When the Current Search block is set to only set to *not* display on empty pages, it only displays when search terms are entered. If you select a facet, but do not enter a search term, the Current Search block does not appear.

To reproduce:
1. go to admin/config/search/current_search/list/standard/edit and uncheck "Display current search block on empty search pages."
2. go to your search page
3. search for a term (the Current Search block should appear)
4. add a facet to your search (the Current Search block still visible and displays your term and the facet)
5. check "retain current filters", clear the search term and click search (The facet is applied, but the Current Search block disappears)

I believe the Current Search block should be visible whenever there are search terms or facets applied, as that is the expected user experience.

Comments

cpliakas’s picture

cpliakas commented
Title: Current search does not appear when only facets applied » Discuss the UX implications of the "Display current search block on empty search pages" setting
Version: 7.x-1.0-rc1 » 7.x-1.x-dev
Component: Code » User interface
Category: bug » task

Hi jyee.

Thanks for posting. Changing to a task for discussion, because the functionality is working as designed so it isn't a bug. The problem is that the backend module executes an empty search when there are no search keys for technical reasons, so Facet API doesn't make a distinction between facets being applied or not. There are enough hooks, methods, and static variables to achieve the behavior you want with a little custom code, but I do agree that setting causes a UX WTF from the end user.

I am willing to discuss adding this in Facet API, but whenever we are discussing something like this we have to make sure our solution doesn't make backend-specific assumptions and also understands the technical implications of the backend functionality we are abstracting. If we cannot do either of these things, then we need to move the discussion to the backend module providing the empty search functionality.

Thanks,
Chris