show category names in search results

[business +]

is it possible to show category names in search results/listings? I used {debug} but couldn't find any variable available for category name of the listings. anyway this can be done?

[Lhotch +]

the closest thing you have is the category ID which is in the {$results} array. If you dont have too many categories you could add smarty logic to check the value of that array field and in turn display the category name.

[business +]

yeah ... {$entry.section} is giving the category id. with close to 100 categories, i am not sure if it is a good idea to use {if} to display the category name... but that's an option. thanks.

[Lhotch +]

Originally Posted by business

yeah ... {$entry.section} is giving the category id. with close to 100 categories, i am not sure if it is a good idea to use {if} to display the category name... but that's an option. thanks.

The name of the category is not stored with the rest of the ad data so that leaves you 3 options.

Alter the function that gets the ad data to do an extra call to the database for every product and look up the name of the category.

alter the function that gets the adds and add in a join in the database query so it gets the category name when it gets the ad data......this could be very complex since the search already builds a fairly complex query based on input.

Lastly, the method I mentioned above.


Im not a big fan of hacking code because it makes upgrades troublesome so I would opt for the template method first. You can probably enable the debug mod in admin and see how badly it effects the page display but my guess is it will have a minimal impact.


I suppose you could create a plugin to do the category name query and insert it into the loop that goes over the $result array. However this method MAY have a greater impact on the server than doing the IF at the template level.

[business +]

i too would like to avoid modifying core files.
what I plan is use the {if} statement in a new tpl file and {include} it in the showlisting file so that I can keep the code clean in this file.
My plan is to enable admin users to view the category names in searches / latest listings so that I can easily check if the customers have put the items in the correct category without having to view each listing.
thanks for the help.