Item765: Search in the topbar is not working (quickfix available)

The search in the topbar is not working. After you enter a keyword and press enter you just get redirected to the same topic again

Quickfix: Please add the following to your lib/LocalSite.cfg

$Foswiki::cfg{SwitchBoard}{natsearch} = ['TWiki::Plugins::NatSkinPlugin::Search', 'searchCgi', {natsearch => 1}];

Further investigations: Finding out why the engine fails to derive the correct action for a non-standard cgi script, i.e. one without a switchboard entry.

See also: Item958

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Please activate the DEBUG flag in line 25 of lib/TWiki/Plugins/NatSkinPlugin/Search.pm and report its output here. I can't reproduce the error so far.

-- MichaelDaum - 15 Jan 2009

After further investigation I found out that this is probably a bug in the way the core engine derives the actual "action" (edit, view, login, save, .... natsearch) from the request. All standard actions do have a switchboard entry and thus the action is well defined. For non-standard actions like natsearch the engine tries to derive it from the PATH_INFO environment variable. If it does not find a valid action in there it defaults to the view action. However, the PATH_INFO does not necessarily contain the hint to the actual action, i.e. using short urls. The real info is in the REQUEST_URI - not in the PATH_INFO as far as I can see. However

For instance, for a http://..../login/Main/WebHome, I get

• PATH_INFO = /login/Main/WebHome
• REQUEST_INFO = /login/Main/WebHome
• action = login (correct)

However, for http://.../natsearch/Main/WebHome, I get

• PATH_INFO = /Main/WebHome
• REQUEST_INFO = /natsearch/Main/WebHome
• action = view (wrong)

Question is: why does natsearch not appear on the PATH_INFO in the second case / why does it get stripped off?

-- MichaelDaum - 15 Jan 2009

$Foswiki::cfg{SwitchBoard}{natsearch} = ['TWiki::Plugins::NatSkinPlugin::Search', 'searchCgi', {natsearch => 1}];

That hotfixed it for me, or better for the VM. Thank you

-- EugenMayer - 15 Jan 2009

Okay, recasting it to "Egine".

-- MichaelDaum - 15 Jan 2009

Here's what I've found out: you will either have to set FOSWIKI_ACTION in the cgi script or defined a SwitchBoard entry. That is old-style cgi scripts, that haven't got either of it don't work on foswiki.

I will add a FOSWIKI_ACTION to natsearch to fix NatSkin for now.

-- MichaelDaum - 15 Jan 2009

Hi Michael,

Take a look at Development.FoswikiStandAlone#Note_to_Extension_Developers and Item714. Probably this issue is already solved.

Notice that REQUEST_URI is not RFC-Compliant and it's not available in some web severs. Your question about why natsearch is stripped from PATH_INFO depends on your setup... the PATH_INFO is the extra path after the script name. When you're using fastcgi, the bin dir is mapped to foswiki.fcgi and the action is part of PATH_INFO. When you're using plain CGI, the action is the script and it's not part of PATH_INFO. A FSA-Compliant action should meet two conditions:

• Add an entry to =$Foswiki::cfg{SwitchBoard} (so engines other than CGI recognizes the new action)
• Provide a cgi script similar to the core ones (it should adjust $Foswiki::cfg{Engine}, load Foswiki and Foswiki::UI and call $Foswiki::engine->run()

A legacy CGI script will work, after the addition of Foswiki::Engine::Legacy.

-- GilmarSantosJr - 09 Feb 2009

Okay, natsearch works fine now calling it as a normal cgi. Using FSA will need the switchboard entry. Will add this to the docu.

-- MichaelDaum - 11 Feb 2009

Added to documentation.

-- MichaelDaum - 03 Jul 2009