Some Smart Search Issues

-- HikaShop version -- : 4.2.1
-- Joomla version -- : 3.9.10

Hi,

we're trying out the awesome new smart search feature in 4.2.1, some problems/remarks so far:

1. When we try to delete an indexed product from the list in the back-end, we get the error "Call to undefined function hikashop_get()", though the product does get removed from the index.

2. On the front-end search results, all the url's point to the same product directory, and not to the correct menu/category which the product actually belongs to.

3. If a product is in multiple Hikashop categories/menus, it will show up multiple times on the results. For example, a product in 4 categories will display 4 times in the results, but all with identical url's (as mentioned in point 2) - not pointing to each specific category. Although it would be possible to unpublish the duplicates in the back-end smart search index, this is not really an option for thousands of products. Also regarding point 2, would it be possible to point to the canonical url?

4. The search results on the front-end are only plain text, which makes it less useful for users since they can't see what the product looks like. It would be a great improvement if product images can also be shown, or at least loaded with the smart search results, similar to the product images being loaded when using the "normal" joomla search.

Thanks for looking into it.

Hi,

thanks for your reply, we fully understand the smart search is still in its infancy and we don't mind testing it out. Regarding the above points:

1. Error reporting indicates the error is on line 172 of plugins\finder\hikashop\hikashop.php, with following call stack:

1  ()  JROOT\plugins\finder\hikashop\hikashop.php:172
2  plgFinderHikashop->getUrl()  JROOT\administrator\components\com_finder\helpers\indexer\adapter.php:348
3  FinderIndexerAdapter->remove()  JROOT\plugins\finder\hikashop\hikashop.php:49
4  plgFinderHikashop->onFinderAfterDelete()  JROOT\libraries\joomla\event\event.php:70 

include_once(rtrim(JPATH_ADMINISTRATOR,DS).DS.'components'.DS.'com_hikashop'.DS.'helpers'.DS.'helper.php');

Hi,

@GW

Are you willing to share the code you are using to display images? I though i will ask before taking my time to add it by my self.


@Nicolas

Is there any progress regarding canonical url's?


Thanks

Hi,

It's a bit shame that no improvements have been done. Especially then they were reported here....

1. Probably having same url is not such a big deal but "If a product is in multiple Hikashop categories/menus, it will show up multiple times on the results. For example, a product in 4 categories will display 4 times in the results" is really an issue here.

2. It is really strange that after so many years and countless topics with 'hikashop search" there is still no good solution for search. As example we would like to give users possibility to use filters in search results so any ajax search, smart search is not for us. However using search as a " filter search" is connected with whole hikashop filters system which makes hard to customize. Having "search" as different view which would get all the products would be great!

Thanks

@kyratn
After our initial findings we did not continue looking into the smart search any further since in our view it is not refined and user-friendly enough to use in a live webshop at the moment.

If you want to load product images with the smart search results, you can make an override of com_finder/search/display_results.php.
In this file you will have the product search results in the array $this->results, which also includes the product id's. With the product id's it's not difficult to also get the corresponding images, which can be done through a database query, something like this:

//load helper class
include_once(rtrim(JPATH_ADMINISTRATOR,DS).DS.'components'.DS.'com_hikashop'.DS.'helpers'.DS.'helper.php');
$imageHelper = hikashop_get('helper.image');
//because the same product can occur many times in search results, create separate array with only unique product ids
$ids=array();
foreach ($this->results as $result) :
	if(!in_array($result->id,$ids))array_push($ids,$result->id);
endforeach;
//database query to retrieve image data
$db = JFactory::getDBO();
$queryImage = 'SELECT * FROM '.hikashop_table('file').' WHERE file_ref_id IN ('.implode(',',$ids).') AND file_type=\'product\' ORDER BY file_ref_id ASC, file_ordering DESC, file_id ASC';
$db->setQuery($queryImage);
$images = $db->loadObjectList('file_ref_id');

