Localizing synonyms for catalog search

About this task

Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Foundation allows you to configure synonyms for catalog search. Synonyms enable a catalog search to return an expanded list of items based on related search terms. For example, if notebook is configured as a synonym for laptop and laptop is entered as a search term, the search results return items identified as notebooks as well as laptops.

By default, Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Foundation does not provide synonyms for search terms. However, you can configure synonyms for each of the locales your catalog search supports. For example, if your catalog search supports the US-English and French locales, you can configure US-English and French synonyms.

To define synonyms for a locale:

Procedure

  1. In the extended XML configuration file for item search, specify a path for the synonym file in the Locale element.
  2. In the Properties directory, open the synonym file that corresponds to the file specified in the Locale element of the extended XML configuration file for item search.
  3. Specify related terms using the following format:

    term1=synonym1, synonym2, synonym3
    term2=synonym4, synonym5

    For example, to configure coffee maker as a synonym for coffee machine, specify:

    coffee machine=coffee maker
    Note: The mapping of related terms for synonyms is not reciprocal. In the example provided previously, coffee maker is a synonym for coffee machine, but coffee machine is not specified as a synonym for coffee maker. If a customer enters coffee machine as a search term, the search returns results pertaining to both coffee machine and coffee maker. However, if a customer enters only coffee maker as the search criteria, the search returns only coffee maker.