Product documentation
This topic describes some additional places where and how specific setup that can be needed for Search is made.
Which object related data field can be accessed by Advanced Search is determined via queries. These can be set up from scratch and there are also some predefined queries provided.
Navigate to Product information management > Setup > Advanced search > Field search queries
| Ribbon button | Description |
| Edit | Standard button to put the form in edit mode. |
| New | Creates a new query record with a default (start) query. |
| Delete | Deletes a query record. |
| Edit query | Opens the query and allows for editing it. |
| Load predefined queries | Opens a dialog with the available predefined queries. Select the one(s) to be added and click OK. Once the queries are added they can be used as is or modified (and renamed) to link to other related tables as needed. More details can be found here. |
| Field | Description |
| Query name | The name of the query. This field can be edited. |
| Query | Displays the query. |
| Used by | Shows the record(s) that make use of this query (in the Field search setup). |
Note
There are some predefined queries available that can be used as is are can be modified as needed. These queries have to be loaded first, which is done by going to Product information management > Setup > Advanced search > Field search queries and clicking the 'Load predefined queries' button from the ribbon.
A dialog opens where the queries that need to be loaded can be selected.
The following queries are offered as predefined queries:
| Field | Description |
| Inventory module parameters | Products, Items, Inventory module parameters |
| Inventory module parameters - Sales order | Products, Items, Inventory module parameters (Sales) |
| Items | Items |
| Colors | Products, Items, Distinct products, Inventory dimensions, Colors |
| Configurations | Products, Items, Distinct products, Inventory dimensions, Configurations |
| Item groups | Products, Items, Relationship between items and item groups, Item groups |
| Sizes | Products, Items, Distinct products, Inventory dimensions, Sizes |
| Styles | Products, Items, Distinct products, Inventory dimensions, Styles |
| Product translations | Products, Product translations |
Value ranges are ways to group values together in ranges. This is very useful for values that have a lot of unique (but close together) values, which would otherwise result into many filter values with quite little use (e.g. price, length, width, height, weight) as they just have 1 or a couple of results.
Take for example the weight of tablets or phones; every model is slightly different. But getting filters for each individual value such as 143 grams, 147, 148, 156, 188, 190 etc will not really help when trying to make a selection out of the entire offering. With filter ranges you can setup how to group the filters, so you could group them into ranges of between 125 and 150 grams, 150 to 175 and 175 to 200 grams for example. The true weigth value can still be displayed on the item card, but the filters display as these groups, grouping together the results into the desired ranges.
Navigate to Product information management > Setup > Advanced search > Value ranges
Ranges are set up here in a separate form and need to be linked to a property (an attribute or a field search field) to become functional. This way the same filter range can be reused for different properties.
Creating new records is done with the 'New' button, the 'Delete' button removes records.
| Field | Description |
| Name | Name of the Value range. For example 'Weight' |
| Description | Description of the value range. For example 'Weight in grams'. |
| Value range base type | Select the base type of the value range. Only Integer, Decimel, Date/Time and Date types are currently supported. Value ranges can only be used for attributes/fields of the same base type. |
| GENERAL | |
| Auto-include | Setting to decide which ranges (if any) to include when filtering on a range. |
| VALUE RANGES | |
| Add | Create a record. |
| Remove | Remove a record. |
| Name | Name of the specific range. For example '125-150 g'. |
| Lower bound | The minimum value of the range. For example '125'. Note that this value is included in the range, so when searching for '125' this range will be used. |
| Upper bound | The maximum value of the range. For example '150' Note that this value is not included in the range, so when searching for '150' this range will not be used (but the next range for 150-175 g for example will be). |
| Rating value | 'Translation' of the ranges into a star rating. The scale is for 0 to 5 stars and does work with halves as well. |
When using the Commerce product hierarchy in combination with Product search, an additional option becomes available. Note that to see the Commerce specific tabs on the hierarchy, the hierachy needs to be opened via the Retail & commerce module.
