Search module help and listing display query.

Hi,

1. I have been trying to set up a product search module, using filters, to display a product list based on selected criteria - we bought the business version of HikaShop for this specific reason. I want to include (a). A keyword search (text field) to filter through product descriptions and custom fields, (b). Seven check box options (decades, 1940's through to 2000's - ie. picking one option from the seven displayed), plus (c). A drop-down menu with a further thirty one options to select from, acting on one custom field, "Genre". The search functions should work individually or together, initiated by a 'Start search' button.

I set up the filters and added them to the Hika filter module, only to find that there is no layout to the module structure, so the components took a row each and the resulting page stretched off into cyberspace. I unpublished all but a couple of the filters - but when they opened on the page, the check box option displayed only the title of a check box filter (- ie. no check box!), and what looked like a truncated scroll bar with the legend "all" for the drop-down lists. The keyword text field displays but does not function at all, neither does the "Genre" search.



Also, when the filters are enabled, they appear on EVERY product list (above), between the intro text and the list items. Since the site is live, all this is a bit problematic. I had hoped to set up a 'secret' page to sort out the layout before publishing the final version, but that is not a possibility while the filters display on all listing modules. Is this caused by selecting the main product category and selecting the 'all sub-categories' option when setting up?

There is now also a recurrence of the message 'Sorry, no products corresponding to your search were found.' below the category list product displays.



2. I set up a category list from a (sidebar) menu button and initially, the category title links displayed in the category listing did not function, but Hika support helped me to link a new menu item, so now clicking any of the category titles opens the full product listing for that category.



OK so far but, because there was only an image and the category title to be displayed, the menu category module list used smaller display 'boxes' than the standard product lists (below).


So when the full product data was called, it overflowed the smaller layout (again below).


How can I call a listing from the 'smaller' category module and have it display in the original 'larger' module boxes that were set up to fit the full item listing?

3. By default, the product lists display by Title (Name) in alphabetic order. Is it possible for the default product lists to display in alpha-order from a different (custom) field's content?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, many thanks.

It's probably simplest if I go through the above in reverse order:

3. Resolved exactly as described above, thanks.

2. Sub-container box height auto-adjustment resolved by editing front-end CSS, thanks.

1. The error text 'Sorry, no products corresponding to your search were found.' which appeared below the category listing was due to the 'associated module'. The text was not in the language file, but in the front end View product -> listing.php. After updating the file version to 2.0.0 the issue was resolved. But . . .

I am still trying to set up a search module page. I wanted to be able to work on the search page layout so, because the site is now active, I set up an article page, from a hidden link, with a 'loadposition' so that the module could be published and viewed. So far so good.

Updating the 'Views' files to v2.0.0 allows setting 'Display Filters' to 'No' to work, and now the filters module displays on the 'loadposition' page only. But the filters still do not work. The page displays as below with no discernible layout, and all the components are inactive:

1. The keyword search field is inactive - doesn't search.
2. The 'decades' check box titles appear, but with no checkboxes!
3. The drop down list subjects appear as titles outside separate drop-down lists rather than as search subjects within a single drop-down.

I want the module to display as shown below. There are parameters put in place from the filter set up page (eg. height), but the help page is incomplete and simply mentions there may be other options available for some filters. There does seem to be some inline CSS in operation, but where is it applied?



Also, where is the help please for setting up single and multiple drop-down lists - they don't seem to function whichever way I set them up.



When set to apply on custom fields, the titles of the custom fields are available for selection - but what is the function of the 'Values' fields - whatever values I have put in these fields disappears after clicking 'Save'. And to what does the option 'Defined limits' refer?

I think there is a fault in the filters setup on the site, but any advice would be welcomed, thank you.

Hi,

Thanks for your help so far with this, I have deleted all of my earlier efforts and started again, this time with three filters: 1. 'Search Term/Phrase' which is intended to be a text search acting on eleven fields in the product page. They are - 'product_artist_name, product_b_side, product_catalog_no, product_description, product_genre, product_keywords, product_label, product_meta_description, product_name, product_title, product_track_list'
2. 'Genres' which is a drop-down list intended to act on the 'product_genre' custom field.
3. 'Decade' which is a series of check boxes intended to act on the 'product_decade' custom field.

