# Getting Unknown key for a VALUE\_STRING in \[preference\] when trying to set preference with search-ui-elasticsearch-connector

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/getting-unknown-key-for-a-value-string-in-preference-when-trying-to-set-preference-with-search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/365706>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [August 28, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/getting-unknown-key-for-a-value-string-in-preference-when-trying-to-set-preference-with-search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/365706 "2024-08-28T15:06:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pdiggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@pdiggins](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pdiggins)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/getting-unknown-key-for-a-value-string-in-preference-when-trying-to-set-preference-with-search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/365706/1 "2024-08-28T15:06:32Z")

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I am using React Search UI and the connector from search-ui-elasticsearch-connector and am trying to get more consistent scoring. I believe I need to add a preference based on [this document](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/consistent-scoring.html).

It looks like the requestBody parameter in the postProcessRequestBodyFn includes an optional key for preference. When a set the preference to a value, I see it added to the request payload, but I get an error:

![Screenshot 2024-08-28 at 10.04.42 AM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/1/11709fd32d9edc66a6367e914af19c4207df2542.png)

> Unknown key for a VALUE\_STRING in [preference].

Is there a way to add a preference when using search-ui-elasticsearch-connector?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TimV](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/timv/32/13162_2.png) [@TimV](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/TimV)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 12:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/getting-unknown-key-for-a-value-string-in-preference-when-trying-to-set-preference-with-search-ui-elasticsearch-connector/365706/2 "2024-08-29T00:04:13Z")

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`preference` is a query parameter, not a request body field.

I don't know how to add query parameters when using search-ui-elasticsearch-connector.