Exploring "Popular Items" of Web Part

Today is a new interesting point in SharePoint 2013.

I was exploring the “Popular Items” web part and I wanted to see which managed property this web part does the sorting. I have added it to my page.

Figure 1: Popular Items web part



I edited this web part and found that there is no “SORTING” tab and no link to “Switch To Quick Mode / Switch to Advanced Mode” available.

Figure 2: Query Builder of Popular Items web part



So here my curiosity increased so I then added the “Content Search” web part.

Figure 3: Content Search web part



I edited this web part and found that there the respective settings (“SORTING” tab and link to “Quick Mode / Advanced Mode”) are available.

Figure 4: Query Builder of Content Search web part



This is quite interesting. So I exported both of the web parts and started comparing and found the difference.

Figure 5: UseSimplifiedQueryBuider property, is the difference in normal Content Search and Popular Items web part



Popular Items web part is nothing but the Content Search web part with very few differences. There is a property called “UseSimplifiedQueryBuider” that determines the visibility of “Advanced Mode”.

If we export a “Popular Items” web part then we must change this property from “True” to “False”, upload it again and add it to the page. It shows the respective options and then I can see the “SORTING” tab and “Advanced Mode” link.

Thanks!

I'll continue posting such kinds of interesting facts. Feel free to comment, make suggestions and/or provide feedback.