Linking directly to search queries

Haven't you wondered how we can link to a query from a template, or link a JSP from a custom page or plugin page? In this recipe, we will see how we can create a link programmatically and otherwise to use in various places.

How to do it…

Let us first look at creating a search link programmatically. Perform the following steps:

1. Create the Query object using JqlQueryBuilder, as we have seen in the previous recipe.

2. Get an instance of the SearchService class. It could be injected in the constructor of your plugin using a dependency injection, or it can be retrieved from the ComponentAccessor class as follows:

   SearchService searchService = ComponentAccessor.getComponent(SearchService.class);

3. Retrieve the query string from the Query object using SearchService, shown as follows:

   String queryString = searchService.getQueryString(user, query);

4. Construct the link using the context path. In JSPs, you can do it as shown in the following lines of code:

   <a href="<%= request...