How to prevent AzSearch.Automagic from automatically inserting a wildcard (*) in the search box?

Question

I'm using AzSearch.Automagic with Azure Cognitive Search to power a search feature on my site. However, when the page loads, the search box automatically inserts a wildcard character (*), causing a prefix search to be executed immediately. I would prefer for the search box to remain empty upon page load and for no search to be executed until the user manually enters a query.

Here’s what I’ve already tried:

1. Setting the query to an empty string during initialization:

      javascript
      var
   

2. Removing any explicit calls to automagic.search(); during page load. Despite these efforts, the wildcard * still gets automatically inserted in the search box, triggering an unwanted search. Is there a way to prevent this behavior and keep the search box empty until user input?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Answer 1

Hi @Gustav Sl ,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A Platform!
To prevent AzSearch.Automagic from automatically inserting a wildcard (*) in the search box on page load, you can modify the initialization process of the search component. The behavior you're seeing typically happens because AzSearch.Automagic is designed to provide instant search functionality.

1. Modify Initialization Parameters: Set the search initialization to avoid automatic querying and keep the search box empty:

      var automagic = new AzSearch.Automagic({
          query: '',         // Ensures search box starts empty
          searchOnLoad: false,  // Disables search execution on page load
          autoSearch: false    // Prevents auto-search functionality
      });
   

2. Programmatically Disable Auto-Search: Use the setAutoSearch method to ensure no searches are triggered automatically:javascript

      automagic.searchManager.setAutoSearch(false);  // Disable any automatic search behavior
   

3. Manually Trigger Search: Only trigger the search when the user enters a query:

      document.getElementById('searchButton').addEventListener('click', function() {
          var query = automagic.searchBox.getValue();
          if (query) {
              automagic.search(query);  // Search triggered based on user input
          }
      });
   

4. Review Configuration Files: Make sure no configuration file or fallback behavior is reintroducing the wildcard on page load.
5. Override Search Box Behavior: Override the default method that retrieves the search box value to ensure it doesn't fall back to *:

      automagic.searchBox.getValue = function() {
          return '';  // Always returns an empty string unless a query is entered
      };
   

   By combining these methods, you should be able to prevent the wildcard character from being automatically inserted into the search box and ensure that no search is executed until the user manually enters a query.
   If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it.