The Sort Widget's Top Option Isn't Applied on Page Load

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 7.2.10.3 DXP SP3, 7.3.10 DXP GA1
• Fix Version/s: 7.2.10 DXP FP10, 7.2.10.4 DXP SP4, 7.2.X, 7.3.10 DXP FP1, 7.3.10.1 DXP SP1, 7.3.6 CE GA7, 7.3.X, 7.4.13 DXP GA1, Master
• Component/s: Search Infrastructure, Web Search > Search Widgets
• Labels:
  • ee-ts
  • liferay-dxp-72-sp4
  • liferay-dxp-73-sp1
  • liferay-fixpack-dxp-1-7310
  • liferay-fixpack-dxp-10-7210
  • search-real-world-needs
• Branch Version/s:
  7.3.x, 7.2.x
• Backported to Branch:
  Committed
• Fix Priority: 3
• Sprint: Search|S04Sprint 2|11.23-12.14
• Git Pull Request: https://github.com/liferay-search/liferay-portal/pull/58

General description of expected behavior: When I search for a term in the page top search bar, I am redirected to the search page and my results are shown. Importantly, I expect that if I have added a Sort Widget to the page, the top sort option is applied on page load.
 
General description of observed behavior: To apply a Sort other than the default (relevance) I must select it from the Sort Widget.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Add a Sort widget to the search page and configure it so the Created option (field: createDate- is the first choice.
2. Add three pieces of content, a minute apart. For example, blog posts like this:
   • Title: First/Second/Third Blog Post
   • Content: A blog post for sort testing
3. Search for second blog.

Expected: Results are returned in order of relevance and "Relevance" is displayed as the selected sort. (If another configuration option's value is blank, that label will be displayed instead. If no configuration options are blank, a disabled "Relevance" option will be displayed).
Actual: Results are returned in order of relevance (second blog post is first in the list), but "Created Date" is displayed as the selected sort.

This may have simply been the way it was designed, for users to change the sort order after seeing the relevance-sorted results. But, it's still a perceived bug, because you'll see the Created option appearing in the Sort widget, while results are actually being returned by relevance.