Boolean search help

TCovert

I have a multiple fielded search form, which is going to be used to search a database of stories. I do not know how to make the select statement for the search look for AND/OR on all fields.

Here are the fields: Bodytext, headline, byline, section, page, keywords, series, caption and photocredit.

The user could enter any one of these at any given time:

they could search for records containing words in the headline and the caption, or caption and photocredit, or certain words in all of the fields.

How do I make the select statement look for all possibilities? PLEASE HELP...I am stumped.

elfynmcb

Hey,

Well i guess the easiest way would be to have a <select> drop-down menu) where the user could select the type of search and use php to get the type of search, rebuild the query and QUERY !!!

for example the type of search in in $stype and the input from the user is in $squery:

<?php

if( $_GET["stype"] == "section" )
{
    $query = "SELECT * FROM db_name.table_name WHERE LIKE section='%".$_GET["squery"]."%'";
    $result = mysql_query($query);
    ...
}

?>

Is this (kinda) what yoy mean?

P.S. check the syntax of SELECT to see if i got the WHERE LIKE clause right...

TCovert

That is getting there, except they need to search for different words in different fields at the same time. So, they would look for a Story with the Byline of "Bob Smith" with a headline of "Man gets shot at store" that was put on page "A1". Then it would bring up the matches that came the closest to that criteria.

elfynmcb

Hey,

O.K. test for the type of search (using if's and else if's and the important !...) and store what one's need to be queried. Build up a query for each one that's needed (like above) using different variable names and display all the results on a page maybe seperated with <hr>'s...

TCovert

So what you are saying is I should build a query for each possible scenario that could be asked of? That would take a lot, and I have to believe that there is a better way to do this. If not, let me know.

elfynmcb

No,

What i mean is something like this:

<?php

...
if( $_GET["squery1"] )
{
    $query1 = ""; //your query in there
    ...
    $result1 = mysql_query($query1);
    ...
    // sort (or format it) if needed and print it out
    mysql_free_result($result1);
}
if( $_GET["squery2"] )
{
    $query2 = ""; //your query in there
    ...
    $result2 = mysql_query($query2);
    ...
    // sort (or format it) if needed and print it out
    mysql_free_result($result2);
}
if( $_GET["squeryn"] )
{
    $queryn = ""; //your query in there
    ...
    $resultn = mysql_query($queryn);
    ...
    // sort (or format it) if needed and print it out
    mysql_free_result($resultn);
}
...

?>

Does this make more sense... (im very tired :o)

TCovert

This does make more sense, but how does the query get created with the customized search fields?

elfynmcb

Hey,

If each query search type has different requirements then you will have to adapt the query for each one.

Sorry, but im off to bed so i hope this helps...