Better and easier search for users

When you select a category or enter a search criteria in search bar, there will be a refine search form on sidebar with which you can refine your search results. This is very nice, but it has some downsides.

My users needed a from – to search and not just for price, but for custom fields also. So I decided to modify this and create a better search for my customers.

Here is a screenshot for you to see how this works.

And here is the output:

You can also try it out on a live page here. The page is not in English, but you will figure it out.

Let’s begin with the modification.

This mod is very easy and you have to modify only one file:

Classipress 3.x: classipress/includes/search.php

Classipress 4.x: classipress/includes/views/class-ads-search.php.

First make a backup of this file, in case something goes wrong.

Then open it and locate this part of code:

default:
  if ( 'cp_' == substr( $key, 0, 3 ) ) {
    $field = $wpdb->get_row( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT * FROM $wpdb->cp_ad_fields WHERE field_name = %s", $key ) );
    if ( $field === null )
      break;

    $compare = ( in_array( $field->field_type, array( 'radio', 'checkbox', 'drop-down' ) ) ) ? 'IN' : 'LIKE';
    $meta_query[] = array(
      'key'   => $key,
      'value' => $value,
      'compare' => $compare
    );
  }
  break;

And change it to:

default:
  if ( 'cp_' == substr( $key, 0, 3 ) ) {
    $field = $wpdb->get_row( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT * FROM $wpdb->cp_ad_fields WHERE field_name = %s", $key ) );
    if ( $field === null )
      break;

    if ( strpos($value, '-') ) {
      $minusPos = strpos($value, '-');
      $value = array( trim(substr($value, 0, $minusPos)), trim(substr($value, $minusPos+1, strlen($value) ) ) );
								
      $meta_query[] = array(
        'key'   => $key,
        'value' => $value,
        'compare' => 'BETWEEN',
        'type' => 'numeric'
      );
    } else {
      $compare = ( in_array( $field->field_type, array( 'radio', 'checkbox', 'drop-down' ) ) ) ? 'IN' : 'LIKE';
					
      $meta_query[] = array(
        'key'   => $key,
        'value' => $value,
        'compare' => $compare
      );
    }
  }
  break;

If still using Classipress 3.x find this code (around line 619):

default :
  if ( 'cp_' == substr( $key, 0, 3 ) ) {
    $field = $wpdb->get_row( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT * FROM $wpdb->cp_ad_fields WHERE field_name = %s", $key ) );
    if ( $field === null )
      break;
    $refine_count++;

    if ( is_array( $value ) )
      $value = implode( "','", $value );

    $compare = ( in_array( $field->field_type, array( 'radio', 'checkbox', 'drop-down' ) ) ) ? "IN ('$value')" : "LIKE '%$value%'";

    $query .= " AND (";
    $query .= "(mt" . $refine_count . ".meta_key = '$key')";
    $query .= " AND (CAST(mt" . $refine_count . ".meta_value AS CHAR) $compare)";
    $query .= ")";
  }
  break;

And change it to:

default :
  if ( 'cp_' == substr( $key, 0, 3 ) ) {
    $field = $wpdb->get_row( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT * FROM $wpdb->cp_ad_fields WHERE field_name = %s", $key ) );
    if ( $field === null )
      break;
    $refine_count++;
					
    if ( strpos($value, '-') ) {
      $minusPos = strpos($value, '-');
      $value = array( trim(substr($value, 0, $minusPos)), trim(substr($value, $minusPos+1, strlen($value) ) ) );
      $compare = "BETWEEN '$value[0]' AND '$value[1]'";

    } else {
							
      if ( is_array( $value ) )
        $value = implode( "','", $value );

      $compare = ( in_array( $field->field_type, array( 'radio', 'checkbox', 'drop-down' ) ) ) ? "IN ('$value')" : "LIKE '%$value%'";
    }

    $query .= " AND (";
    $query .= "(mt" . $refine_count . ".meta_key = '$key')";
    $query .= " AND (CAST(mt" . $refine_count . ".meta_value AS CHAR) $compare)";
    $query .= ")";
  }
  break;

Your search should now be ready to receive FROM-TO values.

Add additional text

You can also add some additional text to let users know they can use FROM-TO values to search.

You can use plugin called Easy CP Tools or do this manually.

Locate this part of code:

<div class="pad10">&nbsp;</div>
<p><button id="go" class="obtn btn_orange" tabindex="1" name="sa" type="submit" value="Go"><!--?php _e( 'Refine Results &amp;rsaquo;&amp;rsaquo;', APP_TD ); ?--></button></p>

and before or after that add:

<div class="pad10">&nbsp;</div>
<p><strong>FROM-TO</strong> values are also possible</p>

Compatibility
This modification has been tested on Classipress from version 3.3.2 to 4.x.

If you find any issues with this tutorial, please be so kind and write a comment. I’ll try to help as much as I can.