Thread

Hi There,

Just wondering if someone can help with this this issue below.

I am in the process of creating a website that will require a dynamic search filter,
and I am after some advice on the best way to approach setting up the data types etc
in order for the filter to perform correctly.

The site will be set up as follows:

1. The site will have product entries for “construction hoist parts”.
2. The “Construction Hoist Parts” entries will categorised into “Mechanical” & “Electrical”.
3. Each “Hoist Parts” product entry will have the following fields:

Manufacturer
OEM Part No.
NTP Part No.
Description
Product ID No.
Related Parts
Thumbnail Image

4. In order to search for “Hoist Parts” entries a “Part Search” Dynamic Search Filter will be set up with the following pull-down fields:

Manufacturer
OEM Part No.
NTP Part No.
Product Group Type (“Electrical” / “Mechanical” Categories)

So my main query is finding out the best way to create the product entry fields in order to create a dynamic filter search, which will filter results as specified in point #4.

I am completely new to creating dynamic filter searches and my understanding is in order for a dynamic filter to work you would have to do the followng:

1. Create hard-coded “set” parameters for all relevant fields, ie. a “hard-coded” list of manufacturers (in which you would choose a “manufacturer” in the product entry record etc).

The only problem here is that the client will want to add “new” products codes, manufacturers etc to product entries as he goes along. If all the field-types are hard-coded the client would not be able to add his own field values etc.

Is it possible to use “related-entries” to achieve these results?

Or is there any plug-ins available that would help with this?

Many thanks in advance for any feedback given on this issue. 😊

Kind Regards

Karl

Do any of you guys on Tech Support have any feedback you can give me on the above information?

If I have not been clear enough on my requests I can go into further detail etc.

Any feedback would be very much appreciated 😊

Have I placed this post in the wrong category?

Not sure?

Karl,

We answer threads in rotation so each time you bumped you post it was automatically sent to the bottom of our queue without out knowledge

The dynamic search filter also only works with certain fieldtypes.

What is your main aim here though? Do you you not wish the user to leave the page?
You could try chained selects maybe or integrate the standard search with some ajax results?

SuperSearch by Solspace is a good addon to look into too. Search Results another one

try devot-ee.com for more add-ons

Hi John,

Many thanks for responding to my initial post.

(Apologies for my lack of understanding of the threads rotation system - I now know for future reference so thanks for this! 😊)

Examples of what I am aiming to accomplish (in terms of a dynamic search filter) are shown on this website:

http://www.quaife.co.uk/

In terms of my project the idea is to have a search mechanism (similar to: http://www.quaife.co.uk/)

Set up as follows:

1. Select “Product Group”  type ie. “Electrical” / “Mechanical” Category (this will filter results to the chosen “Product Group” category).
1. Select “Manufacturer” (this will filter results to the chosen “Manufacturer”
2. Select “OEM Part No.” (filter down to listed entry results with corresponding OEM part no.).

The product entry results would then be displayed on a separate “results” page.

I am aiming for “Manufacturer” & “OEM Part No.” to be custom fields within a “Product” channel entry
(so the client can enter his own part numbers in an entry, rather than myself hard-coding these values into a pull down list etc)

I’m guessing here that your “chained selects” scripts may be the right option for this?
(It looks pretty damn impressive! 😊)

But I’m not sure if it works with custom fields?

Moving forward: My aim is set up a demo model using the “Chained Select” scripts and have a play with it.

Any further feedback on the above would be very much appreciated 😊

Regards

Karl

Karl,

I am going to move this thread to the CodeShare Corner for now as more appropriate there and some other members of our community ma have ideas.

The native dynamic filtering and the chained selects are both options for you, up until you have to type in a stock/parts number. I have never integrated a search box with these methods.