Modify catalogsearch module to search by attribute values

Question

I have attempted for quite a number of hours to solve this but I can't find the solution.

I want to allow users to search by certain attribute values, for example ingredients, brand OR product name. At the moment I can pass to the query string the type of search we are performing, e.g.

/catalogsearch/result/?q=potato&type=ingredients

I have tried to modify the controllers and helpers in catalogsearch so I can pass this variable on and search for that filter, but I just can't figure out a way to do it.

I would still like to search by name too, so there will need to be a switch e.g.

/catalogsearch/result/?q=potato&type=name

Would need to search product name still.

Any tips for accomplishing this? I've been editing

/app/core/Mage/CatalogSearch/ 

for hours without any real progress.

Thanks :)

Answer 1

You can use this code to search product with many fields Below code is able to search by product name, description, using mysql LIKE syntax

//$data = search box input text

$products = Mage::getResourceModel('catalog/product_collection')
            ->addStoreFilter($storeId)
            ->addAttributeToSelect('*')
            ->setOrder('created_at', 'DESC')
            ->addAttributeToFilter(
                array(
                    array(
                        'attribute' => 'name',
                        'like'        => '%'. $data->getQueryText().'%',
                        )
                    ,
                    array(
                        'attribute' => 'description',
                        'like'        => '%'. $data->getQueryText().'%',
                        )

                    )
            )
            ->addExpressionAttributeToSelect('query_text', '{{name}}', 'name')
            ->addAttributeToFilter('visibility', $visibility)
            ->addAttributeToFilter(
                'status',
                array('eq' => Mage_Catalog_Model_Product_Status::STATUS_ENABLED)
            );

Answer 2

I'm not sure I understand you correctly, but you can configure every attribute to be searchable.

Than you don't have to do anything.

Also you can configure an attribute to be searchable in advanced search, so you can search specifically in an attribute and not "over all".

Answer 3

You might want to investigate using Solr search (even though you are on community). I was surprised by how easy it was to setup and you certainly can 'weight' searches by attribute matches, albeit this requires a little bit of reading the manual and experimentation to get the results you want.

This module looks pretty good:

http://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/solr-search-based-on-solarium.html

It depends on your use case, but, give Solr a go and see if you can come up with an 'omnibox' of search, or use it in conjunction with regular search.