feat: open search panel on load when ?focus=search

[mekarpeles]

Summary

When ?q=<term> is in the URL, BookReader already searches on load and opens the search panel. This PR extends that so that ?q= (empty value) opens the search panel without running a search — making search-inside discoverable by default.

This is the BookReader-side prerequisite for internetarchive/openlibrary#11912, which will pass &q= in the Preview embed URL so patrons see the search panel open immediately when they click "Preview" on a book.

Changes

src/BookReader.js — 1 line
URLSearchParams.get('q') returns '' (empty string) when ?q= is present but empty, and null when the param is absent entirely. The existing if (searchTerm) check treated empty string as falsy and ignored it. Changed to if (searchTerm != null) so an empty ?q= passes through to initialSearchTerm.

src/plugins/search/plugin.search.js — 3 lines
Added an else if (this.options.initialSearchTerm === '') branch in init() that calls this.searchView.toggleSidebar() to open the panel without triggering a search request.

Behaviour matrix

URL param	Before	After
No q param	Panel closed	Panel closed (no change)
?q= (empty)	Panel closed	Panel opens, no search
?q=hello	Panel opens, searches "hello"	Panel opens, searches "hello" (no change)

Related

• Fixes the root cause of: Search panel does not open when a search in URL if tab not in focus #1166 (search panel not opening on tab focus change — that bug's fix is separate, but this shares the same code path)
• OL issue: Make default "Preview" open BookReader w/ Search panel open openlibrary#11912

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 63.57%. Comparing base (65d2212) to head (21c0fe1).

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##           master    #1550      +/-   ##
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+ Coverage   63.53%   63.57%   +0.04%     
==========================================
  Files          67       67              
  Lines        6197     6202       +5     
  Branches     1376     1378       +2     
==========================================
+ Hits         3937     3943       +6     
+ Misses       2221     2220       -1     
  Partials       39       39              

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR makes BookReader open the “Search inside” side panel on initial load when the URL contains an empty search query parameter (?q=), without triggering a search request. This supports embed/preview flows that want the panel visible immediately for discoverability.

Changes:

• Treat ?q= as “present” (empty string) rather than “absent” when parsing query params, by checking searchTerm != null.
• In the Search plugin init(), open the search panel when initialSearchTerm === '' without running search().

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
src/BookReader.js	Preserves empty q values from the URL so they propagate into Search plugin initialization.
src/plugins/search/plugin.search.js	Opens the search side panel on init when initialSearchTerm is the empty string, without issuing a search request.

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[cdrini]

Lgtm! Updated it to use focus=search instead of the q parameter. A few future opportunities:

1. This should likely be a hash-only parameter ; eg /page/12#?focus=search . More accurate for what hashes are used for
2. This currently is immediately removed on load, but should stick around until the next change