Advice on place to read about making search functions?

Smeep

Heya, If you've seen my other thread, you know I'm crap at php. So, The next step, is to make a search function. It only has to be simple. Such as

Drop down list of locations > hit search > Result = All rows with that location.

I'm not asking for coding help, just a good bit of reading and advice. I've googled, but I'm finding only rather complex search functions.

kkobashi

Please be more detailed in your question.

Locations of what? Cities? States? Country? URLs? What is the data type?
What is the resulting data type? Restaraunts? Car dealers? Crack dealers?
How is this information stored? In a flat file? In a database? In-core memory?
Do you want this data sorted? Unsorted?
Etc.

If you don't know what you are looking for, then how are we supposed to assist?

Smeep

I didn't need to be specific in my question. I was merely looking for a place that has some info to read about search functions, the basics behind them, leading in to the more complicated stuff. But since you ask, Cities. Stored in a database. In a table called "arena" in a field called "location".

Trs2988

I don't think there are going to be any tutorials on this, because it's not something that's all too complicated. All you need is something like this to retrieve all the cities:

echo "<select name='location'>";
$result = mysql_query("select distinct location from arena order by location");
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) 
{
extract($row);
echo "<option value='$location'>$location</option>";
}
echo "</select>";

And then, once that gets submitted (assuming it's using post), you can use this to select the results:

$location = addslashes($_POST['location']);
$result = mysql_query("select * from arena where location='$location'");
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
extract($row);
// do whatever with the results
}

Is that what you needed?

kkobashi

Smeep wrote:
I didn't need to be specific in my question. I was merely looking for a place that has some info to read about search functions, the basics behind them, leading in to the more complicated stuff. But since you ask, Cities. Stored in a database. In a table called "arena" in a field called "location".

If you would have provided me with the information above, my response would have been:
Bone up on SQL and left you alone on your merry way studying about it (for you did say you didn't want coding help).

Now in regards to your response about not having to be specific which I totally disagree with.

How can we provide you with a specific solution, when you choose to talk in generalities? Do we want to waste our time going back and forth asking you questions to find out what you really are looking for?

"Search" means many different things. Its a general term that depends on the context of WHAT is being searched and HOW it is being stored. I had no idea what you were referring to. If it was a flat ASCII text file the solution is different and I would have suggested to look at something. If it was a database, then I would have suggested to read about SQL. You didn't provide that information so how was I to help you?

Now you tell us you have data stored in a database, and that you have a table called arena with a column called location. That's more info than what we knew before, isn't it? Without that information, just how could have known you were storing data in a database (still don't know which product) along with the SQL query to sort on those locations in the table?

Trs took that information you provided and then came up with a solution. Now he could have wasted 30 minutes of HIS time coming up with that answer. And then get pissed off because you failed to tell us you were storing your data in an Oracle database. Get it?

More information means a better response.

Trs2988

kkobashi wrote:
"Search" means many different things. Its a general term that depends on the context of WHAT is being searched and HOW it is being stored. I had no idea what you were referring to.

To further emphasize that, I wanted to point something out. When I first came to this thread, it had the first two posts: the original, and kkobashi's reply. At that point, I didn't know enough to provide you with an answer, so I just left.

When I saw there were more replies (meaning you had given more information), I came back and had enough info to help you.

So yes, being specific is important.

kkobashi

You know, this reminds me of going to college. In the classes I was in, people were too afraid to ask questions because they worried about what other people thought about them. That perhaps they were looked upon as being stupid. We all know where those types ended up - with crappy grades and missed opportunities. Never be afraid to ask questions no matter how stupid they may appear to be. If you stop asking questions, you give in to accepting your own ignorance.

Stupidity, in my book, is an outcome of ignorance. Ignorance results from not wanting to know. Not wanting to know results from not having a desire in the subject. It's ok to not have a desire to know a certain subject, but don't pretend to know and stubbornly deny your ignorance. Because one day, when you are pressed for your knowledge, you will fail and look even more stupid. You know, great things come out of life when people help each other. Mankind doesn't survive by his own ignorance.

Obviously people come here because they want to learn and know. Nobody wants to be ignorant. Perhaps there are reasons for this. Maybe a job. A school project. A business website. Whatever your motivation, you come here to acquire knowledge in the subject of PHP.

Anyone who posts in this forum is neither stupid nor ignorant in my book. The forum maybe called "Newbie" but we are all here to help each other and learn. That makes you an acquirer of knowledge. And that is power when used correctly.

Smeep

Well, the reason I thought that I didn't need to be specific, was that I wanted to find a documentation on PHP and Search Functions. Didn't matter specificly, because I wanted something that contained all the information on PHP and Searching.

Anyway, Thanks for the time you spent. I'll post back if I need help.

jara06

php and searching in databases is two different subjects, but can be related.
Also, in my oppinion searching and matching is also not the same.

Consider this quick example for text matching:

if (!isset($_POST['location'])) {
	echo "No location selected";
}
else {
	$q = $_POST['location'];

$sql = " SELECT * FROM table WHERE name = '". mysql_real_escape_string($q) ."' ";

// do query & show results
echo "Results for search (<b>". $q ."</b>) :";
}

Then, consider this quick example for text searching:

if (isset($_POST['search']))
	$q = $_POST['search'];
else
	$q = "";

if (trim($q) == '')
	$q2 = '%';
else {
	$q2 = str_replace(" ", "%", $q);
	$q2 = str_replace("*", "%", $q);
	$q2 = "%". $q2 ."%";
}
$sql = " SELECT * FROM table WHERE name LIKE '". mysql_real_escape_string(stripslashes($q2)) ."' ";

// do query & show results
echo "Results for search (<b>". $q ."</b>) :";

Smeep

Rightyo, I'm right now using the text matching thing above, provided by jara06, so that I can get a feel for this. I'm having a little dificulty trying to get it to output. I'm not far in to this project, so answers aren't what I need right now. What I need is tips.

What I'm trying to achieve is a list of cities, then you select a city from the list (I've got this far) then the program returns all the rows with that city in, and displays them. Advice welcome.