This tab (from standard) displays the default values which are assigned to a product on creation or when the user changes the category on the product and decides to choose to update the values on the product. In addtion to the standard Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations fields, the following option has been added:
| Field | Description | Remark |
| Exclude from search | When set, this record will not be included in the search data | On the product there is a field 'Exclude from search' which will be set based on this setting. Note that it does not mean that all products linked to this category are automatically excluded from updating to the index when the function update search data is executed, only that for new or updated products this setting will be enabled (and thus those products will be excluded). |
The Search configuration contains the tab 'Excluded search fields'. Here it's possible to select any field that exists in the index(es) used in the selected Search configuration. When a field from the index is added here, that field and it's values are no longer used in search. Note that the field does still exist in the index, so the information can still be displayed on the result card for example.
Excluding a field can be useful when for example a field holds values that might give a lot of 'false' matches with text searches due to data that looks very similar to that of other fields. To prevent these unwanted matches from being found, the field can be excluded from the search, while still displaying the value as extra information on the result card.
On a product the option 'Exclude from search' can be activated. As the name suggests, activating it will mean that the product will not be included in Product search, even if the product is linked to a category used for Product search. Note that this option is only available on the product (and will therefore exclude the product from any company and Search configuration in which it is being used).
On an attribute the option 'Exclude from search' can be activated. As the name suggests, activating it will mean that the attribute will not be included in Product search, even if the attribute is used in an attribute group or directly linked to a category that are used in Product search. As attributes are global, activating this setting will cause the attribute to be excluded from any Search configuration it is used in. The index(es) will not contain a field for the attribute and the values cannot be used in any way in Product search. Products will still have this attribute and it's value, but they can only be viewed (and used) via the standard Microsoft options for attributes.
Search makes use of the standard Category hierarchy framework and the Attribute framework. The paragraphs below provide some basic information and links to additional information as provided by Microsoft.
The search data is linked/grouped to products via the Category hierarchies from the standard retail framework. Creating the Hierarchy tree is done via the standard path (available via Product information management > Setup> Categories and attributes > Category hierarchies).
Multiple trees (for different categorizations for example) can be created and used in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations and also within Product Search. For a basic understanding of Category hierarchies and how to create and use Category hierarchies within Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations , please check the following links:
Create and set up category hierarchies and attributes - Training | Microsoft Learn
About category hierarchies | Microsoft Learn
Note
When using multiple Category hierarchies for Product search, the same category node name cannot be used between hierarchies for the same level, as doing so will lead to incorrect counts and visibility of (released) products within Product search. We therefore recommend to not use the same category names at all across all Category hierarchies that are (also) used for Product search.
Note that this restriction does not apply to the 'friendly name' of the categories, so if required, it's possible to use the same category friendly names between multiple Hierarchies, even on the same node level. The category tree on the (Released) Product search form can display these friendly names instead of the 'true' category names by activating the 'Use friendly name' parameter on the Search configuration.
Any Category hierarchy that is to be used within Product search needs to have the 'Product search' role associated to it.
Navigate to Product information management > Setup > Categories and attributes > Category hierarchy role associations
Create a new record, select the 'Product search' role and select the desired hierarchy. Note that a hierarchy can be linked to multiple roles, and that the same role can be linked to multiple hierarchies.
Once this link has been made, any hierarchy associated with the Product search role will show up in the Category hierarchy tab dropdown on the Search configuration.
links to standard info & link to page with attribute additions
One of the sources for the search data are the attributes from the standard retail attributes framework.
Product information management > Setup > Categories and attributes > attributes / attribute groups
For a basic understanding of attributes and how to create and use attribute types, attributes and attribute groups within D365FO, please check the following link:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/commerce/attribute-attributegroups-lifecycle
Please note that for the Advanced Search functionality to work properly, the attributes must be linked to the Category hierarchy via an Attribute group. Allthough linking attributes directly to a category is possible in the standard framework, this will not result in the desired search data for the Advanced Search functionality, so please make sure to always use attribute groups.
Some enhancements have been made to attributes to improve the search options and experience. More information on these enhancements can be found here.