search engine that ranks results

[chongallen]

Dear All,
I want to create a search engine which can return results with a high degree of specificity. Let me explain:
Say I have a field called location and I want to search for dealers in, for example, 3 locations...North Chicago, South Central L.A. and West Hampshire. The current search engine I have would return results of dealers in: North, South and West Chicago, not to mention Hampshire etc. I would also like, if possible, to rate and rank the results based on the most number of keywords matching the query...you sometimes see this on some site where the result are returned and displayed as such:
John's Homepage
Description: blah, blah, blah 75%
Link: http\www.john.com

Skiing trip
Description: blah, blah, blah, blah 67%
Link: http\www.john.com\ski

I hope someone can help...it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

Allen.

[Anon]

this function should do what is required. it quite intelligently scores the number of keywords found in the search fields, and even if they were complete matches or partial matches. scoring search results is the way forward 🙂 read it a couple of times and then visit my new site at www.dreamtemplates.com (yes, shameless plug)...

function base_portal_db_get_articles($parameters) {

//  filter acceptable paramters
	if (isset($parameters[\"ref\"])) $ref = $parameters[\"ref\"];
	if (isset($parameters[\"offset\"])) $offset = $parameters[\"offset\"];
	if (isset($parameters[\"count\"])) $count = $parameters[\"count\"];
	if (isset($parameters[\"keywords\"])) $keywords = $parameters[\"keywords\"];

//  explode keywords
	if (isset($keywords) && (!is_array($keywords))) $keywords = $this->private_explode_keywords($keywords);

//  build the database query
	$query  = \'SELECT * \';

	if (isset($keywords)) {

		$query .= \", (\";

		if (is_array($keywords)) {

			for ($i = 0; $i < count($keywords); $i++)
				if ($keywords[$i] != \'\') $query .= \"if(((articles.title LIKE \'%\" . $keywords[$i] . \"%\') | (articles.content LIKE \'%\" . $keywords[$i] . \"%\')), 1, 0)+\";

		} else if ($keywords != \'\') $query .= \"if(((articles.title LIKE \'%$keywords%\') | (articles.content LIKE \'%$keywords%\')), 1, 0)+\";

		$query = substr($query, 0, -1);
		$query .= \") as keyword_score\";

	}

	$query .= \' FROM articles AS articles\';
	$query .= \' WHERE (1=1)\';

	if (isset($ref) && ($ref != \'\'))
		$query .= \" AND (articles.ref = \'$ref\')\";

	if (isset($keywords)) {

		$query .= \" AND (\";

		if (is_array($keywords)) {

			for ($i = 0; $i < count($keywords); $i++)
				if ($keywords[$i] != \'\') $query .= \"(articles.title LIKE \'%\" . $keywords[$i] . \"%\') OR (articles.content LIKE \'%\" . $keywords[$i] . \"%\') OR \";

		} else if ($keywords != \'\') $query .= \"(articles.title LIKE \'%$keywords%\') OR (articles.content LIKE \'%$keywords%\') OR \";

		$query = substr($query, 0, -4);
		$query .= \")\";

	}

	if (isset($status) && ($status != \'\'))
		$query .= \" AND (articles.status = \'$status\')\";

	if (isset($before) && ($before != \'\'))
		$query .= \" AND (articles.date_live < \'$before\')\";

	if (isset($after) && ($after != \'\'))
		$query .= \" AND (articles.date_live > \'$after\')\";

//  order results
	$query .= \' GROUP BY articles.ref\';
	$query .= \' ORDER BY \';
	if (isset($keywords)) $query .= \' keyword_score DESC, \';
	$query .= \' articles.date_live DESC \';

//  limit query by offset and count
	if (isset($offset)) {

		$query .= \" LIMIT \" . $offset;
		if (isset($count)) $query .= \", \" . $count;

	}

//  execute the database query
	$result = mysql_db_query($this->database, $query);

//  for debugging
	$this->yellow_alert(\"query: $query<br>\");
	$this->yellow_alert(\"error: \" . mysql_error() . \"<br><br>\");

//  gather and organise results
	$results = array();
	if (($result) && (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0))
		while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
			$results[] = $row;

//  return an array of the categories
	return $results;

}

[Anon]

Jamie,
Thanks for replying to my query. It's been so long that I have all but forgotten about the thread I submitted and pretty much given up on the idea. It's great to know that there are people like you out there!! Once again, THANKS!!

Allen.