I assume that they will work independently or in combination, being initiated by a single 'Start search' button.

They all seem to appear correctly on the front-end, but do not function, and I cannot see how to link the 'Start search' button to have the search results display as an 'ad hoc' product category list. The search module opens in an article page via 'loadposition' (below), and is presently linked to a menu item in the 'hidden menu'. The final intention is to call up the page from a menu button in the site's navigation sidebar.



I have attached images of the back-end components. Can you please explain how to get the Search button to activate the search? The search module itself is in the Joomla module listing but does not appear in the HikaShop module list.

Many thanks.

I have the search module functioning and displaying results, thank you, now just a couple of things to 'finish the job'!

1. Can you tell me how to put a title/heading of 'Search results' on, well, the search results page! At the moment, either nothing displays (can't find where to input the title), or the title 'Product Categories' appears, which seems to be coming from the category listing menu page. The search module resides in Joomla, outside of the Hika system structure, and so doesn't appear to have a Hika counterpart.

2. Can you tell me how to get the filters to reset after a search has completed. At the moment, you have to manually cancel the previous settings when returning to the search input page.

3. Can the filters be set to search in conjunction with one another, or do they all operate separately?

Thanks for your help.

OK, I've been back through this again (and again) but I still cannot find the solutions to my problems, so I'll recap my earlier posts. I did not mean to imply that I was referring to the Joomla search module, I AM using the Hika filter module, but it is not found in the Hika modules listing as I expected, but only in the Joomla module listing. It cannot be linked through like other Hika modules to a specific menu, but instead relies on the menu ID being entered on the filter module. OK so far.

1. At the moment the sidebar menu item links to a Joomla article page, which displays the Hika filter module via a 'loadposition' instruction. It's the only way I could see of displaying the necessary input fields for the filters, with the layout set up from edits to the Hika front end CSS file. At this point, the Page Heading is 'Take a look through the stock ' and the Browser Page Title is 'Search the Music', both of which are the Page Display Options for the selected menu item. This is fine and as I want it to be.

I previously had the menu item linked to an 'Associated module' (the Hika default), but this resulted in two search result listings being displayed one above the other, so I deleted it. Should I instead have set the menu item CSS to 'display:none;' and retained the Associated module?

The filters appear to work OK (I've not thoroughly checked them yet). However, I want the results output to be headed 'Search results', but instead I get the heading 'Product categories', which belongs to a separate category listing module and is only entered there. How? The category listing module is completely unrelated to the search function (or is it?).

The filters module has the title 'Stock search' and the title appears on the page, above the search filter input fields. So I cannot find where to change the page heading when the results are displayed. You mention the 'Results page' in your previous post, but where is that set up? Is it the 'Associated module' as I mentioned above?

2. When a search returns no results, I simply get a completely blank page. No page heading (same problem as above?) no default message. Previous to this, the default message (my text) was 'Sorry, no products corresponding to your search were found.' which operated on all product category lists as appropriate. This text was not in the language file, but in the front end View 'product -> listing.php' - see below.

<?php }
$html = ob_get_clean();
if(empty($html)){echo 'Sorry, no products corresponding to your search were found.';}else{ ?>
<div id="<?php echo $this->params->get('main_div_name');?>" class="hikashop_category_information hikashop_products_listing_main">
<?php echo $html; ?>
</div>

Since the latest Hika update, that file has changed and the message has disappeared. Can you tell me where this function is currently positioned so that I can get it working again, perhaps with additional text explaining to the customer what to do to get back to the search page.

3. I would also like to have a standard 'Back' button to position on the empty search results page to take the customer back to the search filter page, and also as a 'Back to listing' button on the product details page, opposite the 'Add to cart' button. Can you please show me how this can be achieved?

Thank you.