Trying to create a search form which allows users to input criteria and then displays matching nodes
Hello, We are building a website for a car dealership. We have created a content type for inventory which allows the administrator of the website to enter in individual vehicles as inventory.
Now we would like to add a feature where a client can search through the inventory. For example, if a client wants to see all cars that are made by Honda, or if a client wanted to search for cars withing a particular price range. Ideally we would like to be able to display the search results with views, but can hard code the page to display the different nodes if necessary.
I understand that I am going to have to make a custom form. From what I understand, the best way to go about this is to take what the client inputted, and use that information to get the form to query the database, then display the nodes which match the criteria. However, I am a little fuzzy about the details. Has anyone set up anything like this before, or does anyone have any advice on the best way to go about doing something like this?
Thanks for any and all help! Kelly
Kelly,
The most straightforward way to do this is using "exposed" filters with Views.
Look in the "filters" section of the Views form and choose one of the criteria you want to give to users as a filter. After you've chosen the criteria, you'll see a button the right hand side which says "expose," you want to click on that.
That should be enough to get you started. There are a gazillion options of how to set this up... experimenting is always a good thing!
Good luck,
Shai
On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 5:51 PM, Kelly Tanguay ocelotspot86@gmail.comwrote:
Hello, We are building a website for a car dealership. We have created a content type for inventory which allows the administrator of the website to enter in individual vehicles as inventory.
Now we would like to add a feature where a client can search through the inventory. For example, if a client wants to see all cars that are made by Honda, or if a client wanted to search for cars withing a particular price range. Ideally we would like to be able to display the search results with views, but can hard code the page to display the different nodes if necessary.
I understand that I am going to have to make a custom form. From what I understand, the best way to go about this is to take what the client inputted, and use that information to get the form to query the database, then display the nodes which match the criteria. However, I am a little fuzzy about the details. Has anyone set up anything like this before, or does anyone have any advice on the best way to go about doing something like this?
Thanks for any and all help! Kelly
-- [ Drupal support list | http://lists.drupal.org/ ]
Quoting Kelly Tanguay ocelotspot86@gmail.com:
Hello, We are building a website for a car dealership. We have created a content type for inventory which allows the administrator of the website to enter in individual vehicles as inventory.
Now we would like to add a feature where a client can search through the inventory. For example, if a client wants to see all cars that are made by Honda, or if a client wanted to search for cars withing a particular price range. Ideally we would like to be able to display the search results with views, but can hard code the page to display the different nodes if necessary.
This is where taxonomy is good. And add http://drupal.org/project/autotag and http://drupal.org/project/pathauto to you inventory of modules (pun intended) to have the nodes tagged by a preset list of tags, e.g. Honda, and a URL path of sample.com/Honda that will list a tagged page of inventory.
I understand that I am going to have to make a custom form. From what I understand, the best way to go about this is to take what the client inputted, and use that information to get the form to query the database, then display the nodes which match the criteria. However, I am a little fuzzy about the details. Has anyone set up anything like this before, or does anyone have any advice on the best way to go about doing something like this?
Well, maybe so or maybe not. There are already modules dealing with taxonomy that may help your cause.
-- Earnie -- http://r-feed.com/ -- http://for-my-kids.com/ -- http://www.4offer.biz/ -- http://give-me-an-offer.com/
-
Earnie Boyd -
Kelly Tanguay -
Shai Gluskin