Adding Multiple Values to a CUSTOM SEARCH FIELD

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   OK,
Here is one for ya!

Lets say we want to use a custom search field and have multiple values relate to that field.

FOR EXAMPLE...

You have an apparel item (a shirt) and you have it in three colors (Black, Red, Green). Currently you can only assign one of those colors to the item, so lets say you assign it as Black. 

Now when a customer searches green they will not see the shirt in the search results.

Any ideas how to work around this? 

I'm thinking this might need to be custom solution or change to PC 5.0

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rufustrunt Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 14-February-2012 Location: Perrysburg Status: Offline Points: 7	Post Options Post Reply Quote rufustrunt Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Adding Multiple Values to a CUSTOM SEARCH FIELD Posted: 03-March-2015 at 12:53pm
	OK, Here is one for ya! Lets say we want to use a custom search field and have multiple values relate to that field. FOR EXAMPLE... You have an apparel item (a shirt) and you have it in three colors (Black, Red, Green). Currently you can only assign one of those colors to the item, so lets say you assign it as Black. Now when a customer searches green they will not see the shirt in the search results. Any ideas how to work around this? I'm thinking this might need to be custom solution or change to PC 5.0

Brett Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 22-April-2008 Location: Phoenix, AZ Status: Offline Points: 89	Post Options Post Reply Quote Brett Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 06-March-2015 at 3:29am
	I made this customization way back on 4.1bto. It kinda seemed like it lagged out the CSF, though I can't be sure if that was the culprit. Either way, it was fairly easy to do back then. If I remember correctly, there's just one JS call to de-select the existing options when you select a new one. I disabled that and it allowed me to add multiple. There may have been a few additional things to make it display correctly and work reliably. If you can't find anyone more qualified to assist you, shoot me a PM.

NWClips Craig Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 18-March-2015 Location: Vancouver, WA Status: Offline Points: 38	Post Options Post Reply Quote NWClips Craig Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18-March-2015 at 11:10pm
	Since I am very new to ProductCart and also intended to use the custom search fields, maybe this is the best place to ask a couple of questions. What I'm understanding from the above is that the entire value in the custom search field is matched, not just a portion, correct? In other words, if the value in CSF1 is "Black Red Green" then a search for any of those colors won't return this item. If that's true, then what I was planning isn't going to work well... What I would really like is to be able to perform an initial search (using the example above, selecting an apparel item), then reducing the search results with additional filters. Are the custom search fields even involved here or are they only for an Advanced Search? Thanks,
	~ Craig B.

rufustrunt Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 14-February-2012 Location: Perrysburg Status: Offline Points: 7	Post Options Post Reply Quote rufustrunt Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 19-March-2015 at 10:12am
	The custom search fields work in the advanced search, meaning the customer gets to see a search category i.e. "type of fabric" and then can select an item within that i.e. " Cotton, Silk, Polypropylene, Nylon" You might be thinking of the text search field, where someone would type in something they are searching for i.e "cotton shirt"... That's not what we are talking about here The custom search field and the text search field work in two different ways. Your goal of using the search field to drill down on different filters would be best served by the custom search filters. It works great! The big problem however lies in the apparel module items. You can only assign one element to each search field. Meaning... If you are selling a shoe and you want to have the size of the shoe listed in search it gets hard to do. With the current layout, if you search for a shoe (which would be an apparel module item) you could only list that shoe as ONE specific size, not size 9, 10, 11,12, 13 and so forth. If you get in and play around with the custom search fields you can see what I mean here. Otherwise the CSF works very well, and PC did a fantastic job with it (giving it different options on how and where you can show it or not show it). This problem with the apparel module items though needs to be fixed and one way or another it WILL be fixed because for us it is mandatory. So anyway, that is the deal with CSF, hopefully that explanation makes sense. The best way to see what this can and can't do is to jump in the PC demo admin site and experiment with it. PC is a great product and we love it over here, once they get this CSF thing squared away we will love it even more!! Edited by rufustrunt - 19-March-2015 at 10:12am

NWClips Craig Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 18-March-2015 Location: Vancouver, WA Status: Offline Points: 38	Post Options Post Reply Quote NWClips Craig Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 19-March-2015 at 1:28pm
	Ah, I didn't realize that the custom search fields and the custom search filters were two different things! I'm still in the "cram new information into my head" stage. Thanks for the clarification. I'm off to see what I can learn about the filters. Having one value for a custom search field would not work most of the time for us.
	~ Craig B.

rufustrunt Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 14-February-2012 Location: Perrysburg Status: Offline Points: 7	Post Options Post Reply Quote rufustrunt Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 19-March-2015 at 1:59pm
	Yep, the one value thing is pretty tough. I can come up with a work around, but it really is less than ideal. But still the functionality of this is quite good in my opinion other than that.