Need help with SQL Code (for basic site search)

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Need help with SQL Code (for basic site search)

scott231us

SSC Enthusiast

Points: 150
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February 6, 2013 at 9:44 am

#270496

Hi, the basic search on my site is too specific.. Meaning it's too exact with word order and phrases.
For example, if I search Shoes Red it won't show results for Red Shoes.
If you search for Red Shoe Laces it won't show results for Red Laces (as the word shoe throws off this order). Below is the code that I believe the search box is using. Can anyone tell me how to "loosen" up this search so it's either more broad or so exact word order isn't necessary?
This is the current code:
case 'search':
if (intval($filter) != 0) {
$filter = JString::strtolower($filter);
$id = intval($filter);
$search .= $temp."(a.id = $id OR LOWER(a.ad_headline) LIKE '%".$this->_db->getEscaped($filter,true)."%' OR LOWER(a.ad_text) LIKE '%".$this->_db->getEscaped($filter,true)."%')";
} else {
$filter = JString::strtolower($filter);
$search .= $temp."(LOWER(a.ad_headline) LIKE '%".$this->_db->getEscaped($filter,true)."%' OR LOWER(a.ad_text) LIKE '%".$this->_db->getEscaped($filter,true)."%')";
}
break;
}
}
}
return $search;
}
Any ideas here?

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Lowell SSC Guru Points: 323518 More actions · Answer 1

Scott i suspect you posted some code for MYSQL and not SQL Server.

In SQLServer, the best solution is to enable Full Text Indexing, and use that;

for exact word match, but any order, i posted this example a long time ago, which was using dynamic SQL to build a query for search terms; unfortunately, this kind of query isslow, since it requires a table scan. That might be acceptable for small tables, but the more data, the more this would suffer performance wise:

example results:

WHERE CHARINDEX('civil',YOURTABLE.COLUMNNAME) > 0
OR CHARINDEX('war',YOURTABLE.COLUMNNAME) > 0
OR CHARINDEX('memorabilia',YOURTABLE.COLUMNNAME) > 0
OR CHARINDEX('equipment',YOURTABLE.COLUMNNAME) > 0

--better format

DECLARE @SEARCHSTRING VARCHAR(8000),

@ALLSEARCHTERMS VARCHAR(8000),

@SOMESEARCHTERMS VARCHAR(8000),

@COLUMNNAME VARCHAR(128),

@vbCrLf CHAR(2)

SET @SEARCHSTRING='civil war memorabilia equipment'

SET @COLUMNNAME = 'YOURTABLE.COLUMNNAME'

SET @vbCrLf = CHAR(13) + CHAR(10)

SELECT

@ALLSEARCHTERMS = 'WHERE CHARINDEX(''' + REPLACE(@SEARCHSTRING,' ',''',' + @COLUMNNAME + ') > 0 ' + @vbCrLf + ' AND CHARINDEX(''') + ''',' + @COLUMNNAME + ') > 0' + @vbCrLf,

@SOMESEARCHTERMS = 'WHERE CHARINDEX(''' + REPLACE(@SEARCHSTRING,' ',''',' + @COLUMNNAME + ') > 0 ' + @vbCrLf + ' OR CHARINDEX(''') + ''',' + @COLUMNNAME + ') > 0' + @vbCrLf

SELECT @ALLSEARCHTERMS

SELECT @SOMESEARCHTERMS

Lowell

--help us help you! If you post a question, make sure you include a CREATE TABLE... statement and INSERT INTO... statement into that table to give the volunteers here representative data. with your description of the problem, we can provide a tested, verifiable solution to your question! asking the question the right way gets you a tested answer the fastest way possible!

scott231us SSC Enthusiast Points: 150 More actions · Answer 2

Oh yes you're right, it's code for MySQL, so don't think your fix would work for that unfortunately?