Database search engine.

influx

Hey all,

I have a database of 5,000 users and a database of 100,000 cities in the US for my website. I want to write a search engine but I need a place of reference for people to be able to search for other users (from the database) at my website, and I also need the search to be capable of finding one's city after they type in a zip code to correlate it with (that shouldn't be too hard, I have both city and zip in the database).

Anyways, does anybody know where I should start looking, I am sure there are scripts dedicated to accomplishing this online, I just don't know where to look.

Thanks in advance!
-influx

AstroTeg

Where are you stuck at? Sounds like you have all the data. The project doesn't sound very difficult (except possibly the zip searching - let me know if this is what you're stuck on).

If you're looking for scripts, you might try hotscripts.com or google.com.

influx

Hi there,

I actually know how to match the ZIP code with the city in the database,

But do you know how to search, at the same time, for ZIP codes close in proximity?

i.e: If one searches 90210...it bring up beverly hills but also brings up surrounding cities as well?

Also, another problem I am facing is when somebody searches for a name in my database, it has to match exactly. What is the best approach I can take for name-searching?

Thanks,
-influx

AstroTeg

Fuzzy logic on the name searches. Or you could see if using the LIKE clause with wildcards (% or * depending on your DBMS).

For zip code distance matching, check out the previous threads here, or google, or look at the bottom of my page: http://www.rsbauer.com/webdev.php

influx

Wow, that is ugly.

Thanks a lot for that, that will be very helpful.

influx

Where should I look for more information on the name search? any websites you may know?