Powersearch in a Migration to CSSUI

[zampino]

We're way behind the times with Miva, still using MMUI and working on a conversion to CSSUI. Because we have heavily modified MMUI this is a very complicated conversion for us, but we're getting through the worst of it.

We're still using Powersearch, which allowed us to offer very targeted searches of our custom fields - we're an online record store, so searching on record label, artist, country, &c is important to our customer base. I understand that we should migrate to Miva's own search, but I can't find any documentation on how to target custom fields or apply and/or logic to the search results.

For now we'd like to stick with Powersearch and after the conversion work on a search replacement. I've verified that our Powersearch is installed at version 5.1240, and our search fields and html results carried over from the initial conversion.

However, when I use the form we have on the MMUI site the results are returned using Miva's native search. Can anyone tell me the (probably obvious) error I'm making in calling Powersearch? It's been years since we've implemented Powersearchm but I've read through all the installation doc again and can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Can anyone point out my error?

Sincerely,
phil
https://www.squidco.com




<form method="post" name="powerSearchNav" action="&mvt:global:sessionurl;">

<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="Search" SIZE="30" VALUE="">
<input type="submit" value="Search">


<input type="checkbox" name="artistOnly" value="0" onClick="
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.titleOnly.check ed=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.labelOnly.check ed=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_all.value= 0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_name.value =1;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_country.va lue=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_label.valu e=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_title.valu e=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_artist.val ue=1;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_personnel. value=1;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_code.value =0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_descrip.va lue=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.PowerSearch_Beg in_Only.value=0;">

<font size="-1" color="white">Artist</font>
<input type="checkbox" name="titleOnly" value="0" onClick="
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.artistOnly.chec ked=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.labelOnly.check ed=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_all.value= 0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_name.value =0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_country.va lue=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_label.valu e=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_title.valu e=1;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_artist.val ue=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_personnel. value=1;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_code.value =0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_descrip.va lue=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.PowerSearch_Beg in_Only.value=0;
"><font size="-1" color="white">Title</font>
<input type="checkbox" name="labelOnly" value="0" onClick="
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.artistOnly.chec ked=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.titleOnly.check ed=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_all.value= 0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_name.value =0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_country.va lue=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_label.valu e=1;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_title.valu e=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_artist.val ue=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_personnel. value=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_code.value =0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.srch_descrip.va lue=0;
javascript:document.powerSearchNav.PowerSearch_Beg in_Only.value=0;
"><font size="-1" color="white">Label</font>
<select name="filter_cat">
<option value="0">Format</option>
<option value="9" >CDs</option>
<option value="143" >Vinyl</option>
<option value="165" >Cassettes</option>
<option value="12" >Books</option>
<option value="307" >Box Sets</option>
<option value="219" >3" CDs</option>
<option value="2" >CD - Used</option>
</select>
<input type="hidden" name="srch_all" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="PowerSearch_Begin_Only" value="0"> <input type="hidden" name="srch_name" value="0">
<input type="hidden" name="srch_personnel" value="0">
<input type="hidden" name="srch_country" value="0">
<input type="hidden" name="srch_label" value="0">
<input type="hidden" name="srch_title" value="0">
<input type="hidden" name="srch_artist" value="0">
<input type="hidden" name="srch_code" value="0">
<input type="hidden" name="srch_descrip" value="0">
<input type="hidden" name="Store_Code" value="S">
<input type="hidden" name="Screen" value="SRCH">

</form>

[lesliekirk]

I don't usually get the results I need when I ask the Miva docs search bot, but this time it came up with something close:

To include product custom fields in the search results in Miva, you can follow these steps:

1. Searchable Custom Fields: Navigate to the Search Settings tab in the User Interface. Here, you can make custom fields searchable. Highlight the custom field in the left box and click on the Select > button to move it into the right box. This will make the custom field searchable25.
2. Display Custom Fields in Search Preview: In the Search Preview Settings, you can select custom fields to be displayed in the search preview. Highlight a custom field in the left box and click on the Select > button to move it into the right box. To remove a custom field from display, highlight it in the right box and click on < Deselect13.

By making custom fields searchable and displaying them in the search preview, you can ensure that they are included in the search results.

Actually, go to User Interface > Advanced Global Settings > Search Settings. Scroll down to Search Preview Setting, and you'll be able to assign the Custom Fields.

Yes, there are a number of reasons why you need to move away from Power Search, and I'm sure they will all be listed out for you.

[zampino]

I agree that we have to move off Powersearch, for a number of reasons. To do so, what I need now is the ability to perform a search on a single custom field, or a combination of custom fields or a combination of custom fields and built-in fields, but not other fields. I need to be able to do those calls by form and by https calls. So far my Miva searche results are too comprehensive.

If I could understand the syntax of Miva's search engine I would happily re-code our searches, there are only 5 or 6 searches that are generated on global pages and product pages. If anyone can show me how to perform these searches using Miva's I would be very grateful! A documentation page on how to form these searches would be really fantastic, I have yet to find one.


https://www.squidco.com/miva/merchan...abel=1&search=Amgen%20Records

(this would perform a search only on the custom field "label"


https://www.squidco.com/miva/merchan...e.desc&Search=Peter%20Brotzmann%20euphorium

(this would perform a search for "Peter Brotzmann" albums using the custom field "artist", and only on the label "euphorium" in the custom field "label". PowerSearch_Begin_Only=3 tells it to search on "any of these words".)



Sincerely,
phil

https://www.squidco.com

[zampino]

Perhaps from my last message that search request is not possible?

Sincerely,
phil

[lesliekirk]

Perhaps from my last message that search request is not possible?

Sincerely,
phil

I was hoping someone from Miva would jump in, as this is driving me nuts. The filters will use multiple custom fields to create a URL, so why can't you build a search result link with multiple custom fields? I'm going to send you a site link to look at via a PM.

[zampino]

I really hoped that Miva personnel would point me to some documentation on their search function aside from the Miva 10 docs (https://support.miva.com/hc/en-us/ar...earch-Settings). From that page it appears that I can add custom fields to the search, but not target them. There also appears to be no logical operators for and/or, "all fields" or "any fields". I can sort by a custom field in the results, but I don't see a way to dynamically change that sort field.

From my standpoint this makes the search results muddier, not clearer. Powersearch had a number of examples for different ways to call it, and I could use a couple of good examples with SRCH if anyone has worked ways to target search fields and the results, especially by http call.

Sincerely,
phil

[Nick]

zampino Miva's native search works like any MySQL relational database search which refers to performing queries that pull related data from multiple tables—using relationships defined by keys—so you can search across your database rather than inside a single table.

Have you tried to implement facets? Using facets can help narrow down the search results to get the exact set of products needed. For example, custom fields can be facets in which you can pass the custom field and value via the URL as parameters to get the specific set of results. Here is an example from our demo store:

https://stylecloset.mivademo.com/sea...ype=Long+dress

This example is using the brand and type custom field to narrow down the dress query.

[delcorsets]

Phil,

I'm following along as I have almost the identical situation on one of my sites.

I've made some headway using a combination of facets, custom fields, and collections - but I'm still in my testing phase too. After BFCM I'll follow up with some of the things that have worked for me.

Psydde

[zampino]

I hope to test facets this weekend on our dev store. If it works the way we need it to I'll post my solutions here.


phil