$config =& hikashop_config();
$imgurls = array();
$height = (int)$config->get('thumbnail_y','100');
$width = (int)$config->get('thumbnail_x','100');
$image_options = array('default' => true,'forcesize'=>$config->get('image_force_size',true),'scale'=>$config->get('image_scale_mode','inside'));
foreach($images as $row){
	$img = $imageHelper->getThumbnail($row->file_path, array('width' => $width, 'height' => $height), $image_options);
	if($img->success){
		//do whatever you want, for example store all image urls in new array
		array_push($imgurls,$img->url);
	}
}

Hi,

Thanks GW for share. Appreciated

Regards

Hi
@kyratn
I am trying to integrate with images the results of smart search hikashop.
could you share the code of file override default_results.php?

Thanks
Javier

Hi,

@Jabatec

Honestly we got tired to implement features to Hikashop witch all proper e-commerce have it by default. Like search, not outdated variant selection, proper wishilist and waitlist handling, some not finished new features, like proper dashboard ( it was created like 3 years ago for no reason and people still use legacy one....) or even simple. Tracking number field.... and many other things witch Hikashop doesn't have.... We found that it will take to much time and not worth it to keep it going on...

So we have looked to other solution like Magento or Prestashop which are created as real e-commerce platforms and not as addon to CMS... Which probably is the main issue here. Same as for woocommerce....

Right now we are creating theme for Prestashop and will migrate later this summer.

I am not saying that Hikashop is bad. If you have site on Joomla and want to extend it, then i would definitely go with Hikashop. However if you try to create ecommerce from scratch then i would skip it and go with Prestashop, Magento and some other platforms which were created only for that.

Thanks

@kyratn
Sad to see you leave, thanks for all your input in the forum over the years.
We very much like the customisablity of Hikashop and will stick with it for a few more years, but I can understand your points.
Good luck in the future!


@Jabatec
As kyratn implied, adding images to the smart search results is not that straightforward and does require some advanced coding knowledge. We actually gave most of the necessary code in our previous post above, but you would also need to create your own default_product.php file to display the images with the html of the search results and style them. So it's kind of a large-ish project to do that.

Hi
@kyratn,
I think tha Hikashop has very powerful technology, custom fields, mass actions, templates comunications backend front end, flexibility in checkout design, etc etc,. but code and integration, it is hard, developing technology and integrating it into the market is hard and often unpleasant. with hika and in any other ecommerce, web, app.

@GW
I am working as a freelance for 12 years and developing (integrator) Joomla since 2005 (always Joomla!). Adding images to the smart search results is not that straightforward and does require some advanced coding knowledge, but @GW, whenever we browse an ecommerce website the first line of the header contains a search field. Search field is vital (filter hikashop, its good, but it is not a search field)

For two years I am struggling with search extensions for Hika, very hard and with very dubious architecture design. Last summer, 6 months ago, when I read in the Hikashop newsletter that Hikashop published a plugin for smart search joomla, I shouted to the sky, but when I saw that it did not include images I could not understand it. I have tried unsuccessfully to make an integration, I have tried to hire a programmer (to post the code later) but the budget was not accepted by my customer. I have also tried with algolia, without success.

Hikashop team works to adapt smart search to Joomla! 4. @kyratn works with more than 1100 free post contributions in the forum (thks), @GW write code, search field is vital. Something does not work. We have solutions but no alignment

I will continue working with Hikashop, but today my client asks me why our store does not have a search field like all of its competency. Now at least, I can answer that we are in it, trying to align the intentions of each of those who form the chain. If ask me how long, I will not be able to answer.

Regards
Javier

Jabatec wrote:
For two years I am struggling with search extensions for Hika, very hard and with very dubious architecture design. Last summer, 6 months ago, when I read in the Hikashop newsletter that Hikashop published a plugin for smart search joomla, I shouted to the sky, but when I saw that it did not include images I could not understand it. I have tried unsuccessfully to make an integration, I have tried to hire a programmer (to post the code later) but the budget was not accepted by my customer. I have also tried with algolia, without success.