Project finder

The project finder is the front door of a Benchline store. A shopper answers a few questions about the job in front of them, and the theme opens a filtered collection where every product carries a fit verdict against those answers. The finder is a section: add it to any template, and shape it in the editor.

What a shopper sees

The shipped home page finder asks, in order:

• Project type (radio choices, reads the Compatibility specification field)
• Thread or standard (dropdown, reads Thread and standard)
• Material (dropdown, reads Material)
• Primary dimension (dropdown, reads Primary dimension value)
• Project name (free text, optional)

Two more fields can appear. The Machine field appears at the top of the finder when Show machine field is on (the Driveline style turns it on). The Primary dimension step renders as a row of size discs, scaled to the values, when the dimension discs setting is on (the Flowline style turns it on); on narrow screens the discs wrap, and the step still works with a keyboard and with JavaScript disabled.

Submitting the finder opens the results collection with the answers in the page address, in the standard storefront filter format. Because the answers live in the address, a results page can be bookmarked, shared, and reopened with the same fit verdicts showing.

Where the answers go

The answers do three jobs at once:

1. They filter the results, through Shopify storefront filtering. The shopper only sees products the filters let through.
2. They drive the fit check. Cards and product pages compare each product record against the active answers and show Matches your project, Check specification, or Does not match, with the reasons listed. See Fit check.
3. The project name and machine name travel forward. Products opened from the results carry the context with them, and adding a product to the cart stamps the line with its Project and Machine properties. That is what lets the cart group lines by project, or by machine then project. See Cart, projects, and machines.

A slim context bar can sit above results and product pages (the Finder context bar section) showing the active project, the result count, and a Change project link back to the finder.

Shape the finder

Select the Project finder section in the editor. Section settings:

• Heading and Heading level. Use level 1 only when the finder provides the page main heading, as on the shipped home template.
• Intro. Short guidance text above the steps. The Compact layout setting hides it for tight spaces.
• Results collection. The collection results open in, so the facet rail stays attached to them. Left unset, results open in the all-products collection. The finder never targets the search page, because facet filters cannot be applied there.
• Submit button label.
• Show project name field. Turn it off if your store does not use project grouping.

Each question is a Finder step block with these settings:

• Heading. The question as the shopper reads it.
• Filter parameter name. The storefront filter the step submits, for example filter.p.m.specs.thread_standard. Use a native filter parameter so the step joins the same filtering as the facet rail.
• Input type. Select (dropdown), Radio, Diameter (the size discs), Text, Number, Project (the project name field), or Search.
• Options. One per line for select, radio, and diameter steps, written as Label=value, or a single value used as both. Values must match the filter values in Search and Discovery exactly, including spelling and case, or the step returns no results. This is the single most common finder mistake; see Troubleshooting.

Write good steps

• Ask about the job, not the catalog. "What thread does the fitting need" beats "Thread standard (specs)".
• Offer the values your catalog actually carries. A choice no product matches teaches the shopper that the finder is broken.
• Keep steps to specifications a shopper can know before buying. Internal classifications belong in the facet rail, not the finder.
• Every step is optional for the shopper. An unanswered step applies no constraint and no fit verdict for that field.