A SearchStax Studio Application (Search App) records the history of searches, clicks, searches per session and other analytics over a period of time.

This section covers the following topics:

• Creating a Studio App
• App Settings

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Studio > Navigation Menu > Search App > Create
or
Studio > Navigation Menu > Search App > Settings > +

A SearchStax Studio Application (Search App) records the history of searches, clicks, revenue, and searches per session over a period of time appropriate to your business. At a lower level, the Search App summarizes popular queries and critical metrics such as click-through rate, average click position, mean reciprocal rank, and frequency of no-results searches. It also records user feedback from your search page. 

But first you have to collect the data. For that step, you need to integrate the Studio’s Search Event API in your Client Application. Alternately, SearchStax provides UX Accelerators to help you frame a search page that makes full use of Studio tools and features. Yet another alternative is to use the Sitecore Module or the Drupal Module, which provide a search page that is fully integrated with Studio.

The first step on this path is to create a Search App for your project. From the Studio Dashboard, go to the Navigation Menu. Click the Create button under Search App. Alternately, you may begin on the Apps Settings page and click the (+) icon.

Either path opens a modal dialog for defining the new App. The dialog lets you name the App, select a region (or deployment if your apps are set to using basic auth), and select a platform (Sitecore, Drupal, or a Custom App).

If your app is on basic authentication:

• Note that the deployment must be running a Solr version that is compatible with your version of Sitecore. For a Drupal system, the deployment must be Solr 8+. For custom applications, Solr 6+ will work.
• The next dialog box is for setting up the App’s unique API credentials.

• The User IDs are auto-generated. View the names on the Search API Tab.

• Read-Only API Credentials: This account lets the Studio send query requests. It is automatically created with a “Read” role.
• Read-Write API Credentials: The second account lets the Studio update config files for synonyms, stopwords, and similar features. It is automatically created with a “Read, Write” role.

Click the Create button to initiate the App.

Self-Service Clients

SearchStax has a new category of client, whom we call “self-service clients.” These clients are able to perform a Self Check-Out to specify their Search App, support level, and method of payment directly through the SearchStax Studio interface.

If you are a self-service client, you can scroll down again to find options for the level of support you want to engage for this App. Remember that SearchStax makes it easy to upgrade.

Note the Available Terms selection list above the subscription options. It lets you dial in three levels of discounts corresponding to subscription length.

Click the Create button to initiation App Creation.

If you have not already supplied a credit card and billing information. the Studio will link to the Self-Checkout feature at this point.  

Note that a new Search App is simply an empty database. To be useful, it must record user actions from your company website over some significant period of time (days, weeks). There is about a one-hour delay before the first recorded data appears in the Studio.

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Studio > Navigation Pane > Search App > Settings

The Apps Management screen lists the Search Apps of the current account. Select one (from the list on the left) to populate the five-tab interface for App Settings.

• App Summary Tab
• Search API Tab
• Discovery API Tab
• Analytics API Tab
• Search Feedback Tab

The post App Settings appeared first on SearchStax Docs.

Studio > Navigation Pane > Search App > Settings > App Settings > App Summary Tab.

On the App Settings screen, the App Name field lets you edit the name of an App. The (+) lets you create a new App. The trash can icon deletes the selected App.

The Platform area displays how the App has been configured to match the search client. Typically, this value is Sitecore, Drupal, or Custom App.

The default Language for all SearchStax Studio Apps is English. For Sitecore and Drupal systems, however, the Studio offers optional support for Language-Specific Search Experiences. Click the Manage Languages button for more information.

• App Summary Tab
• Search API Tab
• Discovery API Tab
• Analytics API Tab
• Search Feedback Tab

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Studio > Navigation Pane > Search App > Settings > App Settings > Search API Tab.

The Search API tab displays the SearchStax Studio Search, Update and Suggest Endpoints. Each has a copy button to easily copy to clipboard and curl examples provided.

• Search Endpoint: This endpoint, ending in /emselect, is used to send Solr queries to the App’s database of searches, content items, feedback, and so forth.
• Update Endpoint: The Update endpoint can be used to upload data to the Search App.
• Suggest Endpoint: This one, ending in /emsuggest, is used to ask for suggestions when a search query returns no results.

Basic Authentication

For apps using Basic Authentication, the Search APIs are protected using a sets of an auto-generated User-ID and passwords set by the user.

You may change the passwords (but not the user IDs) on this screen. Click the Save button when finished. 

When you update the schema of an index (populate your app with new data), click the Reload Schema button to copy the changes into SearchStax Studio.

• App Summary Tab
• Search API Tab
• Discovery API Tab
• Analytics API Tab
• Search Feedback Tab

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Studio > Navigation Pane > Search App > Settings > App Settings > Discovery API Tab.

The Discovery API tab displays the App’s Related Searches Endpoint and the Popular Searches Endpoint. It also lets you create and keep track of the APIKeys that enable these features.  Both of these values are used by the Related Searches API.

You can copy the endpoints to the clipboard by clicking the copy icons.

Access to this endpoint is authorized by one or more APIKeys. You may create a key by clicking the Create Key button.

You may mark an individual key active or inactive using the slide switch beside the key. You can delete a key using the (X) delete icon.

• If you inactivate the current key in use, Related Searches will not appear in the Hosted Search App.
• If you inactivate the current key in use, have another active key in the table, and generate the Hosted Search App (or publish from the Theme Editor), the next active key from the top of the list will be used.

• App Summary Tab
• Search API Tab
• Discovery API Tab
• Analytics API Tab
• Search Feedback Tab

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Studio > Navigation Pane > Search App > Settings > App Settings > Analytics API Tab.

The Analytics API tab displays the Search App’s Analytics Tracking URL and Analytics Key.  It also presents the Analytics Reporting URL and key. Both of these values are used by the Search Events API to send event messages to the correct App.

• App Summary Tab
• Search API Tab
• Discovery API Tab
• Analytics API Tab
• Search Feedback Tab

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Studio > Navigation Pane > Search App > Settings > App Settings > Search Feedback Tab.

The Search Feedback tab contains instructions for installing the SearchStax Studio Feedback Widget in your search page.

• App Summary Tab
• Search API Tab
• Discovery API Tab
• Analytics API Tab
• Search Feedback Tab

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