Redirecting search requests from a custom search form to the Search Center

If you plan to develop a custom search form, you might want to redirect search requests issued by the search form to the Search Center.

The following example form implements a Search feature: 
<form name="myQueryForm" method="get" action=".">
     <input type="hidden" name="uri" value="searchCenter:query"> 
     <input type="hidden" name="contentNode" value="ibm.portal.Search Center">
     <input type="hidden" name="layoutNode" value="ibm.portal.Search Center Portlet Window">
     <input type="text" name="query"> 
     <input type="Submit" name="SearchButton" value="Search">
</form>
If a user selects Search, the form sends a request to the Portal server. The Portal server redirects the request to the Search Center by using the following parameters:
uri
This parameter must be set to searchCenter:query to address the query functionality of the Search Center portlet.
contentNode
This parameter is optional and specifies the unique name of the page where the Search Center portlet is placed. The default value is ibm.portal.Search Center.
layoutNode
This parameter is optional and specifies the unique name of the Search Center portlet window. The default value is ibm.portal.Search Center Portlet Window.
query
The Search Center uses the value of this parameter to search for the terms that a user specified.

If you placed the Search Center on a different page, for example, a public page, the values for the parameters contentNode and layoutNode might be different.

For more information, see Placing the Search Center on a public portal page.