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   This might be something simple.  We sell parts for machines.  We have a category and subcategories by Brand.  For some brands we have over 400 parts.  For the brands that have a lot of parts, it's hard for customers to browse through them all.  They can use the search box above but sometimes it returns too many results.  For example if you search for a Rancilio steam wand, you'll get machines as well as other related parts.  Our new PC site is fairly new and we can go in a bunch of ways to simplify searching.  I had a couple ideas on this page which would be at the top of each Espresso Parts subcategory.

The first section is more instructional on how to use the advanced search.  We had a customer who was having an issue finding the part they needed.  I gave the detailed instructions listed and the customer said that it was retarded.  Maybe it is.  Maybe it isn't.  Maybe 5 steps is too much.  If we were to go this route I want to try to simplify this a bit more.  Is there a (easy) way to go to the advanced search page with the Category and Brand preset so the customer just has to type the Keyword(s) and hit continue?

The second section is just a search box with simple instructions.  It's the same search box at the very top.  This is more a coding issue.  I was trying to paste the values for the Category(idcategory=19) and Brand(IDBrand=9) somewhere in the code so all the customer has to do is type in what they are looking for and hit go.  Is there a (easy) way for this to work or am I going about this the wrong way?

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GreggS Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 06-February-2012 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 60	Post Options Post Reply Quote GreggS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Custom Search Posted: 19-January-2013 at 2:47pm
	This might be something simple. We sell parts for machines. We have a category and subcategories by Brand. For some brands we have over 400 parts. For the brands that have a lot of parts, it's hard for customers to browse through them all. They can use the search box above but sometimes it returns too many results. For example if you search for a Rancilio steam wand, you'll get machines as well as other related parts. Our new PC site is fairly new and we can go in a bunch of ways to simplify searching. I had a couple ideas on this page which would be at the top of each Espresso Parts subcategory. The first section is more instructional on how to use the advanced search. We had a customer who was having an issue finding the part they needed. I gave the detailed instructions listed and the customer said that it was retarded. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Maybe 5 steps is too much. If we were to go this route I want to try to simplify this a bit more. Is there a (easy) way to go to the advanced search page with the Category and Brand preset so the customer just has to type the Keyword(s) and hit continue? The second section is just a search box with simple instructions. It's the same search box at the very top. This is more a coding issue. I was trying to paste the values for the Category(idcategory=19) and Brand(IDBrand=9) somewhere in the code so all the customer has to do is type in what they are looking for and hit go. Is there a (easy) way for this to work or am I going about this the wrong way?

Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 19-January-2013 at 3:05pm
	Hi Gregg, This would be relatively easy. The way I see it, first you'd want to run a quick check to see if the category page the visitor is on is a child of "Espreso Parts", idCategory 19 to determine whether to show the search form. Since they're already on the sub-cat to search through, that cat ID is readily available to pick up. The next bit would be to convert the sub-cat name to a brand ID by doing a quick lookup by name in the brands table. Perhaps if they are on the parent category, Espresso Parts, then the form could have a drown down to select a brand.

GreggS Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 06-February-2012 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 60	Post Options Post Reply Quote GreggS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30-January-2013 at 2:47pm
	I just figured this it out, and it was actually pretty easy. I copied the code that made the search box on the top and added this to it <input name="idcategory" value="147" type="hidden"> <input name="IDBrand" value="1" type="hidden"> Example

Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30-January-2013 at 9:27pm
	Hi Gregg, Yes, that's exactly it ... I was just thinking to generate these search forms on the fly rather than manually pasting static forms into the description area. Glad you found a way to "git 'er done" ;-)

GreggS Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 06-February-2012 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 60	Post Options Post Reply Quote GreggS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 22-February-2013 at 11:58am
	There are couple other related things we would like to change. 1. Every search will look at the product name, sku, and the product description. The search box on our old site only looked at the product name and sku. In many cases it would be very beneficial to search through the product descriptions but in our particular case it doesn't work so well. Example: We sell cleaning products for our espresso machines. In some cases we put that as a note in the product description. So if you search for "descaler" you will get a bunch of machines plus the descaler. Another example (which is a little technical): We also sell backflushing detergent. Some espresso machines we don't recommend backflushing and we put that in the description. So if you search for "backflush detergent" you get a bunch of machines, the cleaner, and some machines which we don't recommend to backflush. Is there a way to change the search bars to look only at the name and sku, and ignore the descriptions?

Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 22-February-2013 at 11:17pm
	Hi Gregg, This would require editing the search query. Shoot us an email to support at WMSmerchantservices.com and Kelly will get back to you. The search query is a monster, but she has a lot of experience with it.