Composite Refinement Web Part

The Composite Refinement Web Part (CRWP) offers the same functionality as the Refinement Web Part and additionally provides a high flexibility in how the refinement groups are rendered. It was introduced as part of MatchPoint 4.0.5.

The Composite Refinement Web Part is a flexible implementation of the Refinement Web Part. However, the Refinement Web Part will not be marked deprecated. Both Web Parts will be developed next to each other.

In a CRWP configuration you can define groups, which are the equivalent to Columns in the RWP configuration. For each group you can configure some settings, e.g. which field to refine, if it's collapsible, the FieldType and so on. Each group has a renderer. All renderers provide a default template and settings and can therefore be used out of the box. You can however provide your own template / settings for most of these renderers and customize them according to your requirements.

Refinement Groups

Range Refinement Group

This group can be used for the refinement of date and number ranges.

Boundaries

Optionally you can define the bucket boundaries in which your values will be grouped (e.g. 0, 10, 20, etc.). If you don't define any boundaries, they will be automatically generated for you.

RangeRenderer

Displays a slider with the defined boundaries. You can choose if you want to display a histogram or not.

Simple Refinement Group

The SimpleRefinementGroup can be used for almost all field types. Normally this group will simply display all found values as selectable items. But you can also use this group to display ranges (for example if you don't like the slider from the RangeRefinementGroup), for this reason you can define buckets (similar to the RangeRefinement).

Buckets

Optionally you can define your bucket boundaries in which the values will be grouped. The buckets can be used for date and number types only.

FlatSimpleRenderer

In this renderer you can define a RowTemplate and a SelectedRowTemplate. This means you can style your SimpleRefinementGroup exactly the way you want to. You just have to set the data-clickScript and the data-Key attribute on the element which should be clickable, respectively used to execute the refinement, by the user. Also you can define how many elements you want to display directly (NumberOfElements) and how many elements you want to display in the ShowMore-Callout (ShowMoreNumberOfElements).

Available Expression Variables

The following ExpressionVariables are available within the renderer:

• Node: The CompositeRefinementNode which contains all information about the current refinement node, e.g. Value, Key, IsRoot, IsSelected and so on. For more details see the CompositeRefinementNode class.
• Label: The label of the composite refinement node
• Count: The number of occurrences of the DataItem in the result set. Also available with Node.Occurrences.
• Key: The key which identifies the DataItem. Also available with Node.Key.
• DataItem: The item which is also used as the refinement value. Also available with Node.Value.

Tag Refinement Group

Can be used to display tags which are applied to the items you want to refine.

FlatTagRenderer

Flat means that all tags will be displayed the same way - no matter if they are "parent" or "child" tags. The other settings are very similar to the FlatSimpleRenderer.

HierarchicalTagRenderer

Since tags can have children and therefore can be hierarchical, it may be desired that they are also displayed in a hierarchical order. For this purpose the HierarchicalTagRenderer can be used. In addition to the FlatTagRenderer you can define a RootHierarchyLevelHeader / Footer and a HierarchyLevelHeader / Footer. You can also define a OnRenderCompleteScript which defines a JavaScript method that is executed after the complete hierarchy has been rendered and after each consecutive refresh (e.g. when the refiners are updated). For details please refer to the example below, where we extended the HierarchicalTagRenderer with a OnRenderCompleteScript function and additional HTML.

Available ExpressionVariables

The following ExpressionVariables are available within the renderer:

• Node: The CompositeRefinementNode which contains all information about the current refinement node, e.g. Value, Key, IsRoot, IsSelected and so on. For more details see the CompositeRefinementNode class.
• Count: The number of occurrences of the Tag in the result set. Also available with Node.Occurrences.
• Tag: The tag which is also used as the refinement value. Also available with Node.Value.

Term Refinement Group

This group is only available with the MatchPoint Server component. It can be used to display terms which are applied to the items you want to refine. It follows the same logic the Tag Refinement Group does.

Available ExpressionVariables

The following ExpressionVariables are available within the renderer:

• Node: The CompositeRefinementNode which contains all information about the current refinement node, e.g. Value, Key, IsRoot, IsSelected and so on. For more details see the CompositeRefinementNode class.
• Count: The number of occurrences of the Term in the result set. Also available with Node.Occurrences.
• Key: The key which identifies the Term. Also available with Node.Key.
• Term: The Term which is also used as the refinement value. Note: The current Node.Value is either a Term or a TermSet (the other variable is null). Also available with Node.Value.
• TermSet: The TermSet which is also used as the refinement value (only for Caml-Queries). Note: The current Node.Value is either a Term or a TermSet (the other variable is null). Also available with Node.Value.
• Label: The label in the "CurrentUICulture" of the term.

API

Custom Renderers

You can implement your own Renderer by implementing IRenderer (or any of the existing public renderers).

Each Group has its own Renderer interface (e.g. the SimpleRefinementGroup has a ISimpleRenderer Member). You can control the visibility of your Renderer within the groups using these interfaces.

Custom Groups

You can implement your own Group by extending BaseRefinementGroup. Your group should have a Renderer member, with an own interface implementing the IRenderer interface. This renderer should be returned in the GetRenderer method.