, select what you want to show in your sublist.
   2. From the Features list, select what features you want to include in your sublist. Then, see the rest of the features section in this article.

   Form block

   You can add a simple form to each record in your list. You can have form one up to five fields in the form. For example, you may have a list set up for a set of goals, and the form would allow you to adjust the completion percentage.

   

   You can only add existing forms with between one and five fields.

   • Under the Form section, from the Form block list, select an existing form.
4. If you want to show how many items are on the list, select the show item count option.

Additional configuration

Action buttons

1. Under General content settings, next to Action buttons* select the plus "+" icon.
2. In the Title box, type in the text you want to appear on your button.
3. Under the Type of action section, from the Opens in: list, select what and how you want the button to open.
   • Open page - Loads the Target list with pages from your Applaud tenant.
   • URL - You need to type in the full website address in the Target box.
   • Regular / Same tab - Takes the user away from the current page to the new page.
   • Modal - Keeps the user on the page but opens a dialog box with the new page contained in it.
   • New tab - Opens a new tab in the user's browser with the new external website.
4. From the Target list, select a page from the available pages in your Applaud tenant or type the complete URL address, for example, https://www.google.com.
5. From the Icon list, select an icon for your button and from the Color picker, select a color for your button.
6. From the Weight list, select how you want your button to appear:
   • Normal - The button appears with a colored rectangle background with black text.
   • Light - The button doesn't have a background, and the text is your selected color.
7. From the Hide/show based on a model property list, select a property, and then from the Condition list, select either the Hide if true option or the Show if true option.

Show the title and header bar

If you don't want a title on your block, clear the Show the title and header bar option.

Preferred width

To configure how wide you want your block, from the Preferred width list, select an option:

• Automatic - Spans the width of the column on the page depending on what page layout option you have selected.
• Full-width - Spans the width of all columns but doesn't go beyond the margins on either side of the page unless you select the Edge-to-edge option.
• Two-third - If you have a three-column page layout, this spans across two of the columns. If you have a two-column page layout set, this spans just beyond the first column, but further blocks won't appear above the advert in the second column, only below it.
• Half-width - If you have the three-column page layout, this spans across a column and a half. If you have a two-column page layout, this spans one column.

Background color

To set the Background color of your block, select the color of your choice. The color picker shows a list of preconfigured colors with 100% opacity or fully opaque.

1. Color palette
   A chart of preconfigured colors. Scroll down to see more colors. Not available in the call-to-action content block.
2. Color gradient panel
   A mixture of two linear color gradients. Once you select a color from the palette, you can use this panel to pick the color you want.
3. Sample color
   Shows the color you've chosen, and that will be applied.
4. Hue slider
   A linear gradient of colors. You can choose the main hue you want.
5. Opacity slider
   Controls the transparency of the color. Use it to brighten or darken your chosen color.
6. Color mode
   If you know the HEX (Hexadecimal) code you want to use, you can enter it here. You also have the option to toggle to two other formats.
   RGBA - (red, green, blue, alpha) decimal values.

HSLA - (hue, saturation, lightness, alpha) values.

Hide block on certain screen sizes

If you want to prevent this block from being displayed on specific devices from the Hide on list, select those conditions where you want to hide this block.

Hide or show this block using filters

Show or hide this content block when certain conditions are met. For example, show to a manager but hide from a non-manager. You can base these filters on anything, such as job role, department, or location.

1. Select the Hide or show this block using filters option.
2. Under the Conditions section:
   • Hide when ALL of the following conditions are met (and) - If you want to hide this block when the selected data meets every condition you add, add a condition under this section.
   • Hide when ANY of the following conditions are met (or) - If you want to hide the block when the selected data meets just one of several conditions, add your conditions under this section.
3. From the Property list, select the model's property.
4. From the Criteria list, select the condition you want the property value to meet for the block to be hidden.
5. In the Value box, enter the property's value you want the condition to meet for the block to be hidden.

Export

Choose if you want to add an Export button to your list, so when a user selects Export, Applaud sends them an email with a link to download the exported data.

1. Under the Export section, if you want to let your user export data from the list, select Enable.
2. Under the Exportable properties section, select if you want to make:
   • All accessible - When a user selects Export, all the model properties are exported.
   • Use a filter to restrict the exportable properties - When a user selects Export, only the selected properties are included in the exported file.
     • From the Properties filter list, select the filter you want the user to be able to export. You can create filters on the model's access control page, see our knowledge base article, Create a new filter.
   • By default, the lookup and foreign key values are shown in the export, if you want to view their ids, you can select the Include id values for lookup and foreign keys option.

Finish

When you are finished, select UPDATE.

Follow-up task

• Add a search box block to your page.

See more:

• About search settings

Reference:

• Search settings page