Change the Advanced Search Page Default Search Operator

In my OOW presentation yesterday I showed that it is possible to change the default search operator for a specific advanced search page. The JavaScript required to implement this behavior follows:

<script type="text/javascript">
  $(document).ready(function() {
    var newValue = 9;
    var coll = $("select[name='APT_UI_SCRIPTS_MENUNAME$op']");
    if(coll.val() != newValue) {
      coll.val(newValue).change();
    }
  });
</script>

Note: The code above uses jQuery for event handling and therefore requires that you inject jQuery along with the JavaScript above. I demonstrate how to accomplish this in the injection blog post referenced below.

In my PeopleTools book I provide full details for implementing this behavior, but if you want to get a head start, I'll give you some hints. First, you need a mechanism for injecting this JavaScript into a search page. To learn more about injection, read my post Injecting JavaScript Libraries into PeopleSoft Pages. Next, you need a way to target a specific component. For this, see my post JavaScript complement of PeopleCode Global Vars. Your final step is to write some JavaScript to determine if the open page is a search page. I determine this by testing for the existence of an object named #ICSearch.

To determine the numerical code for a search page operator (9 = between), open the HTML source of any advanced search page and search for the option child nodes of PSDROPDOWNLIST.

Update (April 15, 2010)

The code above works great with PeopleTools 8.49 and lower. PeopleTools 8.50 uses Ajax to switch from the basic to the advanced search page. The 8.50 Ajax does not trigger the $(document).ready code. I have another solution for PeopleTools 8.50 (documented in my book). I'll post it soon.