sort automatically switches relevance whenever the search term is revised

[richmanrachel]

testing notes (qa)

• In the public site search on QA, start typing a search term and confirm it switches to "relevance". Then, change the sort option to something else (not "random" or "relevance"), add a new search term, and confirm the sort remains on the option you chose.

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Describe the bug
When I add a new search term while trying to remain within Shelfmark A-Z sort, the site reverts the search to sort by Relevance.

dev notes

• only change sort option when sort is default (i.e., user has not changed sorting)

[blms]

I think this is actually one of the few times we can say "it's not a bug, it's a feature"! At least, it was planned that way. But perhaps we should revisit now that we have so many more sort options.

Here is the original issue collecting the discussions: #550

Maybe it makes sense to only do this auto-switching to relevance when there isn't already a query in the text box. That way, you could "refine" a query search without impacting the sort option, but if you enter a new query search into a blank box, then it automatically chooses relevance.

[richmanrachel]

@blms - ahh, I see! That makes sense to me.

Right now the auto-switch is just extra confusing since all the filters stick around. But I think your solution is on the right track.

[blms]

Right—maybe "filters applied" could be another condition that prevents the sort from auto-switching!

[richmanrachel]

I'm not sure I fully understand how that will work, but I trust you!

[rlskoeser]

@blms it works as we planned originally, but when we built it we didn't have so many sort options! I think maybe it should only change if you have the default sort selected. Also should probably only trigger if you go from no keyword text to some keyword text — not modified text, which I think it does now. I think it should not be aware of the filters, though.

[richmanrachel]

Fixed! Thank you :)