New to 68 Classifieds templating - Some hints needed

[EugenusMaximus]

Hello 68 Classifieds Community,

I've just started with my first 68 Classifieds website. I'm relatively experienced in Joomla Templates as I did a couple already in the last few years. Still, my knowledge about PHP and Smarty is quite basic.

That's why I have a few questions and requests about hints to get started. Of course I checked the stickys of the forum already just as I tried the forums search function to get as many questions answered as possible.

My first milestones will be:
- Reconstructing the main page
- Adding a couple of fields to the search function
- Taking some of search fields to the main page

First of all I have to say that the HTML/CSS part is not a problem at all. Nor is it a problem to move already existing smartys included into the default template to other positions.
Right now, my biggest question is how to integrate extra fields into the search function.
Of course I've created them already in the backend. Even though I had some results on the search function I still have some very basic questions:

- What files have to be touched to finally get an extra field in to the search.tpl?
- What would be an example syntax for search field "square meters" (Drop Down)?

To have these questions answered would already be of great help for me.

Thanks in advance,
EugenusMaximus

EDIT:

OK, I just noticed that the Extra Fields I've set up now appear when I select an assigned category. Responsible for this seem to be the functions ajxresponse and optResponse... Anyway, this is not what I want.

- First of all I want the extra fields to appear right from the start, not just when I select a certain category.
- In second I want to be able to place each extra field individually just as it is possible with the standard fields which are already included.

So one again to my main questions:

- What files have to be touched to do so?
- What would be an example syntax for search field "square meters" (Drop Down)?

[Eric Barnes]

Hi,

I think you need to make this modification to search.tpl:
http://www.68classifieds.com/forums/...ry-search.html

- In second I want to be able to place each extra field individually just as it is possible with the standard fields which are already included.

Do you mean on the viewlisting page?

[Lhotch]

Originally Posted by EugenusMaximus

- First of all I want the extra fields to appear right from the start, not just when I select a certain category.
- In second I want to be able to place each extra field individually just as it is possible with the standard fields which are already included.

There is a very good reason why the extra fields do not show up until a category is selected and that is because you can have categories that have specifis extra fields that only that category uses.

For example lets say I have a general web site and I sell autos and homes. In autos I have extra fields for engine size, fuel type and color and for homes I have a yes/no dropdown to say if the home comes with appliances.

Now, if I displayed a search field with ALL of the above extra fields and I am looking for a car why would I want to see extra fields that dont pertain to a car? Furthermore, what if I accidentally selected one of them? That may mean that I dont get ANY cars returned because I specified a value in an extra field that doesnt apply to autos.

Another reason is that some very large sites may have 50+ categories and each and every one of them may have 5 extra fields that are all different from the other categories. Now that means that the search page would have 250 fields on it for a user to specify specifics on and if searching in a given category only 5 of them apply, so why display the other 245 fields as search options?

[EugenusMaximus]

First of all thanks for the answers.

Originally Posted by Eric Barnes

Hi,

I think you need to make this modification to search.tpl:
http://www.68classifieds.com/forums/...ry-search.html

I saw this post already. And it's not completely what I'm looking for. I want the extra fields to appear also if no category is pre-selected

Do you mean on the viewlisting page?

No, I want to add them statically to the search.tpl and later a few of them to my home.tpl. (once I found out how to do so)

Originally Posted by Lhotch

There is a very good reason why the extra fields do not show up until a category is selected and that is because you can have categories that have specifis extra fields that only that category uses.

For example lets say I have a general web site and I sell autos and homes. In autos I have extra fields for engine size, fuel type and color and for homes I have a yes/no dropdown to say if the home comes with appliances.

Now, if I displayed a search field with ALL of the above extra fields and I am looking for a car why would I want to see extra fields that dont pertain to a car? Furthermore, what if I accidentally selected one of them? That may mean that I dont get ANY cars returned because I specified a value in an extra field that doesnt apply to autos.

Another reason is that some very large sites may have 50+ categories and each and every one of them may have 5 extra fields that are all different from the other categories. Now that means that the search page would have 250 fields on it for a user to specify specifics on and if searching in a given category only 5 of them apply, so why display the other 245 fields as search options?

My search demands are not comparable to Autos. I agree with you, that my demands do not make sense with your example but my business requires this. There are certain search terms which will fit to all my categories. I need these so my clients are able to filter what they see independent from the category.

[Lhotch]

Originally Posted by EugenusMaximus

My search demands are not comparable to Autos. I agree with you, that my demands do not make sense with your example but my business requires this. There are certain search terms which will fit to all my categories. I need these so my clients are able to filter what they see independent from the category.

I can appreciate that. I just wanted to share the reason why the search works the way it does.

[EugenusMaximus]

Originally Posted by Lhotch

I can appreciate that. I just wanted to share the reason why the search works the way it does.

And I will use this function in the way it was built for for other things exactly in the way you posted it. But I'll need this workaround for my other demands.

[Mike-N-Tosh]

Originally Posted by EugenusMaximus

And I will use this function in the way it was built for for other things exactly in the way you posted it. But I'll need this workaround for my other demands.

"Demands" is a VERY strong word.

I do see an issue with your statement. If you are going to hard code the common extra fields into your search AS WELL AS use the search in the normal functionality, when a user enters the search and then selects a category, you will then have duplicate extra search fields.

Just something to think about.

-Mike

[EugenusMaximus]

Hmm? Well, basically the extra fields I want to hard code won't be classic extra fields anymore anyway. I will not assign them to any category but to all so they shouldn't appear twice?

Anyway, I appreciate your concerns about the sense of this request as I also would love to find this problem solved by the core features itself (would save a lot of work for me) but as I explained, it will be hard to solve this just with the core features.

I would prefer to get closer to a solution to be honest. It sounds like what I want to do is not so easy with 68 Classifieds. Can you give me some Information what needs to be done (which files have to be touched)?

[Eric Barnes]

I am not sure if I am still following however here is what I am thinking.

- Works in Firefox.

If you want to include static extra fields why not go to the search page and select the category so the extra fields are then pulled out. Next select that whole selection with your mouse and right click and "view selection source" after that you will have the html needed to add these extra fields where ever you want.

[Mike-N-Tosh]

I'm not a php coder myself, but do understand the logic. My best guess would be that within the search.tpl you would need to either add in an sql query to the database to pull the extra fields directly. (the "fields" table and get the fid, fname at a minimum) or do this as a smarty plugin and then include the smarty function in your search.tpl file. The smarty function would be the route that I would explore.

You may want to take a look at the smarty featured listings files to get an idea of what and how this works.

-Mike