10 replies to this topic

[Paul_w]

On my own site I have observed several times now, people searching for products in the plural, e.g: 'plugs' or 'gaskets' etc etc

I list my products by single item name eg: 900 (79 - 92) spark plug - BP7 ES

It seems that if somebody searches in the plural for 'spark plugs' an empty result set is brought up by the search facility, consequently the potential customer thinks I don't sell spark plugs, this is obviously not good.......

So I have a quick fix below.

This code addition will strip an 's' off the end of the search term entered if it contains one. The good thing is that even if the 's' should be there the search will still match the correct terms due to the in-built partial matching facility.

The code:

In advanced_search_result.php at the top, just above:



  require('includes/application_top.php');



ADD



if(isset($_GET['keywords']) && $_GET['keywords'] != ''){

 	 $pwstr_check = strtolower(substr($_GET['keywords'], strlen($_GET['keywords'])-1, strlen($_GET['keywords'])));

 	 if($pwstr_check == 's'){

    $pwstr_replace = substr($_GET['keywords'], 0, strlen($_GET['keywords'])-1);

    header('location: ' . $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] . '?keywords=' . $pwstr_replace . '&search_in_description=1');

    exit;

 	 } 

}

Hopefully this will help others.

[Paul_w]

A quick change to the code to make it more compliant with osC standards, namely to use the tep_href_link() function and so avoid losing any sessions...

if(isset($_GET['keywords']) && $_GET['keywords'] != ''){

 	 $pwstr_check = strtolower(substr($_GET['keywords'], strlen($_GET['keywords'])-1, strlen($_GET['keywords'])));

 	 if($pwstr_check == 's'){

       $pwstr_replace = substr($_GET['keywords'], 0, strlen($_GET['keywords'])-1);

       header('location: ' . tep_href_link( FILENAME_ADVANCED_SEARCH_RESULT , 'keywords=' . urlencode($pwstr_replace) . '&search_in_description=1' ));

       exit;

 	 }

}

[JenRed]

What a good idea! Thanks for thinking of it.

I added your second bit of code and got a "blank" white page when searching, then tried the first bit of code and it worked beautifully.

thanks

Jen

[JenRed]

Any ideas how to set it up to cater for something like "dresses" which then gets stripped to "dresse" and isn't found?

Jen

[Paul_w]

Quote

Any ideas how to set it up to cater for something like "dresses" which then gets stripped to "dresse" and isn't found?

Jen

Did you actually try searching for dresses? It should still match that term even with the final 's' stripped off due to the inbuilt partial matching of search words.

Paul

[JenRed]

Yeah I did and it looks for "dresse" and doesn't find "dress"

I just did a search on "dress" and it looks for "dre" - and finds the dresses.

Try it here: www.redinstead.com.au

Jen

[Paul_w]

Quote

Yeah I did and it looks for "dresse" and doesn't find "dress"

I just did a search on "dress" and it looks for "dre" - and finds the dresses.

Try it here: www.redinstead.com.au

Jen

It wouldn't match 'dress' when searching for 'dresses' or 'dresse' so this is normal, unfortunately it is not possible to cater for all possibilities or you risk causing unforeseen problems.

With regard to the dress becoming dre, this could be fixed to only strip the one 's' if I add a flag to the redirect url. But it is still going to match what you want it to anyway, only problem is it may possibly bring up too many results.

I have actually written a Google style script whereby I can swap out search words for any replacement I wish and present the user with an option : 'Did you mean: .xxxxxxx... ' they can then click on this to re-search on the new phrase, if this is used in conjunction with a script to log all search terms used, then you can fine tune your search facility over time to dish up correct results for most searches. When I get the time I'll try and package this up as a contribution.

I think with these few enhancements the search facility for osC is very powerful indeed.

[JenRed]

Quote

unfortunately it is not possible to cater for all possibilities or you risk causing unforeseen problems.

I understand! Just wanted to see what your mind could do with it

The Google style script sounds great - would love to see it as a contribution. Will you post here when it is done?

thanks

Jen

[JenRed]

Quote

if this is used in conjunction with a script to log all search terms used, then you can fine tune your search facility over time to dish up correct results for most searches

This reminded me of a Mod I had seen but not installed:
http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,375

Do you know of it? It was written in March 2002 so I haven't gotten around to seeing if it works with newer snapshots.

Jen

[JenRed]

Quote

if this is used in conjunction with a script to log all search terms used, then you can fine tune your search facility over time to dish up correct results for most searches

This reminded me of a Mod I had seen but not installed:
http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,375

Do you know of it? It was written in March 2002 so I haven't gotten around to seeing if it works with newer snapshots.

Jen

[wizardsandwars]

Paul, I'd be very interested in seeing this contribution.

Please let me know if I can be of assistance.