Item11704: Document use of %BR% to create linebreaks in FormattedSearch results

Priority:	CurrentState:	AppliesTo:	Component:	WaitingFor:
Low	Closed	Engine	Documentation

Hi,

In System/VarSEARCH say that default separator in formatted search is "$n". But when I define format parameter, this is not true.

These is the search expression and the generated HTML:

%SEARCH{ search="name ~ '*'" type="query" limit="10" format="$topic" }%

<a href="/Sandbox/CommentPluginExampleComments">CommentPluginExampleComments</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/CommentPluginExamples">CommentPluginExamples</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/CommentPluginTemplateExample">CommentPluginTemplateExample</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/CompareRevisionsAddOnDemoTopic">CompareRevisionsAddOnDemoTopic</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/ImagePluginTest">ImagePluginTest</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/PluginTestEmptyPlugin">PluginTestEmptyPlugin</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/RedirectPluginDestination">RedirectPluginDestination</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/RedirectPluginTest">RedirectPluginTest</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/SaveIt">SaveIt</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/TableEspinharas">TableEspinharas</a>

%SEARCH{ search="name ~ '*'" type="query" limit="10" separator="$n" format="$topic" }%

<a href="/Sandbox/CommentPluginExampleComments">CommentPluginExampleComments</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/CommentPluginExamples">CommentPluginExamples</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/CommentPluginTemplateExample">CommentPluginTemplateExample</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/CompareRevisionsAddOnDemoTopic">CompareRevisionsAddOnDemoTopic</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/ImagePluginTest">ImagePluginTest</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/PluginTestEmptyPlugin">PluginTestEmptyPlugin</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/RedirectPluginDestination">RedirectPluginDestination</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/RedirectPluginTest">RedirectPluginTest</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/SaveIt">SaveIt</a>
<a href="/Sandbox/TableEspinharas">TableEspinharas</a>

%SEARCH{ search="name ~ '*'" type="query" limit="10" format="$topic$n" }%

<a href="/Sandbox/CommentPluginExampleComments">CommentPluginExampleComments</a>
<p></p>
<a href="/Sandbox/CommentPluginExamples">CommentPluginExamples</a>
<p></p>
<a href="/Sandbox/CommentPluginTemplateExample">CommentPluginTemplateExample</a>
<p></p>
<a href="/Sandbox/CompareRevisionsAddOnDemoTopic">CompareRevisionsAddOnDemoTopic</a>
<p></p>
<a href="/Sandbox/ImagePluginTest">ImagePluginTest</a>
<p></p>
<a href="/Sandbox/PluginTestEmptyPlugin">PluginTestEmptyPlugin</a>
<p></p>
<a href="/Sandbox/RedirectPluginDestination">RedirectPluginDestination</a>
<p></p>
<a href="/Sandbox/RedirectPluginTest">RedirectPluginTest</a>
<p></p>
<a href="/Sandbox/SaveIt">SaveIt</a>
<p></p>
<a href="/Sandbox/TableEspinharas">TableEspinharas</a>
<p></p>
<div class="foswikiSearchResultCount">Number of topics: <span>10</span></div>
<p></p>

The last is the only that generate the expected result, but I think <p></p> strange.

-- RogerioBastos - 29 Mar 2012

Add separator="%BR%" circumvent the problem.

-- RogerioBastos - 29 Mar 2012

This was discussed in IRC and CrawfordCurrie had the answer ... now obvious once he explained it. In examples 1 and 2, the $n is indeed emitted by the SEARCH, as the results each are on a separate line in the HTML source. However it is rendered as a wrapped list because single newlines in Foswiki are not "breaking" and the browser wraps the lines together for display.

The 3rd example requests a "new paragraph" in Foswiki TML markup - two consecutive newlines, leaving a blank line. Foswiki Render currently creates paragraphs by creating an empty <p></p> paragraph. This is reported in task Item11316.

-- GeorgeClark - 29 Mar 2012

Updating the FormatTokens document to include:

$n or $n()

New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar Most macros accept parameter strings which are split over multiple lines. This is usually more readable than using $n tokens. If you are familiar with sectional includes, you might also consider nested sectional includes to hold the newline content outside of the parameter string entirely. Note that newline is not a line break. The browser will wrap the lines together. If you require a line break, displaying the results on two lines, use %BR%. Or use two consecutive newlines to create a TML "Paragraph".

-- GeorgeClark - 29 Mar 2012