Endeca N value update to more human readable

Question

currently we are using endeca for url and that contains N value . wanted to update that N value to something which is more human readable Currently we have something like this abc.com/clothing-mens/_/N-256Z1z141ur

but looking for something abc.com/clothing-mens/shirt/

How can we do this in edneca to update this ?

Answer 1

The short answer is that you can't do anything in Endeca to solve this. Everything in Endeca is identified by a dimension value. So in the example you have here, the part in front of the /_/ has no literal meaning to the backend but rather gives you a view of what it should be from an SEO point of view. In fact the Base36 encoded value after the /_/ is the only part that really provides meaning to Endeca.

That said, there is something you can do to try and attempt to close the gap. Assuming you are using Endeca 11.2+ and CAS you can export the Dimension Value Id Mapping from CAS. You can then implement a dataloader to attach the dimension value for each category/product into the product catalog. The final step would be to then implement pipeline servlet to take the URL, find the dimension value from the database through a query and then do an internal lookup to Endeca for the actual page. If it isn't in the lookup table, simply pass to the servlet pipeline to resolve to any other page. One caveat to this approach is that it is extremely difficult to implement multiple facets (for example category and brand).

This is really a high level approach, that I have seen working but ultimately you have to ask yourself whether customers will really be trying to find products on the site using vanity URLs. If you use Endeca as a site search and navigation tool, chances are your products are already easy to find. Your vanity URLs only start to add value from an SEO point of view. Perhaps spend attention there.

Answer 2

Endeca Needs N value to identify the dimensions. Endeca Generates N value based on fixed number or auto generated based on configuration.

As per example in the post abc.com/clothing-mens/_/N-256Z1z141ur. If this needs to be converted to human readable format so i can suggest two approaches :

1. Create a table to store SEO URL and corresponding N value so that N value can resolved while making a call to server based on URL.

2. Create category ID as numeric in DB and add category-id in the URL. You can choose to have N value to be same as category id while indexing. Use category-id as N value while making a call.Like this https://www.shopjustice.com/clothes/activewear/bottoms/P-10447

Thanks