How do I create a Search Field?

Hello Dona.
How do I go about making the search field in my template? I looked at the information page you sent me, but there are no examples.

Do you have a document with examples on how to do various things with CMS Builder? I work best by using examples to work from.

Thanks

Hi Invisions,

Welcome to the CMSB Family. If you’ve been coding in HTML up to now, making the switch to PHP and to any CMS can feel a bit overwhelming.

Understanding how to implement even basic searches is one of those areas that has confused many of us.

Here’s an excerpt from my CMSB Cookbook http://www.thecmsbcookbook.com that demonstrates some different ways that you can set up a simple search on your page.

SETTING UP BASIC SEARCHES
Here’s some basic code that you can use to set up a simple search box on the list page of a multi-record editor to return only those records that match your search criteria.
<form method="POST" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ?>">
<input type="text" name="your_field_name_your-criteria" value="">
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Search">
</form>
Notice the “name” entry on the sample form above. It starts with the field in which you want to preform the search (your_field_name) and is followed by a modifier that determines what type of search is to be performed (_your-criteria).

CMSB is set up to allow you to search by many criteria by changing ( _your-criteria) in the “name” entry to one of these:
_match - an exact match
_keyword - will look for specific words
_prefix - starts with keyword (or letter)
_query - allows google-style query searches such as: +dog -cat "multi word phrase". Only records matching EVERY word or quoted phrase are returned. Words or phrases that start with - mean "must not match". The + is optional and not required.
_min - A minimum value for numeric searches
_max - A maximum value for numeric searches
_year year number for date searches
_month - month number for date searches
_day - Day of month for date searches
So, let’s say you’ve set up a field called “fruit” that can contain one or more keywords, like Apple, Banana, Pear, Orange.

Here’s the basic code that you would use to search for one of those.
<form method="POST" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ?>">
<input type="text" name="fruit_keyword" value="">
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Search">
</form>
If the visitor entered Apple, Banana, Pear, or Orange, only those records that contained the keyword would be listed.

You could also change the form to include a drop down menu of choices instead of the text box like this:
<form method="POST" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ?>">

<select name="last_name_keyword">
<option value="">Please Choose a Fruit</option>
<option value="Apple">Apple</option>
<option value="Banana">Banana</option>
<option value="Pear">Pear</option>
<option value="Orange">Orange</option>
</select>

<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Search">
</form>
Hope that helps.

Jerry Kornbluth