Thread

I have the following search form:

{exp:search:simple_form search_in="entries" status="not closed" form_id="search_form"}
            <fieldset>
              <div class="input-text">
                <label for="search"></label>
                <input type="text" name="keywords" id="search" class="input" />
              </div>
              <input type="submit" name="search_btn" class="search"  value="search" />
            </fieldset>
           {/exp:search:simple_form}

When a search is performed and no results are found it uses the default no results template, which I guess is a flat-file template somehwere. When this happens the URI is “/index.php”. Kind of weird, from the docs I would have guess “search/noresults”. But I digress…

The real issue is that when search results *are* found the template that’s loaded is the default home page with the URI “search/results/8bcdfa93d2668e59c3fa520fb33e7675/” (i.e. no search results displayed whatsoever).

What am I doing wrong? Am I supposed to create the /search/results/ template myself? The doc describes “search/results/” as if it already exists. I don’t see why it wouldn’t since “search/noresults/” exists.

EDIT: forgot to mention version 2.1.3 build 20101220

You do create the template yourself as desribed:

The search results are displayed on the page you specify as the result_page= page. Results are displayed with the Search Results tag.

To draw up a result template use the “Search results” tag
http://ellislab.com/expressionengine/user-guide/modules/search/results.html

Also, the URL for no results must be some form of basic EE functionality but also mentioned in the docs:

You may specify a particular Template to display in the case when there are no results. This takes a standard “Template_Group/Template” as input.

Hi, Paul, and thank you Cheif!

You can set the no results template yourself as well, have a look at the no_result_page= parameter.

To set the result page, you would use result_page=, which is the one where Cheif was saying would take a template group and template.  Then you use the results tag in that specified template.

Does that help?

The search results are displayed on the page you specify as the result_page= page. Results are displayed with the Search Results tag.

Cheif, I think you’re reading between the lines. No where in that statement does the doc say the page doesn’t exist and that you must create it. In fact, the “result_page=” link hints to the template already existing. There’s no doubt the doc is vague and confusing in this matter.

I think the docs should be updated to reflect the fact that the search results page does not exist by default, in contrast to the no results page.

From: http://ellislab.com/expressionengine/user-guide/modules/search/simple.html#par_result_page

The Template_Group/Template where you would like the search results to be shown. If you do not specify this parameter, then it will default to “search/results”, which is the default location of the search results Template.

Why have a “default location” if that default location doesn’t exist? That makes no sense. This could really use some BOLD red text that says “NOTE: The search results template does not exist by default. You must create it.”

Paul,

Why have a “default location” if that default location doesn’t exist? That makes no sense. This could really use some BOLD red text that says “NOTE: The search results template does not exist by default. You must create it.”

True there could be a better explanation of this

I think what is meant by default is that is you go ahead and create search/results then you don’t have to include a parameter for that location. If you decide you want to display your search results elsewhere then you need to change that parameter.