Searching in select fields

[heldercervantes]

Hi guys.

I'm trying to build a complex search and so far it seems over my head. Can't find an answer digging through the docs or the forum so here goes.

Basically I have a bunch of fields (textfields, textareas and selects) and I want the search keywords to be compared to values in all of them. I'm having trouble with the selects:

$selector = "ref|title|type|version|state%=$q";

Since 'state' is a select, I get...

Error: Exception: Operator '%=' is not implemented in FieldtypeSelect

Oh and since I'm here, there's another problem. I need this search to look for each word without regard for sequence. For example, if I have a page called "this and that" and search "this that" doesn't find it. I have tried using *tilde* instead of %, but that doesn't find keywords shorter than 4 chars and I need that as well.

[LostKobrakai]

To circumvent the operator issue use or groups. 

$selector = "(ref|title|type|version%=$q), (state=$q)"

https://processwire.com/api/selectors/#or-groups
 
Edit:
 
To search for each word independent you need to define it that way:

$qs = explode(" ", $q);
$fields = explode("|", "ref|title|type|version|state");

foreach($fields as $f){
  $group = array();
  foreach($qs as $q){
    $group[] = "$f%=$q";
  }
  $selector .= ", (".implode(", ", $group).")";
}

resulting in

(ref%=this, ref%=that), (title%=this, title%=that), …

[heldercervantes]

Awesome! Thanks for the code.

Am I limited to searching for exact matches on FieldtypeSelects? Let's say an option such as "brand new", checked against only "new" as the keyword. Is it possible?

[LostKobrakai]

Depends on how which Select you're using. The 3rd party module FieldtypeSelect or FieldtypeOptions or by pages?

[heldercervantes]

I'm using FieldtypeSelect

[LostKobrakai]

Than yes you're limited to this ooperator. I'd suggest using FieldtypeOptions or pages, which are the more powerful options.

[heldercervantes]

Thanks LostKobrakai, I'll look into those.

[diogo]

Hélder, before you choose FieldtypeOptions over pages (and may be the best option, depending on how simple is your task), make sure you understand the full potencial and flexibility that pages provide even when used for a simple dropdown select. You'll get it as soon as the weird factor goes away