Short description
SobiProSearch+ (Plus) is a native search plugin. It extends the core Joomla search function to SobiPro items and categories.
NEW - Version 2.0Category List Filter: To enable sub-category search and navigation.
Please, check it here in the demo site, where you can find it applied to the classic SobiPro business and cars directories.
The basic SobiProSearch has the same Joomla search feature but restricted to one section/catalog.
SobiProSearch+ (Plus) has extended and enterprise-oriented features:
- Multi-Section, to support more than one catalog in only one search
- Full Text Search. to take advantage of MySQL Full-Text search indexes (avoiding the computer intensive LIKE)
To give you a brief description about how it works:
- SobiPro is a powerful directory extension. It is designed to easily create multiple directories or content types. SobiPro allows you to create a functional directory that lets your website visitors submit entries from the front-end. Entry submissions can be free, or you can charge per field if you choose. The entries can be listed in multiple categories, and you can customize all of the output views of SobiPro through the powerful SobiPro Template system.
- SobiProSearch+ searches with a high performance SQL query. It joins all dynamic search fields from custom defined catalogs.
- From a technical point fo view, it executes a query similar to: (SELECT ... FROM .. FIELDS) UNION (SELECT ... FROM .. FIELDS).. etc
- As the query must be efficient, we must be carefull with the amount of text matching. We have added options to retrict how many fields are matched.
- Addtitionally, the basic LIKE syntax may be not enough with big catalogs. So we've implemented MySQL Full-Text indexes. Full-text search - Wikipedia
Installation & Upgrading
- Install the plugin in the Joomla extension installer,
- Then enable and configure the new plugin in the plugin manager.
- Customize the params, please check the screenshots.
- Quick start: select one section and the field name of this section; search for a specific entry
- Performance tip: restrict the search fields as much as possible.
- Advanced: If you want to inspect inner workings, you can enable the debug mode, and check the queries, etc.
If you have any question, please, don't hesitate to contact us. Technical Support: http://support.extly.com
Required: Joomla! 2.5.x
About Joomla! 1.5, versions until 3.1 are compatible. They don't have support or fixes.
Sample Configuration with 2 Sections
In this configuration, we have enabled the same SobiPro sections: Business and Cars.
- Define the sections to search into
- Define fields to search into
* Recommended, specify sections and fields (at least one field per section). If you define sections and search fields, it greatly increases the performance.
Advanced Configuration
This is an advanced configuration, where a menu Itemid is defined to change the entry context. Also, the special "Empty Search Box" case is enabled, submitted from SobiPro Extended Search - Module.
- Optionally define for Joomla Search Mode, the results Title Fields (one for each section)
- the results Description Fields (one for each section)
- or a Categories Filter
Configuration
These are the parameters of the plugin:
Sections - Identification of search catalogs
Search Fields - Identification of search fields.
Search Limit - The number of Search items to return.
Search into username -Search into username from Joomla users table.
Search into name - Search into name from Joomla users table.
Advanced
Title Fields - In Joomla Search mode, by default, the name of each entry is shown as result title. This setting allows to define a new field, for each section, as result title. (one for each section)
Description Fields - Description Fields for the results (one for each section).
Categories Filter - Restriction of search categories.The plugin also receives a custom parameter sid_list, so you can restrict the categories on-the-fly.
Scheduled Indexer - For large catalogs, this setting disables the automatic indexer on page load. It requires the 'PrSobiProPlus Indexer'.
Menu - Menu Item Identification to set a results page context.
Enable Full-Text Search -Enable Full-Text Search Check the online documentation.
Full-Text Search QUERY EXPANSION -Enable Full-Text Search WITH QUERY EXPANSION.
SQL_BIG_SELECTS - Advanced setting just in case the query gets bigger than MySQL limit.
Query Custom Order (optional) - Experimental, SQL field names to customize query order, please debug it.
Debug - Debug Mode.
High Performance in Big Catalogs
If you have a big catalog, with several sections, every table, field, and entry adds more load to your database.To control the queries, and improve the performance, these are the recommended settings:
- By default, the plugin tries to search into every section and field. The first optimization is minimize the sections and fields (Sections PID and Field IDs) added in the search plugin configuration.
- By default, the plugin indexes the entries on page load. The plugin needs to traverse the full tree in every search to check if the entry belongs to a section. To improve this query, we have a Modified Preorder Tree Traversal and a cache table.The first search and every search after the cache timeout can be slow.
- When the directory has more than 500 entries, we recommend to activate the Scheduled Indexer setting. This setting deactivates the indexer on page load, and the plugin depends on the index built by the Indexer Job. To execute the job, you must call the page "prsobiproplus_cronjob.php", with a cron job or by hand when new entries are added.
- With Joomla 2.5, the job page can be located in: http://www.yoursite.com/plugins/search/prsobiproplus/prsobiproplus_cronjob.php
- With Joomla 1.5, the job page can be located in: http://www.yoursite.com/plugins/search/prsobiproplus_cronjob.php
New Versions & Support
All paid extensions include:
- 3-Month New Version Membership / Customer Area
- Forum Support
Updates
Update 3.3.1
- Fix: Filter for validSince / validUntil
Update 3.3.0
- Feature: Native SobiPro SEF support
Update 3.2.1
- Minor fix: To avoid warning "tree doesn't exist"
Updates in 3.2.0 - October 2012
- Feature: New configuration lists
- Not compatible with Joomla 1.5
Updates in 3.1.0 - August 2012
- Feature: Allow Guest entries in results list
- Feature: Only Approved entries in results list
- Feature: Customize result title field
- Full Code Review, Joomla Coding Standard compliant
Updates in 3.0.0
- BIG Feature: High performance indexer job
Updates in 2.0.6
- Fix: Joomla 1.5 legacy compatibily review
- Optimization: Interval param removed, cache integrated with general Joomla
Updates in 2.0.5
- Feature: Joomla 2.5 Multi-Language Support
- Feature: Url Routing Support
Updates in 2.0.4
- Feature: Multi-parent entry support
Updates in 2.0.3
- FIX: "Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context"
Updates in 2.0.2
- Feature: Empty search box mode (Check Extended Search Module, with Empty search box mode)
Updates in 2.0.1
- Feature: Joomla 1.5 compatibility review
- Feature: Results randomization
Updates in 2.0.0
- Feature: Category List Filter
- Feature: FieldName Table Tuning
Updates in 1.0.7
- Feature: Optimization for MySQL InnoDB
- Feature: Parameters validation
Updates in 1.0.6
- Bug: Minor fix to one-field restriction
Updates in 1.0.5
- Feature: Main query improvement
Updates in 1.0.4
- Bug: split() deprecated, replaced with explode()
- Feature: German translation, thanks to Norbert Graup EDV Dienstleistungen - www.g-it-solutions.de
Updates in 1.0.3
- Bug: Full-Text Search Warning, Thanks Adrien
- Bug: SEF and pid fix, Thanks Adrien
- Bug: Params Messages - Thanks Bruno
- Feature: Swedish Translation, Thanks JOKR Solutions
- Feature: Description Field List
- Feature: Basic Params and Advanced Params configuration - Thanks Bruno
- Feature: More Results Warning message - Thanks Bruno
- Feature: Experimental Advanced Query Order - Thanks Matt
Updates in 1.0 beta
- Initial release
License
License GPLv2, or superior Type Commercial.
