Can Zoom Search handle frameless content display?

[eodumosu]

I am a new Zoom Search Engine user who is very satisfy with it except for one problem.

1.) My application has two columns altogether. The left column is a div tag that will contain the Search Navigation (form and search links), by simply calling the ZoomSearch() function.

2.) The right column is a div tag that will load "Result Linking" (Application Content) when user click the search link in Search Navigation

3.) The "Results Linking" configuration option (in Search Page tab), defines how clicking on a search result link will open the page. However, no matter how I configure my build-process "Result Linking" always seems to return a frame. The two variables that defines this in settings.js are "UseLinkTarget" (1 or 0) and "LinkTarget" (string variable).

QUESTION:
My application is completely frame-less. I am using div tags instead. However, the following code-line "<a href=\"" + urlLink + "\"" + target + ">" always returns a "frame" if UseLinkTarget=1. How can I replace it to return to a div tag rather than a frame?

Here is the code snippet in search.js

if (DisplayTitle == 1)
{
document.writeln("<a href=\"" + urlLink + "\"" + target + ">");
PrintHighlightDescription(pgtitle);
document.writeln("</a>");
}
else
document.writeln("<a href=\"" + urlLink + "\"" + target + ">" + pgurl + "</a>");

.........
.........

I would really appreciate expedient help on this. Please let me know if you need further clarification. Thanks..

[Ray]

What you are referring to is commonly described as DHTML (Dynamic HTML) and involves scripting a page which changes its content based on user input. This requires a lot of Javascript familiarity and scripting knowledge.

There is no standard method of implementing what you describe (a page which can load content in a different container on the same page, without reloading the page). As such, there is no way for us to provide any universal option that "makes this possible" for you.

It is very different from frames, because frames is part of the HTML standard and completely implemented by the browser.

Simply changing the HTML output of the link tag will not force the content to load in a DIV tag. You will need much custom Javascripting to make this happen. This would include preventing the browser from reloading the page when the Submit button is clicked, a parsing of the parameters from the form without passing them via HTTP GET (which requires a new HTTP request), dynamically creating containers for the search results and making them appear in-line with your existing DOM.

This would only apply to the Javascript version of the search as well. For an online website, PHP/ASP would be preferred, and in those cases, it would be different, and may require an AJAX implementation.

If the above terminology is not familiar, you may need to consult an experienced web programmer to implement such a design. There are lots of tutorials online however, if you search for "DHTML" and "AJAX". Here's a starting point.

[eodumosu]

Is it possible to get rid of the query parameters displayed with URL?

Thanks for your useful information. I am actually familiar with DHTML and AJAX, and I have accomplished my goal and request stated above, using Prototype Javascript Framework. I have come a long-way since then, and I am succeeding, so far. However, here is my next dilemma.

When I click the "Submit" button, my search results displays all query parameters in the URL. Is it possible to get rid of the query parameters displayed in URL?


In search.js, functions getParam(paramName) and getParamArrayInt(paramName) return the value of a get parameter that are concatenated with urlLink which is then displayed in the browser's url-locator.

Here is what my search urlLink looks like in my div tag:
file:///C:/index.html?zoom_query=figure&zoom_per_page=10&zoom _cat%5B%5D=-1&zoom_and=1&zoom_sort=0#sy_nr_s8_5

Here is what I want it to look like in the same div tag:
file:///C:/index.html?#sy_nr_s8_5

I basically want to strip of the concatenated "query string" parameters. I know it can be done because my desired ulLink still loads well if I manually delete the parameters. I have modified search.js (particularly those two functions) to no avail. Can some shed some light into this?

p.s. my app is CD-based not web-based

[David]

Please don't double post the same post to multiple threads. It just wastes our time, as we either accidentally answer it twice, or need to write posts like this telling you not to do it.

This thread is now closed.